Christmas 07

We had a great Christmas Day with all the family here. We loved having the family here together, eating lots of food, playing games and Wii, taking the grandchildren to see Uncle Ben (Heather's husband for those not in the family) and all the firetrucks since he couldn't be with us to open gifts, and generally just having a good time hanging out together. We ended the day with most of us watching a movie together and eating some more.

December Rush

My family know most of what I am posting, but this is for the benefit of friends this Christmas season. I am so late getting my Christmas cards out, but I will give this link to old friends I haven't seen in a while.

Another December has almost flown by in a blur. We sang the Messiah again and were very occupied with rehearsals since late October. I sang one of the alto solos. Andrew, Kara and Shannon sang Messiah with me this year. We had fun going to rehearsals and performances together.

The week after the Messiah was our ward Christmas program. Shannon was directing the choir this year and it was a pretty good program. I played flute on two of the songs and had a little vocal solo. It went pretty well but made me realize how rusty I am. I've been singing much more than playing flute in recent years.Now that all the "command performances" are over we are enjoying the rest of the Christmas season. It is so good to have most of the family here near me. I enjoy being with them so much.

Puppy Love

I watched Caitlin for a few hours Friday while Rusty and Ben went to do a service project. I was trying to do something in the office so she came in. Before I knew it she was in Snowball's bed and he was in her lap. I put some of her shows on the TV and she stayed there over an hour. The surprising thing is that Snowball seemed to love it, too.

Last Craft Show

Anybody need a fountain? :)

This weekend I did what will probably be the last craft show. With a three day investment of time (not to mention booth fee, gas to get there, set-up and tear-down cost, etc.) I sold two fountains. The good thing about it is that they were both ones we made really early, so I have been carrying them around for about 5 years. I may try some other method of selling them, or in fact the whole lot of supplies that I have. It would be an ideal start for someone wanting to start making fountains. Whatever I decide, it will have to wait a while for now. I guess I'll just store all that stuff a little bit longer.

Wish List

For those of you who may need it, I have added a wish list to the blog. I know sometimes it is hard to decide what to give for Christmas or birthdays, so this is a list of things I would use. However, please feel free to do something different. I may add some other items later as I think of more.

"Fat Man in a Little Coat"

Last week I had a garage sale to sell some of what I have been cleaning out of my house. There were still a few of Rick's jackets here, so they were part of the sale. Ben saw this vest that Rick loved to wear and had to model it for us. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

I made a little money on the garage sale and donated the leftovers to Goodwill. They best thing is to have all the stuff gone! I am excited with every bit of clutter that leaves. It was really nice to have the garage to do this in. It is so much easier to be able to set it up ahead of time and not worry about weather.

Another thing I have had Jerry working on is cleaning out the semi trailer. There are a lot of things in it that are obvious throw-aways, so those are going to the dump. I think it will clear out about half of what is in there. Also, last week he finished moving all the tools and fountains to empty out the band trailer. Now Heather can use it to move and not have to rent a trailer and after that Ben can use it to store his things that are in storage. It is a very liberating feeling to clean out. We have been such pack rats here!

Day at the Zoo

Saturday I went to the Zoo with Shannon, Caitlin and Natalie. We had such a good time. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside. It was just beginning to get a little warm when we were ready to leave.

I loved the meercats. They are the most interesting little creatures. There was quite a large exhibit of them. The picture of Shannon and Caitlin in the plastic bubble is in that exhibit.

We had a good time. Thanks to Natalie pushing me around in a wheelchair, we got to see every everything and I didn't have to walk.