the first post-holiday post

any of you who heard about the total barf-o-rama at last year's holiday festivities will be pleased (or perhaps disappointed) to hear that nothing so eventful occurred this year. matt and i visited both his family in new hampshire and my family in vermont. gifts were exchanged, food was eaten, and a good time was had by all. jake joined us for the festivities. he got to spend some time relaxing at ruthann's before we brought him up to aaron and julie's, where he was one of five large dogs in a very small house. although a couple of the other dogs bullied him just a bit, he was most excited by and also afraid of julie and aaron's new kitten, bagheera. at one point, i actually watched the kitten chase jake around the sofa. that's our brave pup.