Daddy's Got a New Grill!

Santa was very good to us this year.  By "us" I mean Ken and myself!! After we got stuff all wrapped and under the tree, I looked at Ken and said, "I think the kids might be a little upset that the biggest gifts under the tree are for us!" It turns out that Santa brought me a new bag-less vacuum and Ken a new grill.  With a side-burner.  I'm not really sure what that is, but I have come to understand that Ken can cook more kinds of food outside on the grill, so I am in favor of it!
Our old grill was a wedding gift.  That means that it was eleven and a half years old!  It was time for it to go.  The grates were almost completely rusted through and the frame was falling apart.  Julie and I found a good deal on a grill on our pre-Christmas shopping spree and Ken's friend Norman agreed to deliver it to our house.
Ken was very excited when he saw the note about the grill. ("Santa" wasn't actually strong enough to bring it inside, so the actual grill was hidden in the garage.  Ken just unwrapped a huge box with a note about the grill in it.)  As soon as the unwrapping chaos was over, he went outside to put his grill together.  Then it got dark and started snowing, so he didn't get the chance to finish it.  He brought the pieces inside and covered up what he had already completed. 
His work schedule and the weather was such that he didn't get to finish the construction until New Year's Day.  With the kids gone and his grill finally finished, we made ourselves a fancy New Year dinner.  Did I mention how early it gets dark these days??

Good thing he has a head lamp!!

Apparently, that's a side-burner!

Ken cooked the steaks and mushrooms while I prepared couscous and spinach.  We topped off the meal with the rest of our bottle of sparkling white wine from the night before.

 Oh! And our old grill?  The eleven and a half year old one with rusted grates that was falling apart?  I stuffed the top part full of junk from the new grill packaging and put it out by the curb for trash collection.  Then somebody came by and drove off with it! Good luck with that, dude!!