CHRISTMAS 2008 PHOTOS

Christmas photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11443252@N07/sets/72157611906820789/

Decorating on Black Friday:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11443252@N07/sets/72157611905977999/

Christmas Party 2008:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11443252@N07/sets/72157611905406541/

CHRISTMAS 2008

What a great Christmas we had this year!!!!

Bob, Shawn and I had 3 gift exchanges. We started our day with a nice breakfast. Then we exchanged gifts with each other. Later in the day, Megan came over and we exchanged gifts with her.

Later, still, we went to Sarah and Keith's where we exchanged gifts with them and Keith's family and had a wonderful dinner.

Christmas Eve 2008

5:30 am--Christmas Eve 2008

Well, here it is, Christmas Eve already. It always feels like it is so far away and next thing you know, it's here.

Shawn is driving down today. He said he plans to leave late morning. I'm glad--I'm really looking forward to having him home for a few days.

Bob, Shawn and I will have a nice dinner tonight. We will brave the 4 pm children's Mass and then go home and fix dinner. I felt that if we planned on going to the 7 pm Mass we'd have to rush too much through dinner or eat way too early--too early to even be hungry for dinner. So, by going at 4, we can have a nice, relaxed dinner.

Tomorrow we will exchange gifts in the morning then later in the day we will go to Sarah and Keith's for dinner and gift exchanging with them. Greg, Linda, Kelly and Adam will be there. It is always good to see them. Should be a fun day.

I worked all day Monday and Tuesday. I left work early Tuesday because as luck would have it, I had to stop off at a couple of stores. First I went to the Navy Exchange to pick up a few things there. That wasn't too bad. The parking lot was crowded, but I got through there ok.

Then, I bit the bullet and headed to Target. The parking lot was packed. I took a deep breath and plunged right in. Inside I found Sarah and Keith. We chatted a little bit then wished each other luck and set out on our missions to finally be done Christmas shopping.

It was crowded, you had to really watch the carts, but overall, most people were friendly and polite. I exchanged friendly, understanding smiles with most people I passed in the aisles. Just a short 1/2 hour to 45 minutes later, I left the store alive and in one piece.

So, now today's plans are exercise, shower/dress, bake fudge-nut bars for Sarah's dinner tomorrow and cinnamon rolls we can have for breakfast tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

KENNY G IN CONCERT!!

The Kenny G concert was fantastic!!!!!!!!

We drove into Baltimore, found the theater and went inside. Once inside, we went in separate directions to our respective bathrooms. When I got back to the lobby I was looking for Bob and found Kenny G instead!

He was signing autographs. Naturally I got in line for that. I bought one of his Christmas CDs and he signed it. Our conversation was very brief and probably the same one he had with everyone:

Kenny--as he signed my CD--How are you?

Me----I'm fine, thank you. How are you?

Kenny--I'm great!

Me--as I am taking my CD from him---Thank you!

Then I joined Bob and we waited for the doors to the theater to open and then found our seats once the doors did open. We had fantastic seats--box D. We were just a few rows back from the stage and for once I had a perfect unobstructed view. (usually when I go to the movies/theater some tall person sits in front of me and I can never see)

When the music started, we could hear Kenny's sax, but didn't see him on the stage. Then, turning around, we discovered he was in the audience. He slowly made his way to the stage, stopping to play for individuals in the audience along the way.

Once on the stage he gave an OUTSTANDING performance--backed up with his OUTSTANDING band. At the beginning of the show he announced that in the 2nd half of the show he would be giving away one of his saxophones. He has designed his own line of saxophones and gives one away during his concerts.

We didn't win the saxophone--but we sure enjoyed the show. His bassist did a fantastic solo as well as the percussionist. The bassist, Vail Johnson, has a CD out called "Come Together." It is an instrumentation of some of the Beatles songs. I love it.

Kenny started the 2nd half of the show in the balcony and he did "White Christmas." After that was "Winter Wonderland," which he started on "our" side of the theater, and slowly made his way to the stage, stopping at one point right next to me.

He ended the show with "Songbird," his famous first hit that changed his life. After the show he announced that he and the band would be out in the lobby signing autographs. So, back into the line I went, waiting for him to sign the 2 CDs Bob bought for me during the intermission. (he bought Vail Johnson's CD--"Come Together" and Kenny G's new one, "Rythem and Romance")

Kenny signed it first, then the drummer, Vail Johnson and the percussionist. I also got Vail Johnson to sign his CD.

What a fabulous performer. It was one of the best evenings of my life. We've seen a lot of big name musicians and they all give outstanding performances--but Kenny G's performance was outstanding not just because he plays the sax so well, but because he interacts with the audience so much. You can tell he thoroughly enjoys being there with them.

My fun week

This past week, Dec 15th-19th, was what I call my fun week. It also was pretty busy--but the fun kind of busy.

