Christmas 2000

This is Corey. He lived with my parents at the time, so of course he was there for the festivities.

Corey

My dad’s parents came to our house for a visit.

Grandma & Grandpa Decker

 Dad was happy to see his folks.

Deckers

Here we all are! On the left side, that’s Yuichi (the guy sister P was dating), my grandmother, me, sister Lindsay, sister Patricia, Dad, and my grandfather.

Decker grandparents, Dad, sisters, Yuichi

Later that night, there was a dinner. There’s Corey, Lindsay, Patricia, Yuichi, and Dad helping themselves.

Dinner: Corey, Lindsay, Patricia, Yuichi, Dad

We had Heather (who used to live with my parents) and her younger sister Sam there too, and on my other side is my mom’s ‘Net friend Bill.

Dinner: Heather, Sam, Ivy, Bill

Gotta get the whole table! There’s the backs of Yuichi’s and Dad’s heads, and then you see Heather, Sam, and me (with my mouth full embarrassingly).

Dinner: Heather, Sam, Ivy

Rare shot! Mom almost never sits down, but there she is!

Dinner: Mom actually sat down

Yuichi plays piano, you know. Nice pose, guys.

Yuichi & Patricia

After the dinner, we all played a group game. Kind of a tradition in our house.

Game tradition

 

Here’s the first of many gift-opening shots. Mom and me.

Opening gifts

Mom’s a gift

Opening gifts

Opening gifts

Opening gifts

Opening gifts

Opening gifts

Haha

This is something called a ha-ha circle! Get your friends together, lie on each other’s stomachs in a circle, and someone starts giggling. Eventually everyone is roaring and there is no way to stop it except to stand up.

Haha Circle

That’s it, we’re gone.

Haha Circle

Here is a series of pictures from when a very strange boy named Seth managed to shove himself completely into a JC Penney’s bag. His “hatching” is documented here.

Seth in a bag

Seth in a bag

Seth in a bag

Seth in a bag

 

And here are a series of pictures of me doing semi-perverted things with an inflatable sheep that Jessica and Ron got for a wedding present. Oh my.

Sheep is nice

Sheep is nice

Sleeping on sofa

Jessica’s Wedding

Jessica and Ron at their wedding reception, having their first dance as children attack them with airborne bubbles. (I don’t have any pictures from the actual wedding, as it was not open to the public.)

Jess & Ron with bubbles

This is the freaks table at the reception: Jessica’s friends. Here is me visiting them. (Fred and I were actually seated at the long front table with Jessica and Ron.)

The Freak Table

There were shells all over the table and I gave Fred the idea to put two of them behind his glasses. Isn’t it cute?

Fred with shell eyes

The wedding cake.

Jessica’s wedding cake

Jes and Ron cutting their cake.

Jess & Ron’s cake

And it’s Jes and Ron *eating* their cake. Oh, isn’t it cute, barf barf.

Jess & Ron fed each other cake

Silly traditional wedding things . . . Jessica’s about to throw her bouquet here. Observe how I’m attempting to get out of the way.

I hid from the bouquet

It’s the wedding crowd doing the chicken dance! AHH!

Chicken dance

This is me and Fred with Jessica’s mom. I am making an inexplicably weird face!

Me with Fred and Jess’s mom

After the reception, there was a real party. Observe Jes and her friends in the pool.

Friends on the raft

Here’s where I spent most of the party, on the side of the pool talking to my new friend Steven, who is quite nice, a good listener and has stuff to say besides.

Pool party

Steven, the Leader of the Penguin Tribe, is swearing fealty to me, Queen Ivy and High Priestess of Budgiland.

New friend Steve kneels to me

I liked this rope swing. I spent lots of time there during this party. (Mostly talking to Steven and watching the pool partiers frolic.)

Rope swing

It was nice and shady there.

With Steve in the shade

Jessica’s Pre-Wedding Dinner

We went to help Jessica decorate the place where she’d be having her reception, and a flower was broken. Here’s me holding the flower . . . and Fred holding the stem.

Flower and stem

I can make crowns out of napkins. Here is me wearing one I made out of my napkin, at a dinner party that took place the night before Jessica’s wedding.

Crown napkin at rehearsal dinner

Here’s Fred wearing the crown I made out of his napkin. This is my favorite picture of Fred from this vacation.

Crown napkin at rehearsal dinner

This is me and Jessica at this same party. It was very loud in the room and we were probably attempting to speak to each other.

Hanging with Jess at the dinner

Jessica and her mom at the party. Just an amusing moment.

Jessica with her mom

Hijinks with Jessica

Fred liked the exercise bike in Jessica and Ron’s apartment. We had a joke that when he pedaled, it powered the computer.

Fred tries the bike

Jessica and Fred engage in mortal combat. Fred is obviously the loser in this particular fight.

Jess runs Fred through

Jessica did my hair like Princess Leia, and I took her lightsaber and attacked Darth Maul, puppeted by the happy-go-lucky Fred.

Fighting Darth Maul

Fred was unwise to fall asleep in the same room as four pranksters. We decorated him.

Fred sleeps and gets decorated

Imagine waking up to find you are covered with stuffed animals, a banana, and a paper umbrella with tape on your glasses? D’oh.

Fred awakens decorated

Golf with Fred

Here’s the next morning. I was getting ready to go out mini-golfing, and decided to show Fred what I looked like with my hair tucked into my shirt!

Pretending to have short hair

At Putt-Putt, Fred mini-golfing.

Fred at Putt-Putt

A similar picture of me golfing. Exciting, I know.

Ivy at Putt-Putt

Errands with Fred

Here’s me with my little cat ears headband on. Look! I’m from Josie and the Pussycats!

Cat ears

When we got back to Gainesville, we visited some shops. I like Books Inc.

At the bookstore

Fred had never had “grits” before, as it is sort of a Southern food. He had ordered some in the restaurant but we didn’t have the camera then. Here’s our memory of his experience with grits.

Fred likes grits

Me in the store with bananas, and a Chiquita sticker on my head!

Ivy likes bananas

At Mother Earth they had these cool cheesecakes. Fred stocked up.

Stocking up on cheesecake

Population

Here’s me with a big blow-up bat with which I was preparing to smack Fred, probably.

A big bat

Here’s Fred riding a bike to the picnic we were going to have.

Fred rides my bike

We had our picnic on a roof; here is me on the wall that is around the outside of the roof.

Lounging on the wall

And here’s me on the wall again, because Fred seems to be camera-happy.

Sitting on the wall

There’s Fred enjoying the food of the picnic.

Fred enjoying the roof picnic

There’s me, also picnicking.

Ivy enjoying the roof picnic

After lunch we played my game, The Phantom Whistler. On a second-story roof, I whistle and then see if the people on the ground figure out where the sound is coming from.

Whistling at passersby

These are some people we photographed who were walking by while I was whistling. Hehe!

People walking by on the ground

There’s me populating! Another one of my pranks: I made little men out of clay and give them roof-pebble heads, and place them all over the music building in a mini-men invasion.

Hiding clay men in the wall

Fred helped. 🙂

Hiding clay men in the wall