FestiveMidday, I went to hang out with B & Family and watch them assemble the annual Gingerbread House. B and middle-child A did the most work on it (2-year-old G alternated between helping and scarfing down the gumdrops and other candies that were supposed to go on the house). I told D (their oldest, 14), about my marshmallow shooters. Well, he had PVC pipe, a pipe-cutter and a bag of marshmallows...
What followed has already been referred to as "The Great Marshmallow War of 2005." While a straight piece of pipe doesn't look as cool, it still works quite well for shooting marshmallows. Soon all three kids (with occasional contributions from the adults) were sending fluffy white projectiles about the house. Fortunately, B and J seemed to be amused by it all. They did make a point of teaching G how to breath in before putting his mouth to the tube, but I was still anxious every time he loaded up (it would only take one marshmallow lodged partway down an esophagus to Ruin Christmas Forever). Fortunately, everybody survived. And their dog was very happy to clean up after, so all in all, it was quite a successful and enjoyable visit.
Then, for the second year in a row (a tradition which I wouldn't mind continuing), I attended the Maki's Heritage Dinner. This year's contributions were the Tasty Cranberry Salad that was always made for Thanksgiving (with gelatin, fresh cranberries, celery and walnuts), and Red & Green Mashed Potatoes (done with Food Coloring, not unripe spuds). We ate all sorts of delicious food, played a game of "Cranium", and
nmaki and AlphaMaki gave me a photobook of the first 24 Ask Dr. Eldritch comics! It was a little sad to have to go home, but I was fading, and they had to go tuck the kids into bed. I had a great time, and I'm very grateful for all the friends I've made through NaNoWriMo. (And in the Hard To Believe Category: I would swear that I drove from their house to mine in 20 minutes! So traffic isn't always bad on 26 Eastbound. At 10:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, you can drive the speed limit the whole way!) 