Obscure References to Dead Languages that Only I Knew to Be Hilarious

We always joke about how a typical Christmas day in my family was one hour in the morning with everybody opening their presents and then everyone spending the rest of the day in their own individual room by themselves reading a book they'd gotten--Dad in the living room, Mom in the basement, and the kids all upstairs in their own rooms. I just got back from a family reunion in Chicago, and apparently we've advanced a little since back in the day. Now we just stick to our own hotel rooms and use our laptops to check e-mail and occasionally instant message each other.

Seriously, the reunion was pretty fun. We stayed right downtown, we all tried to be really chill about how much touristy stuff to do, and we only discussed politics or religion when we were in self-selected groups, so everybody got along. Good times.

I am horrible with children.

I am horrible with children.

My conservationist brother-in-law scored us a behind-the-scenes tour at the aquarium. This catfish is humongous.

Gecko, failing at camouflage.

Ferris wheel at Navy Pier.

Lighthouse at Navy Pier.

Kidney Bean at Millennium Park.

Spitting Fountain at Millennium Park.

I also got to hang out with a buddy from grad school that's working on the Obama campaign and a hilarious friend of mine from junior high (watch a video of his) that is doing comedy in Chicago. We saw a long-form improv show at the Improv Olympic that was quite good. I volunteered for a bit they did in an interlude where I told them about my day and they acted out what my dreams for the night would be like that turned out quite well, especially since I gave them a lot of juicy family gossip to work with.