As an early Christmas present Peter and Maria took Aaron and I and James and Chrissy to see comedian Brian Regan at the Orpheum in Boston. Regan put on a great show combining some new material with some old. Surprisingly enough he did an encore segment and took requests from the audience of their favorite bits (Pop Tart, Flipper, Snow Cone), and then proceeded to botch the jokes. It was still hysterical and we had a great time. Thanks Peter and Maria!

So this past weekend, Aaron and I, along with my Mom and Dad, Amy and Joe, Peter (without Maria, who unfortunately had to do work), and James and Chrissy all went to a tree farm to cut down our own Christmas trees. It was snowing slightly and a bit cold, but felt very festive. I opted for a smaller tree this year, as Aaron really isn’t interested in decorating a Christmas tree. Last year we had a large tree and I was so overwhelmed by the prospect of decorating it, I never got beyond the lights. Click on the photo above to see the full album from our adventure at the tree farm. Please note, the photo album is actually two pages/screens long, and the final photo is the decorated tree.

We went to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts with my mom and Amy and Joe. The MFA website describes the exhibit as:

…Drawn from the world’s largest private holding of his work, rarely seen photographs from the 1920s through the ’70s are hung side by side with iconic images of the West and Southwest.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit and was awed by Adams’ beautiful black and white photos. Being a long time fan of his work, I found that there was not much in the show that was new to me. However, the above photo, Burnt Stump and New Grass, was my favorite of those I had never seen before. The show has recently been extended through January, so if you have a chance, it’s definitely worth seeing.

Afterwords we had a yummy stir-fry dinner at Betty’s Wok and Noodle. I highly recommend the curried onion rings.

Aaron and I are both fans of the Harry Potter series, both the books and the movies. We recently saw and enjoyed the 4th movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I continue to think that Rupert Grint, who plays Ron, is the best actor in the bunch. And as with each of the previous films, I think the movie relies heavily on its audience having already read the book – which I suppose is probably a pretty safe assumption. That said, I loved the tournament trials and the addition of Ralph Fiennes to the cast as Lord Voldemort.

We recently saw Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biography, with a group of friends and were not disappointed by the greatly hyped film. Although we all agreed the story itself is offered nothing new, the portrayals of both Cash (by Joaquin Phoenix) and June Carter (by Reese Witherspoon) were excellent. The most impressive moments of the film were those when Phoenix was singing – I’d say only Cash himself could have done it better.