Christmas is always a little bit of a blowout in the Crowley household. I feel that every year it gets a little more ridiculous than the year before, with this year being no exception. That's just a lot of presents to have under the tree.


For some reason Jonathan always makes out with the most loot. Oh wait, I forgot - that's because he's the favorite and my parents don't even love me.


Katie usually comes in a close second.


Me? I always get the fewest number of gifts. Sniffle.

Just kidding... but not about the number of gifts thing (beacuse I do always get the fewest).

But seriously, I actually made out like a superstar at Christmas. Jonathan hooked me up w/ a new GameBoy (and Zelda!), Katie hooked me up with some Syracuse stuff, I got a box of swedish fish, a gun that shoots bubbles (that didn't even work), 100 sweaters, a new fleece, a new pair of new snowboard goggles, a new rubix cube (my old one broke), some DVDs, a new baseball glove (er, Jonathan stole mine, remember?), a new can opener, a book on robots...


Katie got all hooked up with cowboy jacket, wanted dead or alive style.


Mom got hooked up with a cowboy hat.

(Did you pick up on the whole Western style "we're going to Colorado next week" theme?)

My parents usually aren't that hard to shop for. Some books, a sweater and maybe some Ted Williams stuff for my Dad. My mom is pretty good about putting together a list. This year, however, my Mom's list contained one unobtainable item - the six-inch frying pan.

As usual, I saved most of my Christmas shopping till the last minute (actually, I gave myself a few days this time - I think I started on the 22nd). Anyway, I searched far and wide for this 6" pan... I must have hit 20 stores in 2 days (no joke) - all the specialty stores, all the dept stores, all the fancy stores. It got to the point where I could walk into the pots and pans section of any store and tell the width of the pan by eyeballing it (oh, I'm that good). After two days, the best I could do was with a 6.5" pan that I scored at Williams & Sonoma. Knowing the frying pan landscape pretty well at this point, I knew this was as close as I was going to get.

"I'll take it," I said, knowingly accepting defeat. At this point, I'm figuring this is what my Mom must have felt like we added Super Mario 2 and Zelda II to our Christmas lists back in the Nintendo heyday. I was actually thinking that she knew there was no such thing as a 6" pan... some kind of sadistic payback for making her camp out at the Toys 'R Us back in the day.

Anyway... my brother, the amateur, had saved all his Christmas shopping till the 24th. He's heard about my quest for the perfect frying pan and foolishly thought he could trump my expertise. Sure enough, as my Dad and I are entertaining Gam and Anne over Christmas Eve appetizers, Jonathan calls from the mall claiming to have left with a 6" pan.

"Impossible," I say. Gam and Anne, by now familiar with the story, give him the benefit of the doubt (he is the favorite, afterall). I sit back and wait for Christmas morning showdown.


The moment finally arrives. It may be a close call to the untrained eye... (that's mine on the left, and Jonathan's on the right).


Though I think we all know the outcome (this time, me on the right, Jay on the left). There's no contest - the 6.5" is the winner. (Foolish Jonathan ended up picking up a 7.5" - never realizing that the width is etched on the bottom on the pan. Sucker.)


Now, not to steal the thunder from the frying pans or the First Christmas Gift of the Season, but it was my Dad who saved his best gift for last...


[you can almost feel the suspense]


... it's a calendar featuring my high school prom date! Jumping out of a pool! Clutching her breasts! Shining like a beacon of freedom! It's even autographed!


Yup - Ms. Andrea was featured in the 2003 Miss Mantown calendar this year. Don't ask why. Or how. Or what she did to get selected (er...).

What I can tell you is that AJ was nice enough to stop by Christmas Eve for a quick autograph session. ("To Big Dig, Have a great June! Love, Andrea xxxooo")


The aftermath... er, actually, this is more like half-time. Katie still has a pile of loot.


My mom's precious little ceramic village + Nomar the Battle Cat = good times.


A little shoutout to the snowman ice cream cake. Flaunting nips, of course.