Monday was nothing special--just a Monday. On Tuesday, the 16th, I went to the HRO Christmas lunch. This year's was the best Christmas lunch I have been to with HRO. Usually the leaders say a few words, we eat then go back to work. But, this year, it was a lot of fun. The leaders all had to say a few words.

We had some very good food, then the fun began. We had door prizes--I didn't win. Then we played Holiday Jeopardy. Our team didn't win that, but, it still was fun. We were there for 3 hours. Normally we're there for an hour and a half.

It worked out well for me since we got back to work at 2 and I was leaving for the day at 3.

I left early because Bob and I were heading to Baltimore for a Kenny G concert. (more on that later)

We each went into work late on Wednesday since we didn't get home from Kenny G's concert until 1:00 am.

Wednesday afternoon my team had our lunch and gift exchange. We drew names. Diane had my name and knowing my love of tea, she bought me a tea kit. She gave me a mug, a tea kettle and a box of tea samples. It was fantastic. I love it. I had Tania's name and went with a family movie night theme. I gave her a gift card for Blockbuster and then some popcorn and snacks. Since her little guys are so small--1 and 2--I did buy popcorn for Tania and snacks for the little guys--animal cookies, fishy crackers, etc.

Thursday was a normal work day for us but Thursday evening Tania had us to her house for a holiday social. That was fun, too.

Friday at work wasn't really more special than the fact that it was Friday and I was ready for the weekend. Shawn was driving down that night for the weekend and it is always a good thing to have him come down.

Saturday Bob and I and Sarah and Keith had plans to go to Western Maryland for a trip on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad for dinner theater on the train. The plan was to drive up in time for check in at the hotels. Hang out around our rooms until train time, take our train trip and then stay over night at the hotel and drive back Sunday morning.

We headed out and were almost to Frederick, MD when Sarah and Keith called and said they weren't going because the weather folks were predicting 4 inches of ice over night--which would make it very difficult to get back home on Sunday.

Bob and I got into Frederick, had lunch and decided to cancel as well. I really wanted to go on the trip--which made it difficult to decide. The weather at that moment wasn't bad. Our concern was the expected ice over night and getting back home ok today. In the long run, it was the best decision.

I decided though, that as long as we had gone that far, I still wanted to do something. I didn't want to drive all that way to go to lunch at Mc Donald's. We made our way to the mall in Frederick--Frances Scott Key Mall. The Saturday before Christmas probably isn't the best day to head to the mall--but since we expected it to be crowded, it wasn't too unbearable.

I went to Barnes and Noble and Macy's--so that was fun.

Since we had planned to have dinner and a show together anyway, we decided to go ahead and have dinner and a show--at our house. So, when we got home, Sarah and Keith came over and we watched "Wall - E" and got take out from The Blue Wind Gourmet. The movie was very cute--neither Bob or I had seen it yet.

So, in the end, not too disappointing of a day.

Link to pictures from Thanksgiving

http://littlejoys.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/thanksgiving-a-vignette/

This link takes you to Sarah's blog. She took the pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration this year. Enjoy! She and Keith are both fabulous photographer's and get great shots.

Shawn's new cool job

A month or two ago, Shawn lost his ice-cream making job due to the economy. However, he found another cool job a week or two later. He is now working as a lighting technician. What they do is go out to museums, theaters and other places that need lighting set up for exhibits, shows and so on. He has been to some really neat museums. This group has even been to the zoo to put up lighting inside the animal cages. They travel all over the metro DC, MD and VA area.

December 2008

Here it is, the middle of December already. It feels as though it was just Thanksgiving and now December is half over. We had our annual Christmas party last night. It was a lot of fun.

Sarah and Keith came over as well as Keith's parents, Greg and Linda. Shawn drove down and arrived a little later and then Megan came over. All of our closest friends came. It was a real nice time.

The upcoming week is going to be a fun week. I mean, I never have a lot of fun at work--simply because I don't want to be there. But there are a lot of parties and fun things planned for the week--so it will make the week a little more bearable, anyway.

Today was fun. A group of my friends and I met down at a tea room in La Plata, MD for Christmas Tea. We all usually try to go to the Christmas tea every year. The tea room offers themed "teas" throughout the year--and we go to several of those--but Christmas time is our favorite time to go.

On Tuesday Bob and I are driving to Baltimore to see Kenny G in concert at the Lyric Opera House. It is his Christmas concert. I have been wanting to see him live for years now. And to see his Christmas concert--it's going to be fantastic.

My shopping for the most part is done. The gifts are wrapped, the packages and cards have been mailed. I have some baking to do, but, otherwise, I am ready for Christmas.

I love Christmas - it's always been my favorite holiday.

As I write this, I am reminded of some of my favorite childhood Christmas memories. I remember the whole family hiking around the tree farm, each person on the look out for THE perfect tree. We never found the right tree until we were frozen. Then finally, we would take the tree home.

My Dad would get the tree set up in the stand and after what seemed like hours, he would announce that he was done putting the lights on the tree and it was now time to decorate. Excitedly, we would dig through the boxes of ornaments and decorations to find our favorites and put them on the tree. Inevitably, 1 or 2 glass ornaments would get broken in the excitement.

