We are enjoying the back porch while it snows. It is not decorated for Christmas as much this year, just haven’t gotten things out. Maybe it is in the back of our mind that we leave on the 10th of January on an eleven day cruise. Whatever we get out will just have to be put up so soon. It is also another year I didn’t do cards. The world will not end! Usually the porch is where the Santa collection is displayed, this year the Snowmen have moved into their place. The new fire pit is making the porch nice and warm. It easily up the temp by ten degrees in about 10 minutes. Makes it toasty warm. Steve can really crank the flames up giving us heat and light. We, meaning us and Dee, usually go to what I call the Underground for dinner on Wednesday night. It …
The week started off with a Christmas program at Sam’s school. This first picture was taken at the first concert of the year. This concert was the 7th grade band, 8th grade strings and the choir. Each performed three songs and all did the final song. All were wonderful but we thought Sam’s did the best!! This is the whole band. The school has a great music program. On Friday we attended Sam’s competitive showcase. This is the dance group she travels with and is in addition to her regular dance classes. Can you find her in this group? A very talented group of kids, who put in a lot of work to make their performance perfect. Their production number was outstanding, hoping they win a lot of awards this year! Saturday morning Sprint hosted “Cookies with Santa.” They had lots of Christmas decorated donuts, cookies, hot chocolate, apple cider, …
On Wednesday, the 27th, the kids were here to celebrated Steve’s 71st birthday with cake and presents. Since Derek had to work, birthday cake was sent home for him to enjoy later. On Thursday, while the Shetlar’s visited with his family, we cooked food for Friday. Papa peeled 10 lbs of potatoes; Steve did some food prep and made a new recipe of cookies; Samantha made cookies from her class at school; Kristie made mashed potatoes and stuffing while I worked on other veggies. Afterwards we had a small Thanksgiving dinner for five. Friday, with the entire family together, Holan prepared deviled egg and corn casserole while Steve prepared sweet potatoes. Kristie was in charge of cooking okra and warming the other foods. I was on dish duty. Papa was on rest duty, but did help with the clean up after dinner. We sat down for our family dinner. Of …
It was the Saturday before Halloween and time for our annual pumpkin painting. Chili, veggies, cheeses, crackers, grapes and Winking Owl Wine, from Aldi, with a side of chocolate twinkies were enjoyed before the painting started. It was time to get the pumpkins and paints out, but a bottle of wine was almost empty. Dee got very serious about getting the last drop out of the bottle. Derek decided he was going to do his pumpkin the old fashion way and started removing the seeds. Sam wanted to get started right away and took to opening the paints. Note Steve and Steve sitting in the background. As Sam started with her paints, Derek started his carving. Kristie finally gets to start on her pumpkin after doing some photography. I wanted to paint something that would carry to Thanksgiving. Looking at this picture now, it looks like the top I am …
Our day was a day of eating, sharing, playing games and just being together. Mr Booker (a local caterer) did the cooking for us, Mr. Sam (Club) provided the upgraded plastic plates and silverware and everyone jumped in to helped with the clean up. The girls added deviled eggs and desserts to our meal. We discovered Mark and Val were alone for the day so invited them to join us. After dinner we enjoyed our drinks of choice and played Rummiub and Mexican Train. During the evening Rick, Rumi and Chris stopped in for a visit. Our cups runneth over with blessings
Helen had dropped off the Leavenworth Time newspapers a couple of days ago. I remembered that there was a story about a son being killed in a car accident and how much he loved Halloween. So every year his parents go to the cemetery and decorate his stone for Halloween. I just knew this was the stone mentioned in the newspaper. As soon as we arrived home I went straight to the stack of papers and found the article. It was not the same family. We always thinks of putting flowers on graves for the anniversary of the death, holidays or their birthdays. But I never thought of decorating one for Halloween. After some thought, I came to the conclusion that this is probably not unusual.
Day of the Dead is one of the most iconic Mexican traditions because of the whole ritual around this date. It is a day for remembering and celebrating loved relatives who have passed on. Beautiful altar, decorated with candles, buckets of wild marigolds, mounds of fruits, peanuts, plates of turkey, mole, stacks of tortillas and breads called pan de muerto, are made in each home. The altar needs to have lots of food, bottles of soda, hot cocoa and water for the weary spirits. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos, and on Nov. 2, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches.
After lunch and before the fireworks, people took turns playing games in the front yard. Mark, from across the court had some neat yard games he brought over. Addisyn and Samantha waiting their turn to play. Mark and Val Windy and Rob Val and Rob Steve and Mark Rogan and Samantha Wendy and Rob Save
This is Pete, he lives across the court from us. Isn’t he cute with his sunglasses!?!?
Window tourism is, after all, is a time-honored New York holiday tradition. According to NYC & Company, the city’s destination marketing organization, 30 percent of last years total visitation took place in the fourth quarter of the year; more than in any other season; typically five million visitors come to the city between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve alone. After many years of watching morning TV and saying I would love to go to New York to see the store windows at Christmas, we finally made it. And it was all I thought it would be. It would be hard to describe the windows so I have lifted the descriptions from the store’s websites. Macy’s Windows Macy’s holiday windows, celebrate the 50th anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in 3D scenes recreating six key moments from Charles Schultz’s indelible cartoon classic. The gang’s all here: angst Charlie Brown, bossy Lucy, …
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