Christmas, Part 1

A good kickoff to the Christmas week, celebrating at home with family and friends.

Good thing we have a big table!

Holiday fun with athenistas

One of the best parts about leading multiple teams at athena is the multiple team holiday parties!

Tuesday evening was the HR party, held at a bar nearby campus.

And then Wednesday was the legal department, my original group, at Lucky Strike in Sommerville... where we all got to be children for a couple of hours.

This is such a great group. I've been very fortunate these past seven years to work with such fun people.

Good friends, lousy game

Had a group of Hollistonians over to watch the Patriots soil themselves in Pittsburgh Sunday. Good times at our house though!

The Reason for the Season

For going on a decade, the Haley family have sponsored children at Christmas through the Holiday Dreams Foundation, a wonderful local charitable organization started by a childhood friends of mine, that has grown to support over 1,000 underprivileged families per year in the Greater Boston area. This year, my colleagues at athenahealth pitched in to sponsor over 100 kids, filling out their holiday wish lists, and providing the gifts, unwrapped, to the families to integrate into their celebrations.

Today I drove a U-Haul to work, and parked it in the lot. Through the course of the day, my wonderful friends and colleagues filled it to overflowing with clothes and toys for the kids.

Tonight, Syl and I packed up our own bags for the four kids we are sponsoring, and then added them to the pile for delivery to Holliston tomorrow.

One of the kids said on her list that she is in to art, so Syl rounded up some art supplies she hadn't opened yet, and added them to the bag.

There is a ton of Christmas spirit in our house this year!

The next day we got to play Santa, driving a truck FULL of toys and gifts to Holliston, where we unloaded into an absolute Santa's workshop garage, brimming to bursting with goodies. Then we got to go to yet another collection point, fill the truck again, and bring those gifts back! What a great way for Syl and me to spend a Saturday afternoon.

All that hard work called for a stop at an old favorite haunt, C&L Frosty, for some grilled cheese sandwiches. As it happened, we arrived just before close on their last day of the season--so these are the final GCs off of C&L's griddle this year!

Winter band concert

Feeling like Christmas

No snow yet, but the outdoor lights are up, and this weekend Syl and I took care of the tree...

She picked a good one. Douglas Fir.

Troll.

Paper Kites

Melissa decided her favorite band is the Paper Kites.

Melissa discovered the Paper Kites were coming to perform at the iconic Paradise Rock Club in Allston.

Melissa got tickets for us and the O'Learys, despite the fact that the show was on a Tuesday night (!!!).

Who is this woman inhabiting my wife's body, you ask?

I do not know for sure. But she certainly looks like she had a great time at the Paper Kites!

The Turkey Tango

Syl is in the first row on the stage in the middle (behind the guy with the pink hair).