Just dropping a quick post to share the pictures from our day. Den, Amy, Grandma Betty, Hilary and I took the 2-hour ride down to Concord, NH to eat, visit and open gifts.

It was great to see the rest of the Stanley family. I think it’s safe to say that we all had our fill of food, drink and dessert.

The photoset is up on Hilary’s flickr page

Alley and Oreo have been enjoying eachother’s company with impromptu wrestling sessions. Hilary got to visit with Karissa, a good friend from RIT that now lives in Maine. Tonight we’re making the mad dash to wrap our gifts, maneuver around dogs and visit with each other.

In our selfish need for an Internet connection, Hilary and I made a trip to Best Buy to treat Den to an early Christmas present that he didn’t know he needed — a wireless router. We’ve been entertaining Grandma Betty with Hilary’s powerbook – showing her Hilary’s photos, funny videos amassed from the Internet and other wonders like online maps. Lots of love to those of you that aren’t nearby. I’m sure there will be a post-Christmas update with all of our new toys and pictures!

Tacky light hunting season is here, and Buffalo is full of excellent examples. Before the season ends, Hilary and I will be braving the winter roads to capture the best of the best. I do, however, need to tell everybody about the crowning jewel of tacky light hunting. We found it a few years ago (Hilary, is that a good estimation of time?) while driving back and forth from our apartment in West Henrietta, NY to RIT. Off of East River Road there is a small house. Christmas spirit wasn’t high at this house. There were no Christmas lights outside. No blinking or flashing. No tree in the living room window. Not even a plastic nativity scene. The front window wasn’t bare, rather it was filled with a blue and pink glow. Neon. Not just any neon though. This was reverent neon.

We never captured a picture of the home’s devout lighting. We’ve talked about making trips back to Rochester in the hopes that we could take pictures for memories. I’ve considered sending hired-guns to snap a photo. I tried to describe the experience to co-workers. I’ve searched google. I’ve searched flickr. Today, Hilary found it.

Tacky lighting engineers should look up to this home. Succinct and bold. I still intend to get a photo of my own… someday. I also have every reason to believe that this is the exact sign that we first saw, given that the owner of the site where the photo is hosted is from Utica and went to RIT for a time. Happy Birthday Jesus, happy birthday indeed.