My Christmas started with my friend Amber coming over. We had a couple of beers, traded presents and we went to the bar where we first met. And then...
The fucking MBIP camera had no memory chip in it. I took it out for yesterday’s post and forgot to put it back in. I hate the MBIP camera! HATE HATE HATE it, especially on Christmas where I’m not really a fan of the holiday, all though it is fun to meet up and hang out, like on Christmas Eve and on Christmas where I have some really fun traditions going on.
The latest was having dinner with Nathalie, who’s become a friend of mine this year and we had a really fun dinner on December 23rd and we plan on doing this every year from here on in! I’m looking forward to next year already!
The next was having Christmas Eve at Chili’s! I’ve been going there for 23 years now and this year the people that showed up were, from left, Joe, Amber, Bebe, Paul, Yours Fooly, Kathy and Steve. Courtney, our super-cute waitress took the picture.
And my last and my favorite Christmas tradition started five years ago here at the Last Chance bar in Alta, Illinois. Before I get into that, let’s take a look around in here. This is one of the few bars open on Christmas afternoon! Amber’s taking the photos since I was so brutally betrayed by the MBIP camera once again! Thanks to Amber for stepping up and doing the MBIP photos with her phone on this Christmas afternoon. They’re great photos and she did a wonderful job!
Angie was the bartender on duty and it really doesn’t get much cuter than this! We loved her holiday outfit and she’s too pretty for words! Angie was the bartender last year when we were here and it was great to see her again!
There’s pool tables in the back of the bar and a festive smoking room behind them.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, here’s Kathleen, who was here last year! So good to see her again!
Here’s Amber’s boyfriend, Joe, who’s joining in on this tradition for the first time this year.
And here’s a selfie of Amber and myself. Five years ago on Christmas I was in here doing my 365 Bar Crawl post for my blog and I was supposed to meet Justin Glawe, who I had never met, but he was doing a Peoria bar blog and we had been corresponding via email and we agreed to meet here on Christmas afternoon. Well, Christmas afternoon arrived and Justin didn’t show up, instead...
This pretty woman walked up to me and said, “You’re Marty, right?” I said I was and asked who she was and she told me her name was Amber and that Justin couldn’t make it so he asked her if she could come and meet me! I remember telling her that was fine with me because she was a lot better looking than Justin anyway. We had a couple of beers and a nice conversation and she took part in the last staged photo of the day.
After she left, my dad asked me who she was and I remember saying, “Her name’s Amber, she was really cool, but I’ll never see her again.” And we went back to have Christmas dinner at my parent’s house. Then two years went by...
I lost my job in New York at the beginning of 2012 and moved back to Peoria in October of 2012. I started the blog on December 10th of 2012. Eleven months after starting the blog I wandered into the Costume Trunk in October and goofed around with Steve Spain, the owner of The Costume Trunk about getting some plastic chickens. While there I noticed some flyers from a dental office about getting customized novelty teeth made for Halloween. I asked Steve about it and he said some people from a Dental office, All Smile Dental Care had dropped them off and that’s about all he knew, except he said they seemed like kind of eccentric people. Customized novelty teeth and eccentric people? Well, that sure sounded great to me, so I went home, called the office and talked to a woman named, Danielle who said I could definitely come in to the office and do a blog on the novelty teeth.
So a few days later I went to All Smiles Dental Care.
I met Danielle who was up front in the reception area. We immediately started kidding around and I loved her right off the bat! After chatting for a bit, she told me there was a woman who worked there who was from my past. I told her I didn’t know if that was good news or not!
Then Peggy and Amber came out and I couldn’t believe I was meeting Amber again! We talked and agreed to hang out and Amber’s become one of my best friends in the world and we’ve had some really fun times in the last couple of years. And so that’s the story of this Christmas tradition at The Last Chance bar in Alta. Funny how things can come full circle. I feel really lucky to have the friends I’ve got! And I’m happy that Justin asked Amber to go and meet me five years ago. Thanks for the friendship and good times the last couple of years, Amber! We sure have had a lot of fun! I love you! And so, another Christmas comes to an end! I had a great dinner with my family last night too, but forgot to take the MBIP camera, so you’ll just have to imagine drinks at Jerry’s Bar till next year! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: Sunday, December 26th, 2010—Bar 350, Revisiting The Tin Man, Desperately Seeking A Plastic Chicken At The Costume Trunk and Picking Up Spike’s “Stamp Out The Beatles” Pin At Younger Than Yesterday. Sheesh! and Fangs For The Memories—Customized Novelty Teeth At All Smiles Dental Care.