Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Our tree, menorah, stockings.....

Our Gifts........
Our Dreidel Fairy tops the tree

Well, not only was this our first Christmas in NY, but it was also Mike's first Christmas away from his family.

Christmas eve was a rough day for us. Cooper was sick most of the weekend. He's never been sick before so we panicked, because we hadn't found a vet for him here yet. Monday morning it was clear Cooper needed to see a doctor so I pulled out a business card for a vet that his groomer recommended to me about 2 months ago and called them. I had to go to work so Mike took him in and after blood tests, x-rays, 3 hours, 3 prescriptions and $600 later- Cooper was diagnosed with a parasite.

See, in NY people are messy. There are a lot of things on the street and under park benches- like hot dog buns, popcorn, etc.

Anyhow, Cooper has become quite the scavenger while on W-A-L-K-S (he can't spell yet). We try to keep him from picking things up but he's kinda sneaky. He'll pretend like he's going to the bathroom and really just steal something he sees. Well, his sneakiness caught up with him. The doctor thinks that may be how he caught the parasite. Anyhow, he has to take 4 pills a day and eat only rice cooked in chicken broth for a week and then he should be fine.

So this morning I cooked up a bunch of rice for him for the next few days and Mike went to the drug store (so many things were open on Christmas here) to pick up one more medication for Cooper and he picked up Dunkin' Donuts and then we had breakfast. One of my co-workers, Kevin, just got back from Boston and brought me a bag of Peets coffee so we had that this morning too! As many of you know, Mike and I are Peets addicts - but the closes Peets to New York is in Massachusetts- other then that they are only on the west coast.

So we ate our donuts, drank our Peet's coffee and opened presents. My big present from Mike was an iPod Nano!!! I've been uploading songs all night. This is my first iPod! I can upload videos too- but I don't quite know how to yet. If any of you iPoders would like to comment with tips on how to use it I would really appreciate it!

I got Mike a Lacoste Sweater (you know the little alligator ones) and slipper shoes with hard soles so when he takes Cooper out at night his feet will stay warm. He's been wearing just his flip flops - which is ridiculous. (Mike note: "Hey, my feet don't get cold like you Americans...")

Mikes' family sent us a bunch of stuff- the best story of all is that we got them the same thing they got us! One of those digital picture frames that can hold a bunch of photos and display them like a slide show in a photo frame. We got my parents the same thing a few weeks earlier for Hanukkah. SO, we opened it and laughed. Then Mike calls his parents and tells them- wow I've never seen anything like that before and we told them to call us right before they open our gift. Then they see it was the same thing and everybody shares a good laugh. Too funny!

Our good friends' Kelly and Chris from back home also surprised us with a couple of bags of Peets' coffee and a toy for Cooper- Thanks guys that was super thoughtful of you!

Later on it the afternoon we had invited a few friends over for Christmas dinner. Well, let's be honest. Our only friends we have so far! :)

My coworkers Dawn and Chris and Chris' girlfriend Shirley. Dawn just moved out here from Cleveland to do what I do at ABC, she's also on our Trivia Night team. I'd also like to to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Dawn's mom. I hear she's a loyal blog reader. Hi Dawn's mom!

Chris Spitzer used to work at KXTV in Sacramento and he and Shirley are the ones that let me stay with them in Staten Island when I first came out here. Chris also does what I do at ABC.

I made a Turkey dinner- I just bought 2 Turkey breasts though. I cant bring myself to put my hand up the turkey carcass and plus I only like white meat anyways. I seasoned the heck out of them Sage, Garlic, Apples, Thyme, and Onions and baked them for about 2 hours. The house smelled great. I made a version of my Aunt Charlotte's stuffing and Mike made Green bean casserole. Dawn brought cheesy potatoes and lots of wine. Chris and Shirley brought dessert; an apple pie and yummy cookies along with Champagne.

All and all it was a great night.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and for those of you who don't celebrate it- I hope you had a nice Tuesday.