The drive to Cincinnati was uneventful, and we arrived around 2AM EST. We quickly got some rest, in preparation for a busy weekend.

Friday morning came too quickly, but there was much to be done. We started off at Sears where Kim and her sister Bobbi had arranged to get a group photo of the six Hais children. It was going to be a Christmas gift for their parents, making it even harder to coordinate. Overall it went pretty smoothly, and turned out to be a great gift!

From there, we spent the afternoon at Perfect North, our first snowboard outing of the season. I picked up where I left off at the end of last season, and went an entire day without taking a painful fall. I still fell pretty often, but never had one of those sudden falls that makes you wish you never even attempted to snowboard. I cannot wait to get back out and do it some more.

After Kim’s brothers were sore enough, we dropped them off and then headed over to my parents house. We had a lovely Christmas dinner provided by Chipotle and then opened gifts. :) Afterward, my dad, brother, and I headed down to Paxton’s where my buddy Ken was bartending and Jon was drinking. We closed down the bar and then headed home to rest up.

Saturday started off with a little last minute shopping that Kim needed to do, along with lunch at LaRosa’s. We then headed over to my Aunt Stef’s house, to hang out and watch the Bengals game. Of course my goddaughter Emma was there. She is getting so big already, and can almost walk all on her own. It was a great time! I just wish the same could be said for the Bengals game…

My dad and brother were both at the game, along with just about all of my cousins on the Paff side. This made for a very interesting Christmas party after the game, one that will be remembered for years I’m sure. :) We went from this party to another one over at Kim’s parents’ house, for the Hais family Christmas. Since only a couple of people had been at the game, this party was much livelier. We even had some air hockey and ping pong tournaments going on in the basement.

Christmas morning was spent opening gifts with Kim’s immediate family. Later on in the afternoon we headed to my Grandparents’ house for a kegger…I mean Christmas party. My family had an extra keg that was still leftover from Pig-Fest and it made a very welcome addition to the Busch family Christmas party. We had to leave in the middle of the gift exchange there to make it to yet another party. This time it was at Kim’s aunt and uncle’s house for the Diersing Christmas, which was another great party!

Yesterday morning we woke up and soon enough we were back on the road to Kansas City. The nice thing about this drive was that it was completely free. We got so many gas gift cards for Christmas that we should be set, at least until next year!

My mom has some pictures of the various parties on her site.