Above: Here I am in St. Louis in December 2006.  Notice the scarf and leather jacket - what’s wrong with looking like a World War II aviator?

Above Right: Here I am in St. Louis in December 2006 with my Niece Arianna.  I’m getting a lot of use out of the scarf and leather jacket motif here.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!  I finally decided to get back to my bachelor roots and celebrate through my own tribute to one of the most cherished of Christmas traditions, the tree from “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown.” 

Here’s my holiday decorating equation: 1 18” tree + 1 strand lights + 1 small box ornaments = decorations up in 45 seconds, down in 45 seconds. 

Above: Actually that wasn’t really me at all in those pictures.  It was freaking cold that night.  So cold, in fact, that I had a cardboard cutout of me made so my sister could take pictures of her kids next to it while I sat inside and ate about 36 dozen cookies.