...I was born. Ok, so it wasn't THAT long ago and not really THAT far away, but it just makes the story sound better. Since I was young I have always loved Christmas (even though the first 2 photos could lead you to think otherwise). Of course I liked the part about getting presents, but it wasn't just that. The day we put up (actually assembled) the tree and decorated it was always a special day to me! We would play Christmas music (We had albums back then. I remember liking the one we got free from Firestone!) My favorite song to play while decorating the tree was "We need a little Christmas" sung by Angela Lansbury! My brother would always hang an ornament way at the bottom of the tree, hanging really low... and my mom would always move it.

On Christmas morning, after we opened our presents (and took the obligatory photo of us under the tree displaying what we got), we would have breakfast. My breakfast always consisted of My mom's homemade fruitcake, which was GOOD, not like the kind you get from the store!. (Maybe it was the fact that it was saturated with Brandy, that made me like it so much?) Alongside the fruitcake I would have a glass of eggnog with nutmeg sprinkled on top! (I didn't care about cholesterol in those days!)
Notice the wreath in the background of this photo that was made out of IBM computer punchcards, and then spray painted with gold paint? It's a shame we can't make those anymore, isn't it?

...I moved out on my own. It was nice being on my own (Ok, so I lived with my brother and an Italian guy named Al). But Christmas just wasn't the same. After a few years out in the world "on my own" I decided that maybe I would start a new tradition of my own! I wanted to have a Christmas party, but I wanted it to have it's own identity. I liked egg nog and thought "Nog•fest" sounded good and sounded like fun. I was afraid to commit to anything for more than one year, so I called it "The First and Possibly Last Annual Holiday Nog•fest" (you can see a pdf of that first invitation from 1988). (Notice the nice use of fonts and color! Graphic design (and I think I, too) have come a long way. That first year I was living with my friend Faith in a 2 bedroom apartment. We had about 20 people there. We served regular Nog with Brandy and Rum to mix in if you wanted to. Everyone got really full and sat around. (we have lighter nog now!). But, it was successful enough to continue the tradition. My niece Emily has been in every invitation since the 2nd annual Nog•fest! She is 18 this year! If you want, you can see her in her first Nog•fest invitation appearance from 1989!

After 2 years of having Nog•fest in my apartment, my then "boyfriend" Harry said "why don't we have it at my house?" I said "OK, are ya sure?" His answer is obvious, so in 1990 we moved the party to Lacy road. I always wore Christmassy outfits to the party, and I eventually got Harry to as well (he will wear whatever I tell him to wear basically!). In 1991, we were decorating the day of the party and Harry said "hey! why don't we have a picture room where people can take their pictures?" I said "Are ya sure?" (since it was HIS house after all), and he said "sure!". So we quickly created a makeshift picture room with a backdrop that was too narrow, But it was fun anyway! As the years went by, Harry asked me more questions, like "Why don't we have people wear noggy costumes and have a parade of costumes and a costume contest?" and "Why don't we have a gift exchange?" and "Since the party is getting so big, why don't we have a food drive?". He also asked me the real question I was waiting for: "Will you marry me and we can have Nog•fest together forever?" I said "YEAH".

...more questions came up like "How can we have all these people (with costumes on) in our house without having a fire or something?" So we moved it to our current venue. It seems that every year Nog•fest gets bigger and better (and also more time consuming). The invitation, the decorations, prizes, costumes, photos, food, drink, you name it! We even had a stage built by our friend Fishhead Ted for our parade of costumes. We had had a small version of the UW Marching band at the party several times (thanks Billy!) and many very creative and outlandish costumes over the year. Every year we have a costume we have never had at Nog•fest before! We love it and consider it our Christmas gift to all of our friends. But now the question is "How long can we continue to do this?" Well, we are planning on ending with Nog•fest 20, which will be on December 8, 2007. So, if you haven't experienced Nog•fest yet, I would highly recommend doing it soon! Now go work on your costume!