ALMOST DECEMBER

Tomorrow is the first of December. I still have a ton of things to do. We are partially decorated, no cards addressed yet, no cookies baked and only a modicum of presents purchased. So today I spent the day redoing the centerpieces for the Winter Dance and getting a Christmas song playlist together for my ABC's of Christmas. So far I have 26 or 27 songs and not all of them are on there yet. I think that even though there are 26 letters in the alphabet, there will be 31 songs, one for each day of the month. I even found a recording of Jamie Farr reading the "Night Before Christmas" on a local Christmas CD that somehow we bought.

2010 26 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

This year instead of telling stories about our bears, I am going to do an ABC of Christmas. The first letter is A and will be represented with Advent. However this is not going to be strictly sacred. Christmas to me is a blending of the secular and the sacred. I plan on showcasing all aspects of the holiday season as well as each day let everyone know one of my favorite songs of the season. Again, these will be both secular and sacred. There are so many great songs and great artists singing them that I will have plenty of choices.

POST THANKSGIVING

Well, Thanksgiving has past and it was wonderful yet busy. The kids came in time to eat and then we sort of relaxed in the afternoon. There were multiple games of pool with our grandson. He is pretty good but he rushes his shots and therefore misses often. It is amazing what shots he does make. JR, our son and daughter-in-law did the Black Friday thing. They did not go out at 4 but rather 5am. My son was shocked by how many people were out and how long the lines were at Target. He said never again. They felt that the deals were not that great. My daughter-in-law and I went shopping later in the morning and met the guys with the kids at noon. We took the kids since the guys were meeting friends for lunch. We then went to lunch and then saw "Tangled" It was a funny movie and very enjoyable if not expensive. We had dinner at home and watched some TV (the Wizard of Oz was on) and then crashed. Today I had to run some errands to pick up a few things to finish their advent calendars and the we all watched the OSU - Michigan game. GO BUCKS!! Everyone left around 4 and then a friend and I had tickets to see Jim Brickman with the symphony. It was a great show and a fun way to kick off the holiday season. Tomorrow we begin decorating. FUN!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I hope that everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. The kids are coming up today and that will be fun. We have the usual meal, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry something (this varies year to year) and of course pumpkin pie. I read JR's blog this morning and he was talking about some family traditions while growing up. There were just 3 of us for the holidays (mom, dad and myself). My maternal grandparents lived on a farm with no running water and the winter months were not fun. The trip to the outhouse alone was a journey. Therefore visiting them during the winter was not an option my parents chose. My paternal grandparents were deceased and my paternal great-grandmother died in my teen years at the age of 96 so she was not very active while I was growing up. Thus the traditional food and single options (there was no need for multiple side dishes since we could not eat them all). When our son was born we did usually have Thanksgiving with my parents. We either drove there or later they would come here. That brought the total number to 5 for Thanksgiving. It is no wonder that after the kids leave here I am tired. It is already more people for the holdiay than I am used to.

MID NOVEMBER

I noticed that it has been over a week since my last posting. It actually was a busy week and the first week that I felt fairly good since acquiring the viral junk from the "carriers". I am back at Tax Season training. The first day was registering with the IRS so that they could give me my PTIN number (a number that they gave me over 10 years ago but now I was to pay $64+ for the privilege of keeping the number). I had two days of training this week. I was supposed to go on Friday but that was the day of the TSL Purse Auction and Style show. As usual I did not win any of the purses but at least the clothes that were shown had a bit more style than in past years. I also had several meetings and I actually tried to clean the house. Thanksgiving is in a week and I am trying to make out a menu for at least three days. While on the way to renew my drivers license a deer crossed the road while walking down the train tracks. As I drew abreast of it, she stopped and looked back at me. I realized that I need to begin to carry my camera again so that I can capture these moments. This next week again is busy with class Monday and Tuesday morning, Thanksgiving on Thursday and Black Friday the next day. The family wants to go out early so I will be staying at home with the grandkids and in bed sleeping (at least until they get up). I realize that last year I wrote the Christmas Bears story. I would like to do something else again but I have no idea what!

VEGAS

Last week we were fortunate to go on a preplanned trip to Las Vegas. The weather was perfect - low 80's. We played golf on Wednesday, relaxed on Thursday and drove out to the Hoover Dam and the new bridge on Friday. Nights were spent with friends we have met on previous trips out there. Two nights we had dinner with these friends and Thursday night we saw the Cirque d'soleil performance of Ka. It was very cool with a set that was unbelievable. The pictures above were taken from the new bridge looking at the dam and from the dam looking at the new bridge. You can actually walk out on the bridge.

UNTITLED

I do not even know how to title this any more. Since my mother-in-law passed away we have learned of four more passings. A grandmother of my niece's husband, two parents of friends and the sister of a close friend. The one woman was born the same year as my mother-in-law, one day before and died this year one day before. They lived the same number of days. How odd! Since Labor Day we have heard of 7 deaths, mostly of parents etc although one was a contemporary. I know that the fall and the winter holidays are times when people pass on but I hope that this stops. Beginning tomorrow, I will post some pictures of the Hoover Dam in Nevada. More tomorrow.