Christmas 1999, New Years 2000

As it sit down writing this, I'm exhausted just remembering everything that happened at Matt's house. A little context is necessary though to understand everything that you're about to see happen. Over Christmas break in 1998 I got a wild hair and decided to tear out a wall in my house. One thing led to another and I spent the better part of 1999 renovating my house. It turned into a full renovation and included: tear off and replace all siding, tear off and replace roof, tear out and replace all interior walls, tear out, level, and replace floors, install new kitchen and bath, new 200amp underground electrical service, new gas meter, fiberoptic cable, all new plumbing (water and waste), new furnace and ductwork, new hot water heater, and all new windows and doors. Since I was doing all the work myself it took the better part of the year to complete.

During that summer my mom and sister(s) collaborated and decided that it would be great to have Christmas at Matt's house so they asked me and of course I accepted. So, I hammered away at the house with the intent of being somewhere close to finished before Christmas. As it turned out, when December rolled around I was not even close to finished so I held an emergency work party and spend the 36 hours leading up the Christmas day with a group of my good friends mudding, drywalling, laying tile, painting, and decorating for my families arrival.