It's Lori's World: December 2010

Christmas 2010

Despite a couple of calamities, Christmas at my mom's house was wonderful once again. A warm and cozy house, wonderful gifts, amazing food and relatives who love to have fun.

Mom with her great-granddaughter Harper.

My sister Lisa and her daughter Ashley.

Ready for the grandkids and great-grandkids to open gifts.

More waiting.

My niece Sara and nephew Dylan.

The aftermath.

Ashley and her husband Kyle.

My beautiful niece Emily.

Mom opening her gifts with Harper and Joe (her youngest grandchild) standing by.

My siblings and I got mom a laptop.

My brother in law Scott helping the kiddos with their toys, using the pool table as their work station.

Dylan.

The littlest one among us, Joe, in his camo shirt and hunting cap.

Emily, Harper, Sara and Mom.

Dale, chilling.

Bob and Debbie's wedding

My friend Bob Lutz and his new bride Debbie Cook had an emotional but fun and funny wedding last night. Many nice touches throughout.

The happy couple having fun at their reception at the Boathouse.

Karoake was a part of the night and they sang Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" to kick it off. Both are very good singers.

Bob and his groupies.

I don't know who this man is but he sang an amazing Frank Sinatra song a capella to the couple in beautiful voice.

Debbie with her great-niece and flower girl.

Bob having his first drink at the reception.

I hung out with Fran Kentling.

Fernando Salazar was the official photographer.

Me and Fran.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

After many years of wanting to see TSO's Christmas concert, I finally went this year with my sister Linda. Unfortunately, we were not very impressed. A good concert but not a great one. Neither of us is tempted to see future shows, unlike the millions of TSO groupies who go year after year.

This concert in Intrust Bank Arena was sold out.

Lots of special touches, including two huge mechanized runways that moved the performers out into the audience.

And platforms that lowered the performers to the stage.

Christmas team lunch

As has been our tradition for many years, the Features Team had a Christmas luncheon last week at the home of Bonnie Bing. Sadly, our numbers keep dwindling each year. This year, we were down to five:

Here are four of us: Suzanne, Bonnie, me and Annie.

This one with Denise in it.

Suzanne modeling one of her Christmas trinkets.

Presents!

Pugs!

Lunch in Bonnie's kitchen included beef tenderloin with two sauces, shrimp salad, jalapeno poppers, wine and cookies.

Gift exchange.

Bonnie thought I was trying to send a message with this Ho Ho Ho gift wrapping.

Our hostess with the mostest.

More girls weekend photos

My niece Ashley took these photos from our girls' holiday weekend.

At Sabor, Dale is flanked by girls. He was a good sport about it.

My great-niece Harper fell asleep cuddling with me and her blankie, next to my Mom.

Me, Barney and my niece Emily.

My sister, Linda, and her dog, Comet, who also goes by the name Tommy. It's confusing.

Gift exchange. Linda has her hands full with Barney and Comet on her lap. She's a good sport!

My niece Elizabeth with great niece Harper.

Harper with mom Ashley, my niece.

Girls Christmas weekend

I invited the female members of my immediate family to my house again this year for Christmas. We shopped, ate, drank, played games and gabbed. Unfortunately, one of the things we didn't do was take photos! But here are a few:

A fabulous dinner at Sabor's. Clockwise from left: sister Lisa, sister Linda, mom Mary, sis-in-law Anne, niece Lizzie, great niece Harper, niece Ashley, niece Emily and me.

Mom and Anne.

Harper, Ashley and Emily.

Anne and her daughter Elizabeth.

Dale and Lisa.

Kids & Sunday & More

The grandkids spent the day (and night) so we played games, went out to eat and Josie made Christmas cupcakes while the guys assembled a cabinet for our new audio system.
In this photo, we're all looking up with alarm because Josie almost tipped over the book case on us!