Christmas all over again

We finally had our Christmas with Dale's son's family. It was delayed a week after Dale got sick, but the grandkids were just happy to get more toys!

Jaden got Rocky the Crane, part of the Thomas the Train set.

Josie got a pixie/fairy outfit with a real tutu...

And Dale tried his best to help her.


Jaden got a magic set and immediately learned two or three tricks to show us.

Barney was thrilled to get his favorite treat, Beggin' Strips.

We gave Bret and Rachelle the softest throw; Rachelle wasn't feeling too hot so she immediately snuggled with it.


Luke goofing off. He's very good at it.

And everyone enjoyed applie pie and ice cream; Luke was especially delighted.

What is this, Minnesota?

The forecast once again is calling for snow -- about four or five inches tonight -- which is about the third or fourth wintry weather we've had in as many weeks.


I prepared tonight by making a pot of chili to take to work tomorrow. I'll invite my coworkers to partake of it, along with accompaniments like shredded cheese, sour cream and Fritos (gotta have Fritos.)
Yes, some of us have to work. It's been pretty lonely at work this week, but the upside is that we've had tons of goodies to snack on. Today my lunch consisted of artichoke dip that Bonnie brought in, mixed nuts from Nifty Nut House and chocolate. Always the chocolate. That's why I was determined to have a real lunch tomorrow. Come in, we'll feed you.

Lame Christmas post

I had the best of intentions to document this Christmas at my mom's house, but we were having so much fun that I never got around to taking the requisite photos. Here's the best of what I did get from Christmas Day (Christmas Eve is a blur, there was so much going on.)

Me with my youngest nephew, Joe, who turned 1 on Pearl Harbor Day and is so close to taking his first steps.


Dale enjoying my Mom's Christmas Day dinner of roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole... well, you know the drill.

My sister Linda and Mom filling their plates.


Will, who turned 5 on Christmas Day, showing off his olives. I love Will so much because he LOVES all kinds of olives. (Will is Joe's older brother.)

Turn back the clock a few days to Christmas Eve day. Some of us had to work until about 3, but coworkers Dennis Hardin and Richard Crowson made it more bearable by serenading the newsroom with some Christmas tunes that were absolutely beautiful.

Members of the biz team gave the performers all their attention.


And finally, to complete this rather lame post, a photo of the icicles that formed on my roof after the Dec. 22 blizzard. I was terrified that one would fall and impale Barney as he walked by!

Snowbound

What a great day to be snowbound. My youngest sister and her 14-year-old son, Dylan, arrived Friday for the weekend with Dylan's "friend," 13-year-old Haley. Our shopping plans were thwarted, so we spent the day drinking hot chocolate, playing Pictionary and watching movies, including "The Princess Bride." Here are some photos:


Our wintry wonderland.

The view from the front door.


The dogs thoroughly enjoying their time together....

The dogs, Comet and Barney, can never get enough laptime with my sister, Linda. We kept our jammies on until noon today. This evening, I made fillet of beef tenderloin with a red wine-rosemary sauce for dinner, with mashed potatoes, green beans and crescent rolls. Now, we are trying to keep on eye on these two hormonal kids...

Oy. They are spending way too much time in the basement TV room. We are taking turns going downstairs to check on them and to remind them: Keep the door open at all times!
Hope everyone else is having as Merry a Christmas as we are today.

A book club Christmas

Our book club has a tradition of holding its Christmas meeting at Bonnie Bing's festively decorated home. We met Wednesday night to discuss "The Alchemist" and exchange gifts, which must be books that we love (or think we would love) but that haven't been read previously by our book club. Here are a few photos from the evening...

Our beautiful hostess, Bonnie, in her elegant home.

There was eating in the kitchen....

And in the living room.

Denise and Jaime plotting their book-stealing strategies.


Lori B., after her fourth glass of wine (just kidding, Lori!).

Carrie in party mode.


Cory, Brenda, Carrie and Teresa getting ready for our animated book discussion.

Brenda and Robin lounging.

The gang listening to some insights about the book.


A very rapt group of book clubbers. We had 18 members in attendance. Happy holidays, girls. I'm looking forward to many great meetings in 2008.

Nutcracker, and other goodies

Today, Denise, Bonnie and I went to the final production this year of Friends' "The Nutracker." As always, it was superb. One of the highlights was seeing Suzanne's lovely daughter, Hannah Tobias, in the show, playing one of the party mice. Here she is, (backstage, out of costume) accepting a dozen pink roses from Bonnie. What a sweetheart.


Here are some other images, including one you'll want to stick around for...

A candy cane dancer, back stage.


One of the China dancers, signing autographs back stage. If you'll look in the background, you'll see a foreshadowing of things to come...

These are the women who portray the party hostess and her guests from the first act of "The Nutcracker."

Mother Ginger, always one of the highlights of "Nutcracker."

One of the young girls from the "Nutcracker" party scene.


Yeah, was it worth the wait? Ths well-defined young man is Damian, the male lead in the Arabian Coffee dance of "Nutcracker." He does some amazing things with his female lead in their dance. ... Merry Christmas, indeed.

Farewell, Fabio

The Eagle's newsroom reluctantly marked Chris Shull's last day at the paper Friday with a traditional send-off at the mailboxes, complete with this fabulous cake showing the usually pony-tailed arts writer with his hair down.

Here are more moments from the ceremony...

Denise got things rolling in typical Denise fashion by recounting some hilariously shocking stories from Chris' early years at the Eagle (he started in 1998.)

Eagle editor Sherry Chisenhall got into the fun by saying that she had talked Chris out of leaving many times for other jobs over the years. She said she would list just a few, then she dramatically unfurled a 20-foot length of paper in front of her...

The newsroom paid rapt attention to the proceedings...

After receiving his going-away gifts, including the Wingnuts hat he's wearing here, Chris gave some touching parting comments.


He took a few going-away photos, incuding with Bonnie Bing, who was gracious enough to take most of the photos on this posting...

Posing with Denise, one last time.

Ciao, Chrissy. Farewell, Fabio. We'll keep the light on in case you want to come back. And we mean it.

A word about holiday lights

I love all of the outdoor lights this time of year, but some are definitely better than others. These new LED-lights? Tastefully comtemporary.


This tree? Elegantly decorated... (apologies for the poor quality of photo)

This house? Sublime.

All I can say about these is WT(bleep)?? I know much has been written and opined already about these garish and low-class decorations (apologies to those of you who have them), but I still can't get over that people actually think this looks good? Am I right, or not? All I can surmise is that these are purchased and displayed by people who have been persuaded to do so by their small children or grandchildren.