Everything's just Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Marie.

Mashed potatoes and gravy. That's how this past Christmas went, just mashed potatoes and gravy; that is, other than the classic Christmas over-spend. Oh well, tis the season to be merry. "Well that's my name!" "No shit." Sorry, got all Chevy Chase there for a moment. This blog is starting off great, not only have I mentioned potatoes like crazy, I am also writing as if I have never communicated with a mass internet audience before; and we all know that's not true. Hell, these past few months I've come to see some of the finest Toastedblogs known to man. We all remember the one where I blasted Chumps! How about this classic, even ripping off the title from a line in Star Wars, and without his advice, would the Pacers be 2-1 in our last three games. More on this in a moment.

So, where was I?? Oh yeah!! Christmas. Well, everything certainly went well. As previously mentioned, I spent a bit of money and I find myself forced to live on $80 till next Friday. Yep, its going to be tight, especially with New Years coming up. Looks like I'm going to have to do a bit of pregaming before I go out that night. Or, just line my pockets with cans of Blatz. Anywho, so Christmas. It was nice to see Cory, his girlfriend Josalyn, my sister Katie, and her beloved chocolate lab Camy as they all came from Michigan for the holiday. I took full advantage of my having Friday off and completed my Christmas shopping, only stopping to have dinner with my father at the Spaghetti Warehouse while awaiting Cregg family arrival on Christmas Day due to having to work on Christmas Eve like a bunch of suckers. For those of you keeping score at home I had the chicken marsala, with merlot. That's wine!! I'm 5'11"!! Hee hee hee.

Moving on, Saturday was spent at home as Extended Cregg Family Christmas was held on Sunday. I did pretty well gift wise with my father, brother, and sister knowing what Toasts like. I got a few gift cards for the most fanciest of clothing retailers, Ren and Stimpy box set DVD, the extended version of Return of the King (which I cannot wait to watch), a sweater, a few dress shirts for the 9-5 businessman Toast and a hooded sweatshirt from the bar that my brother tends out in Michigan. Saturday was also the time to eat the first of what would be two consecutive turkey dinners which promptly knocked me out. Eating normal meals, no thank you; more wine and heavy gravy, Yes Please!! Afterwards I meet Mags for a few beers at the Blarney and the patented gift exchange. Hey, how bout that, I got America the Book, Singing for Dummies (the Toast cannot sing so well, you all know this), and an Atari Joystick that I plug into the T.V. to play a numbered selection of games, ranging from Pong to Asteroids all the way to Breakout and Centipede . Yay!!!! Quick side note, it took me over an hour to find my phillips head screwdriver just so I could play it. Tremendous dang it right there. Somehow, Toastedblog audience is not surprised by this. Damn you Phillips head!!! Sunday finds the Toast driving to Uncle Martin's house in Skaneateles for dinner and family time. Uncle Marty is very well to do, President of Chase Design and of the Skaneateles Polo Club, and dinner was held at his newly constructed superhome so it made for interesting conversation betwixt family members. I just sat with my Grandfather, Uncle Bob, Uncle Joe, and cousin Kerry and watched the Giants blow a fourth quarter lead to the Bengals. I conveniently stationed myself near the cheese and cracker tray and the shrimp cocktail. Good times, good times. Plus I had beer!!!

Now, for what really got my motor running over the weekend. Sunday night brought out the boys for an evening at the Change of Pace, complete with door prizes (I got an Old Style Coat with the name "Margie" inscribed on the chest that is a few sizes too small so it makes for the highest in high comedy), classic over-door prize with wings from Duffs, three point stances, bartenders getting angry at the Toast for trying to take Jitter out (just like I would have if Chumps were there and we did Oklahoma drills), fine holiday spirit, Jagermeister, surprise visit from MacGuyver Chuck and Leslie, bonus surprise visit from Chester and Jaime, super bonus surprise visit from Team Bo Hall Jaime, and everyone's favorite, Drunken Toastie. Needless to say it was a Festivus Miracle that got Uncle Jitter, Javen, and TT in town for the evening, but it was great to spend the holidays with some really great people, hang out and have a few beers, even if it was for just a little while. I hope you all liked your door prizes. Danny, we'll get you and Phelps soon. Especially Chumps!!

We interrupt this Toastedblog entry to bring you some late breaking footage. Syracuse University Head Football Coach Paul Pasqualoni has just been let go. Finally after over a decade of slowly, then rapidly driving the football program into the ground, something has been done. However, it will be difficult to replicate the success they had with such stars as Troy Nunes, R.J. Anderson, and Madei Williams (please note sarcasm, the statement depends on it). Oh....Toastie gettin' very upset.

Finally, here's some news that you've been waiting all day for. The Change O' Pacers are on a roll of late playing awfully well. We defeated a bunch of no talent hacks from the bar Chadwicks; a Steelers and Yankees bar here in Syracuse. Throw in the Bulls and you can't get any more bandwagon than that. Chadwicks is a team full of pricks and wigger punks who think they're shit don't stink and try to be flashy. Instead, they are just a few chubby assholes, one nice tall dude, and some shaved head piece of shit with a chinstrap beard that has tried messin' with the Toast on two separate occasions, only to get his comeuppance. What you trying to do esse', don't you know I'm loco!?!? Last time we played, Toolbox here stopped right in front of me at the foul line as I was running full speed just to block me from pursuing his teammate thus allowing him to dunk on an undefended net as time expired. This was while they were winning by 25 or so. Last night Toolbox tried something cheap again and the Toast, remembering who he was, wasn't going to let it slide. While trying to gain position on me for a rebound he tried to hook one of his arms under mine while getting low and trying to drive me away from the basket as he pushed up into me, almost like jumping out of a squat thrust right into my torso. Well, I know my limits when it comes to taking cheap shots, any of you who have really seen me play hockey or rugby know this for sure. My limit is, you have one that you can get away with, after that, it's your ass. So, as Toolbox was trying something he was sure was cheap and would work, I hooked my right arm around his at the elbow, threw my hip around low while I swung my right arm across my body, propelling him over my hip and dropping hard on this back and side. Dang it indeed! To get to the game, Willie Moe was shooting lights out, dropping about 27 points. Dino, our point guard who works with my father scored 23 points as they were both shooting rather well from beyond the three point line. My father added some key rebounds and Jaime Young, a kid with whom I went to College with and I recently ran into again, scored about 5 pts and also helped with some big boards as our inside presence. Billy came out with a Josh Pace type of game scoring 8 pts and having some nice passes and good work inside near the basket. Now we come to the player who has captured all of your hearts with his electrifying play and poor free throw shooting, that's right, the Toast chipped in on the offensive side as well missing his three shots that were taken. I did find myself at the free throw line for a few shots, going 1-4 down the stretch and icing the game for the Pacers with 14 seconds left not to mention a bunch of nice steals and rebounds. Final score, 63-58. Jitter, you win a chicken wing pizza for the Toast hitting one free throw. See Willie Moe Pena to collect your prize. Good times, good times.