Another Year Come & Gone

There is a Christmas video at the bottom of this blog. Scroll down to view.

I haven't blogged in quite awhile. I've had things to write about, but just haven't been in the mood to do so. These things come and go like the tide, I guess. Gosh, it's been almost 2 months since I last wrote. Now, if I can remember a few things that have happened. Heck, I can barely remember this morning.

I know I said that Olivia got her license early in November. Now, she has wheels. A guy that Phyllis works with wanted to sell his 1995 Jetta. He was bleeding money to pay for storage in the city and he rarely drove it. After a few weeks of dickering around and having our friend, Tim, get one of his mechanics to go over it, a deal was struck and the guy practically gave Olivia the car. For a 13-year-old car, it's in pretty good shape. I'm jealous because it has seat warmers. A decided plus around here in the winter time.

So, I am, for the most part, permanently retired from chauffeuring duties. I have been picking O up after wrestling practice a couple of times a week. She got her car a week too late to be able to sign up for a school parking space. Currently, if she wants to drive to school, she'd have to park a long way away. She decided she'd still take the bus for the time being. I think the next time she can sign up is February. And wrestling will be over by then. TG! I hate wrestling. Watching grass grow is more interesting.

Another biggie for November was the fact that November 19 was my birthday and I turned the big 7-0. Gulp! How did that happen? I sure don't feel like an antique. I asked that a big deal not be made of it. The girls and I went out to Red Lobster for dinner. That seems to be the place we always choose for special events. For all the years of our marriage, Richard & I would go there on January 1 for our anniversary. In the first years, they were about the only place open on New Year's Day. Then, it was because it was our tradition.

And we just celebrated Christmas, of course. This year, it was at Jim & Lisa's house. We did something a bit different this year. We did what I call a Santa ring. I guess it's more popularly known as a White Elephant. In case you've never heard of nor been to one, here are the basics. There are several ways to run one. This was our way. Of course, we let the kids open their gifts beforehand.

We set a spending window so that everyone would be on a even foot. We've always done this with our gift exchange. The window is $20-$25 per gift. The idea was that you had to bring a gift if you wanted to get a gift. And we strongly encouraged every adult to participate. I was very happy to see that they did. Amy had a box with our names on slips of paper. She had a child draw one name. The first person, Phyllis, got to choose from all the unopened presents. She opened her choice, a panini machine, and we all got to see what it was. The next person had the choice of either taking the panini machine from Phyllis or choosing another upopened gift. It went on this way till the last person chose and there were no more gifts to open. A gift could only be stolen 3 times. The 3rd time, it stayed with whoever had it. It was a lot of fun. When the idea was first talked about, you'd have thought we'd asked them to strip naked in Lancaster Square by the reaction of some. I think most ended up having a good time and enjoying the ring. Mostly they were perturbed by not knowing if a man or woman would receive their gift. But I think we all did just fine. Would you believe the Ov-glove was one of the most stolen gifts? Who'd a thunk?

I have no plans for New Year's Eve. Probably I'll be on the Internet or reading or knitting. Whatever strikes my fancy. I never was a NYE kind girl and have gotten less of one as I get older. The last NYE party I went to was either 2001 or 2 at Jenn & Gregg's. They are great party givers and always make a body glad to show up. I'm so happy they are back on the east coast. They've already had a cool party. They built a house in Delaware and moved into it in October. Not long after that, they invited their families down for a combination house warming/Penn State game party. And a good time was had by all.

This is an experiment. I made a slide show w/music from my Christmas pictures. I wanted to see if I can put it here.It took several tries but it worked. Hooray!!

Be warned the video is about 6:00 minutes in length. There are 2 songs. "Down at the Twist & Shout" by Mary Chapin Carpenter & "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Carrie Underwood. Guess I've done pretty good for someone who hasn't blogged in 2 months.





For anyone who doesn't know, there are 12 grandchildren and 2 great-grands in this video. Michael is the oldest at 28 and his son, Elijah is 11 1/2 months is the youngest.