After putting up almost 40 pictures, now I feel better about why I'm operating at a slightly slower speed than normal today! Wow. I had an amazing time celebrating Christmas with my family in Boston, then enjoyed quality time with so many of our dear friends here in Jersey. Along the way, I was featured in someone's Instagram story who has over 400 THOUSAND followers. That's approximately 399 thousand more than me, lol. We will start our Epic Weekend In Pictures driving up to Mansfield, Massachusetts on Christmas Eve night. Can we make a rule that Christmas shouldn't happen on Wednesdays? Thank goodness it only falls that was once every 6 years or so. Once I got back up to my parents, everything immediately became well worth every minute of the 4 hour 15 minute drive. 4 hours and 15 minutes on Christmas Eve was good time, usually I can make it from Sussex County to Mansfield in 4 hours if there's zero traffic and we don't have to make any pit stops.
I was so excited to see my family I dropped everything, my suitcase, overnight bag, literally at the front door. I just couldn't wait to see them. Then immediately I got bear hugged by Sue and Jill, who have been our BFF's all of our lives. They were so excited to give me a Christmas present, and they had to leave within minutes. I told them they're both queens of efficiency! They gave me a hilarious plaque that reads "I'm Kind Of A Big Deal." They then gave Awesome Girlfriend Megan Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo socks! Unreal. They were definitely queens of efficiency. I told them they won Christmas in a span of 5 minutes and basically dropped the microphone. LOL.
After that, I was definitely ready for some Yule Tide Cheer. We enjoyed relaxing having a lower key than normal Christmas Eve party at The Allan Tavern. I was happy for that. Then before going to bed, Padre continued our tradition of reading Twas The Night Before Christmas to my sister, Wicked Awesome Suzanne. It's a tradition we've kept going for 32 years. I then realized that despite Christmas movies being on nonstop in November and December, I hadn't really watched any of them yet. Instead of going upstairs to my parents guest room, I stayed downstairs and looked for a Christmas movie. A Christmas Story had started, but I couldn't watch it that early knowing that it was going to be on the usual 24 hour loop and that I was going to see every part at least twice over the next day. I was so excited to see Elf with Will Ferrell come up on the guide. I was very happy to sleep to Elf.
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Despite missing Awesome Girlfriend Megan so much, I had a wonderful time with my family. While I would have loved to have Meg up with me, we agreed it was important for visit Awesome Mommy Rita. Meg's Mom is one of the sweetest, caring people you will ever meet, and we couldn't risk her being alone on Christmas Day. It's funny. When I met Meg over 3 years ago, I made the comment after our first date to a friend that I could immediately tell that Meg had one of the biggest hearts I had ever known. I think it's a safe bet we know exactly where that came from. Hopefully next year I end up with Meg in my Christmas stocking, lol.
Christmas morning I kept another tradition going. I usually wake up before everyone else. 19 years ago when The Grinch starring Jim Carrey came out on DVD, I was sooooo psyched. The Grinch has always been my favorite Christmas film. When I was fighting against getting a Christmas Tree, Awesome Girlfriend Megan made the comment several times "gee, no wonder why Steve's favorite Christmas movie is the Bleeping Grinch." Usually with the Allan Family tradition, by the time everyone else wakes up is when The Grinch is turning good and saves Christmas. My family are great sports and always support my tradition.
We had a wonderful time over at Grammy's in Mansfield (who we lovingly refer to as Captain Chaos.) My aunts and uncles are the best, I really have hit the jackpot in life. Aunty Donna, Leisure Paul, Aunty Peg, Uncle Buck, Aunty Carolyn and Uncle Dan, are always so amazing to me. Not only are they my Aunts and Uncles, they're also my best friends who have always been there for me.
My cousins are also so fantastic. We had one comedy gold moment where cousin Brandon brought over a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer because he won it at a Christmas party. I tried to drink one. I couldn't tell if it was skunky or that's just normally the way PBR tastes. Please don't ever put a PBR beer in my Christmas stocking. Ewwww gross.
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Day after Christmas, I went to Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place. It's one of my favorite places to go, and it's only a 12 minute drive from my parents house (on a non game or concert day that is.) I fell in love with a Bill Belichick gray t shirt that was named "the faces of Bill." It's absolutely hilarious, listing a wide range of emotions and showing Bill's face never changing. Even non Patriot fans agreed that this shirt is hilarious.
I then had such a wonderful time with my family between Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch and Bog Iron Brewery in Norton, Ma. Then my best friend who I grew up with, Chris visited us to say hi. I was so happy to give him a beer from Jersey that Meg was able to score for him, and celebrate that he just graduated from Paramedic school. I'm so proud of him. Thank goodness for those who can do that. I'm a fainter. I would be out of work after my first day.
Saturday morning, I was on the road by 5:20am to get back to work. I was able to successfully beat traffic, and make it to Hampton Diner for my burger breakfast of champions. They put me in an immediate food coma. Excellent work! I then hung out with my friend Wally Darwish at Audi Of Newton on Route 206. I was so happy to hear from Wally how great they're doing over there. I very much can't wait to work with him again this year.
With me being up in Boston Thursday, this made Pet Of The Week a little bit more complicated. I came up with the idea to do my Pet Of The Week on Saturday, on location at Father John's Animal House. We were able to showcase two amazing kitties who may have been to shy to come to our radio station, but are absolutely fantastic at the shelter and will be in homes. Potato and Phil. Phil totally looks like Grumpy Cat. These cats are adorable. You can see my Facebook Live video below.
Saturday night, I went to a birthday party hosted by my bestie Carrie. I think everyone could tell I wasn't myself because I was feeling a little rundown from work all day after my long drive back. Sometimes these Epic Weekends can take a toll on you, but it's well worth it when you get to see so many wonderful family and friends.
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Sunday, here we go. Our last regular season football Sunday at The Cottage. I had an uneasy feeling going into this Patriots game. People thought I was silly, and I kept explaining something bizarre always happens to the Patriots when we're playing against Miami Dolphins. Surely enough, UGH. Despite that, I had a great time watching with my Pats family, Mark, Kim, Lou, Jess, and Walt. Then my besties Sally and Douglioso showed up, and we enjoyed a Yule Tide Cheer beer with our buddy Ken. Then I did a congratulatory selfie with Markie our Dolphin fan buddy. He's so sweet, and said I'm the best at being a good sport.
I left The Cottage to go back home and lick my wounds after the Patriots lost. I get home and realize I have no power. I looked at myself and said "Steve, you paid the power bill, right?""" I then looked outside my place on Campus in Vernon and noticed the street lights were out too. That's a rarity. I then figured I'd bring my dying phone to Kite's at Minerals and have a beer with my bartender buddy Sam, and charge up my phone. I was very surprised to see that Minerals had no power either. Little did I know it was all of Vernon and then some! We still made the best of it and had fun in the dark. You can see more about the Power Outage of 2019 by clicking here. That power outage was something else. I had a drink by myself at home in the dark with 3 candles lit, said to myself "why don't I just go to bed at this point?"
This morning I woke up at 3:50am and couldn't tell what time it was because my phone was dead, and clocks were off. I then turned on my TV to see what time it was. Then for the next 5 minutes I probably resembled a caveman looking for my phone charger, which I kept in my jacket because I brought it with me to Minerals hoping for a charge. Once I found my charger, plugged it in my living room, I was just defeated and deflated and just went back to sleep on my couch in my living room. #WinningAtLife.
Overall, we had a wonderful weekend with so many family and friends. I hope you had a great holiday season with your loved ones too. Time to start planning next weekend!