The One With the Celtics Game

 

 

 

Tonight, we did something new on Thanksgiving Eve. We attended a Celtics game.

 Now, with this being an off year because of Jayson Tatum's injury, the team has been average at best. As a result, I didn't expect much from this game. Along with that, the team was playing the Detroit Pistons, who were on a 13 game winning streak. I assumed it would be 14 by the end of the night.

 Because it was a release day, I zipped home. The game was an NBA cup game, so it had a 5 PM tip off...which was wild!

We had our foray to Outback, like we do most Thanksgiving Eves and then went to the game. We arrived with about 20 minutes to spare. We had seats behind the basket on the team bench side. The seats were great.

However, even better than the seats was the excitement of the game. It was the best game I had been to since the Celtics played the Pistons in Double OT years ago. The game went back and forth with multiple lead changes, horrific officiating, and a raucous crowd.

The Celtics pulled off the win in the end...which meant we weren't leaving early like normal.

Great game!!

 

The One With Sentimental Value

 

 

Kiff and I went to see the movie Sentimental Value tonight. Truth be told, I wasn't too sure what to expect....but when Kiff told me there would be subtitles right before we left, well I was not quite as excited to be there.

But, as he reminded me, the last two times I saw movies with subtitles with him, I enjoyed them. And, lo and behold, he was right. Despite the fact half of the movie was in Norwegian, the story was compelling and moving - showing how a fractured relationship between a director and his daughters is slowly repaired.

 Overall, a good movie. While we were enjoying, Emmie was out at a paint night, and Bri was at UMass enjoying a play. All of us had a fun night. 

The One Where Kiff Performs at Danvers Veterans Day

 

 

 

On Veterans Day, Kiff had the honor of performing in the Veterans Day ceremony at DHS. It was a poignant ceremony, complete with speeches, dance performances, singing, and the DHS band.

 Following the ceremony, we had the chance to watch Kiff perform Taps outside. Last year he was the shadow, but this year he was the lead. For some reason, I was unable to attend last year, but fortunately, I could be there this year and it was an amazing ceremony.

Kiff did great!!! 

The One With the Veterans Day Parade

 

 

 

 

Today, we have the opportunity to go to yet another Boston Veterans Day Parade. This time, only Kiff was in the band (unlike the past few years, before Bri went to college, and they were both in it). The day started off a little bit raining....but ended up clearing beautifully by the time the parade stepped off.

Nancy came to join us, which was a lot of fun. We drove in and parked in our normal lot and then walked up City Hall Plaza to get to our spot on the Common. There were several other Danvers Falcon parents there as well.

 The winds started picking up as the Danvers band turned the corner of Tremont Street. But, nothing would take away from the performance of the military marches as they passed by with the color guard in the front. Kiff looked focused in the middle of the front row of the trumpets.

They passed quick and we followed along until the stopping point at the plaza. The Falcon band took a picture and then ventured off to the buses. They were going to stay in Fanieul Hall for lunch. Emmie, Nancy, and I did the same thing, enjoying some chowder before heading off. 

Overall it was an amazing day. 

The One With the Veterans Day Breakfast

 

 

 

 

Today, we had the annual Veterans Day Breakfast at Kennedy. It was the 23rd annual ceremony.  As always, it was an amazing ceremony. However, going into it, we were wondering how it was going to be.

 First, and sadly, many of our veterans who were staples are no longer able to attend. Sadly, we have lost several of our World War II and Korean War veterans in the past few years. And, with the government shutdown, some of our local facilities were unavailable.

Still, we ended up having 25 veterans and active service people show up, which was awesome.

Adding to the fun of the day was our attempt to do things a little bit differently this year. We decided to have more rotations - three downstair and four upstairs. We decided to add a few new elements as well. We made sure to add a poem, a reading, and an introduction all read by students. We also had opening remarks by Brian (Jeff was out on paternity leave) and me. 

It ended up being an amazing day. To top it off, I reconnected with a former Troop Seven member, Matt, who was also a veteran. All and all, it was a great day!

The One With Frankenstein

 

 

Tonight, we ventured into Coolidge Corner to catch the latest edition to the Frankenstein movie franchise - the updated Frankenstein.

It was one of those artsy movies that Kiff enjoys going to, with the guy from Star Wars last three movies in the lead as the doctor.

I did not know what to expect - and coming into a crowded movie theater late didn't help (though Kiff made a deal with the other people in the row to make sure we got to our seats. However, as the movie would prove, I was pleasantly surprised. It followed the canon of the novel more so than typical Frankenstein movies...incorporating elements of Mary Shelly's classic tale including the tale of the blind man and the ending in the Arctic. But, there was plenty of homage to classic Universal Frankenstein as well.

In the end, it was a spectacular movie and one I would give an "A" to. In fact, it was so well done that people applauded in the theater when it was done. What a great movie.