harbormoon.com

Is it true that Christmas is just six days from today? Where does the time go? At least we are savvy enough to do all of our holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, having learned that lesson the hard way more than once. Going to the malls at this time of year is like leaping off a cliff and hoping that you miraculously sprout wings on the way down.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas a few days early when Jeff’s brother and his family roll into town. Greg is stationed down in Norfolk with the Navy and has another year of sea duty before he hopes to take on an assignment closer to his family as well as his wife Becca’s family. They have two boys, Austin and Ethan, and we have not seen any of them since their last visit a year ago. Of course, they have yet to meet their niece, Lea, so that should be exciting.

Otherwise, today is just another Monday with Jeff back at work and Tiffany holding down the fort at home.

This photos is Jeff with his best friend from college, Ben Haas, who also happened to be the best man at our wedding. This was taken at the first game of the World Series in 2004, which Boston won, 11-9.

Ben is heading to NYC at the end of the year to start a new job. We got to spend the afternoon today with him watching the Pats game together as we have done so for the past four or five years. Though he appeared subdued about the whole affair, we can tell that he is very excited to be heading there. Plus, it will put him closer to his girlfriend, Alex, who lives in Brooklyn and whom we haven’t met yet, though we have seen pictures and she is cute! Ben was also nice enough to give us a box of delicious cannolis, which Tiffany can’t eat because of Lea’s allergies but nevertheless were enjoyed by Jakob and Jeff.

We wish him all the best in his new endeavor!

What a game by New England today at Foxboro against the mighty Tampa Bay Bucs. Even with temperatures below 40°C, which historically spells a loss for Tampa in years past, and a chance to clinch the division at home in front of a boistorous crowd, an easy win was not expected. Instead, the Patriots scored a touchdown on their first possession, grabbed two quick TDs before the end of the first half, and kept quarterback Chris Simms and the Bucs’ offense off the scoreboard as they easily dominated play on both sides of the ball and won, 28-0. Tom Brady was near perfect with 3 TD passes, no INTs, and 258 yards in the air – MVP! MVP! MVP!

After a tough loss to KC on Thanksgiving weekend, the Patriots have reeled off three straight wins and are 5-1 after starting 4-4 in the first half of the season. Now its a Monday Night game against the Jets the day after Christmas followed by a season-ender at home against the Fish. Don’t look now, but perhaps reports of a Patriots demise have been greatly exaggerated. As it stands, New England will play Indianapolis at the RCA Dome in the second round of the playoffs, should they get past an opening-round matchup at home against… Jacksonville, perhaps?

One of our dear friends offered to watch the two kids this evening while we went and saw King Kong at the local cinema. As I have seen the original movie from 1933, Peter Jackson (same guy who directed the Rings trilogy) did a nice job staying somewhat true to the original, with some obvious nods here and there. However, he also added his own touch and made it his own (a $180 million budget helped with that!).

Actually, the only negative comment I had was that the camera movement was a little jerky at some points and, in a few instances, I started getting nauseous. I don’t know where that came from but it was a rather unpleasant feeling. It was like when I crew in the summer on our friend’s boat and I stay below deck for too long. Tiffany even got a little woozy near the end when the camera is panning around the cityscape.

In either case, go see it if you have the chance but don’t bring your little kids because there are some gruesome parts (we won’t go into detail). We wouldn’t say that it rises to the same level as the trilogy but a great job nonetheless.

Yesterday afternoon, Tiffany was home tooling around the house when she heard some cries coming from the deck outside the side door. Turns out that there was a little orange tiger cat (kitten, actually) freezing itself out there. Luckily for us, we have the Have-A-Heart trap because the kitten would not allow Tiffany to come anywhere close to him and, with some tempting Tender Vittles, caught him before I got home. Note: The photo is NOT a picture of the cat but he looks pretty similar.

A trip to the vet revealed worms but no fleas. It also appears to be feral. Right now, he’s staying in residence in the bathroom and one of our neighbors is considering whether to adopt him, as they recently lost their cat and had also seen this kitten running around the neighborhood looking for scraps and such. I’m not sure if we would take him because (a) we already have two cats and two kids, and (b) he may or may not have feline HIV, meaning that he would have to be an “only cat” if he were to find a home. Right now, we are looking to send him to Kitty Angels, a local non-profit no-kill shelter where hopefully someone will come and adopt him.

Please, folks, have your pets spayed or neutered if you don’t have the decency to care for these beautiful creatures. It breaks your heart to see a ten-week-old kitten trying to fend for itself in the middle of December with the nighttime temperatures dipping below 0°F… at least, it breaks ours.

It was only yesterday that Bill Mueller scorched a single between Mariano Rivera‘s legs in Game Four of the 2004 ALCS and pushed Dave Roberts across the plate, setting up what became the most improbable comeback ever in baseball playoff history. Now, as the Sox set sail in a new direction, another one of the 25 from that magical 2004 team is gone, with the beloved third baseman signing with the storied Dodgers today.

Of course, you can point out that he’s 34 and that he’s already had surgery on both knees, not something you want to see on an infielder’s résume, but Red Sox Nation will miss him for sure. Best of luck to you in Los Angeles!

She’s officially three months old today – time flies!

We sat down for dinner at home the other night and included on our plates were salt potatoes (an upstate New York summer staple). Jakob took one look at them and said: “Rocks.” He also wouldn’t try them. Now, isn’t that a terrible commentary on Mommy’s cooking? *lol*

Boston Red Sox President/CEO Larry Lucchino announced last night that, to replace former GM Theo Epstein, the Sox have promoted Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer, two former Epstein understudies, to co-general managers. Our only thought is: when they come to an impasse on a personnel decision, will they use paper-rock-scissors? Best two-out-of-three? Well, with the matter of Johnny Damon’s return still hanging in the balance, it should be intersting to see what happens.

Our money is in for next year’s season tickets and it looks like, after splitting with our group, we will have another eight games or so, not counting potential playoff contests. Same seats in Section 29… with snow on the ground outside it seems like spring is far off in the future.

We played around with the site a bit this evening and did update the header so that it rotates between about two dozen choices, including ones with the kids as well as some random shots that we’ve taken over the years. We are still working on adding recent photos to the mix, too, as well as bringing back some of the “classics.” Stay tuned!

Today being Sunday meant football all afternoon on the tube, though we caught just the second half of a game between our beloved Patriots and the Bills, who New England easily beat in the snow to move to 8-5. Now, a win or a Miami loss clinches the AFC East for the third straight season. Making it back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl wins, however, is a different story.

Well, even though the chances of a championship three-peat appear slim at best, you can never count out Bill Belichik and crew, at least not in recent memory. Go Patsies! Tom Brady, the thinking man’s MVP…