Once the tree was decorated, we would sit back and admire our masterpiece. My Dad would turn off all the lights in the room and leave only the Christmas tree lights. Every year, we would claim that our Christmas tree was the best tree we ever had.

Another favorite holiday memory for me was when my Mom would set up her village in the extra long, extra wide window sill in our front room--or mud room or whatever you would called it.

I remember the little houses and shops she set up along Main Street. Then she would add "snow," trees, people and an ice-skating rink. She used an inverted foil pie pan for the ice. She would surround it with "snow." (cotton) She had people that she was able to attach to the ice. Other townsfolk would appear outside houses and shops. I could spend hours studying the wintry scene and made up stories about the townspeople. I knew which families lived where, how many kids they had and so on. I loved that little village.

While my Mom was busy with her village, my Dad would be busy setting up the train set that ran around another village underneath the tree. His tiny town encircled the tree. Some of the houses sat up on hills and looked down to the tracks and the shops. A master craftsman, my Dad built tunnels the train would travel through. His village also had miniature people and trees.

Throughout the year we'd wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. But during Christmas time, we'd get up early and sit by the tree, enjoying the lights and watching the train while it traveled its endless journey around the tree.

The Christmas season was also spent helping Mom bake dozens of cookies. To our dismay, she seemed to give away far too many cookies to neighbors, friends and the church. But, there always were plenty of cookies for us. Each cookie was loaded with frosting, sugar and candy sprinkles.

With a big family like ours, (8 kids) there was always plenty of shopping to be done. For a long while, I'm sure my Mom had to do all the shopping. And, I'm sure she always did the bulk of the shopping. But, at some point the 4 older kids were allowed to walk downtown to the Woolworth's dime store and pick out gifts for the family with the allowance my Mom gave us. (this was the mid-1960's and was "relatively" safe to allow kids to walk some distance alone)

I do remember my Mom calling the 4 of us to the kitchen for a "meeting." (I'm number 3) She had devised a plan for the shopping. With such a large family, instead of each person giving individual gifts to everyone, she was planning to pair us kids up and we would shop as partners, picking out gifts for the rest of the family. Each "big kid" would be paired with a "little kid."

She would write the names of the 4 youngest on a paper and put the names in an envelope. Then each of us older kids would pick a name. That person was to be our partner. The oldest member of each team was handed an envelope with money. That was our budget to buy gifts for the family.

The system worked pretty well. We would grab our coats and hats and head out the door to walk downtown. (at this time it was the 1960's and we lived in Hobart, IN) It was relatively safe for kids to walk around on their own back then. We'd walk with our partner to Woolworth's and begin our shopping.

Probably the only one who didn't go was Roger, the baby--who was just a baby then and his partner had to go on their own. I do remember little Wayne would go with us. He was pretty young, too, but not as young as Roger.

It was a great deal of fun. We were all "grown up" shopping on our own. We had to sneak around Woolworth's so as to not bump into the other teams. We didn't want to spoil each other's surprises.

We'd bring our treasures back home and Mom would get out the wrapping paper and we'd wrap our gifts then hide them until Christmas Eve when they would be placed under the tree.

Sometimes we'd find everything for everyone in one day; sometimes we would need a 2nd trip to either Woolworth's or if Mom was going on a real shopping trip to Chicago, we could go along and finish our shopping. I think all the teams always had to ask Mom for additional shopping money. And, of course, at some point, we had to split up from our partner in order to shop for them.

I don't remember specific things we got our Dad, but I do remember that every year our poor Mom would get 2 or 3 of the same smiling Santa mug that Woolworth's seemed to have ample supply of.

I have a vague memory of all of us writing our Christmas wish lists. I remember when we'd get to Woolworth's we would pull out a list with ideas for what everyone wanted. So, we must have had the wish lists posted someplace so everyone could see them and get ideas for what each person wanted.

Another vivid memory is of the Christmas specials that came on TV:

Back in those days everyone had a black and white TV. The pictures were shades of black, gray and white. I think I was in college before my Dad broke down and bought a color TV. Color TVs were available back then, but black and white sets were still the norm--and much cheaper. So, I was in college the first time I saw "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in color!

Back then, there were no VHS or DVD players to record shows and movies. You either watched it when it came on or you didn't. "Rudolf," "Frosty," "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and the other Christmas specials of the day were a big deal and the whole family sat down together to watch them. You couldn't buy them like you can today. They came on once a season and that was that.

Later, when I was 12, my family moved to Michigan. Our city bordered Canada, so, then we had 2 shots to see the specials because we had the American and Canadian channels.

It is fun for me to think back on those Christmases. I don't remember my childhood being all happy and rosy--but my Christmas memories are very happy. I loved Christmas then and I still love it today.

I love to decorate, bake and shop. I love writing my cards and getting packages ready to mail. I just thoroughly enjoy the entire season.