When I was a kid, I always thought Christmas Eve was the most useless day of the year. Other than sitting around listening to X-mas music, what the hell is there to do? Of course, my tradition is to wrap all the gifts I bought � that turns out to be more of a frustration endeavor than anything else � and watch ESPN specials. Yep, you heard that right: �Best of Sportscenter� is on at 4:30, and �Games of the Year� is on at 7:00.

I suppose for a lot of people, there�s the whole Church thing going on today, in fact, I know people who go to church on X-mas Eve just for the sake of going to church � the only other times they set foot in one would be for a wedding or a funeral. I suppose we could call these People CWF�s, in the spirit of EC Catholics (those who only attend Christmas and Easter mass, and still contend to be �Catholic�).

So, I could use this opportunity to offer up a report on the Festivities of Saturday, specifically from 2-7pm at Anneke�s mom�s house in Redmond, in observance of Jon and Anneke�s Engagement � with some Haulidaze spirit thrown in.

I promised to be there Right At 2, mostly for the sake of humor. Why? Well, invitations will always give a start time, but no one in the history of social engagements has ever shown up At That Start Time. In fact, if you show up at the start time, the hosts are still running around madly setting things up, and you are inevitably asked to help. Humor at it�s greatest. People start to trickle in about 2:20, but it always strikes me (as was the case here) that a good number of the more �important� people (close friends, future bridesmaids, etc.) don�t show up until More Than Halfway Through! It�s all just so odd.

So, my theory on this whole thing is that starting Saturday, this whole thing from here until Aug 3rd is Anneke�s show. Jon is around to take up space and use oxygen, and speak on cue if necessary. I actually made an effort to dress nicely (Gasp!) and act presentable, and, other than a �moment� on the stairs with the Kitty (Tiffany) I think I did a bang-up job � by my standards. I�m sure a few people, who haven�t met me before (and most of Anneke�s friends have) left the function remembering me as �the weird guy.�

So, I was the first non-family member there, and was part of only a 2-man non-immediate-family �Jon Contingent� until another one of Jon�s friends showed up late in the show (about 5:00). I tried to �represent� as well as I could. Anneke�s going to have a goooooood looking Bridesmaid lineup, by all indications!