Ellen's Birthday!

Here we are, already, the twenty seventh of December, 2010...and our beloved is having her usual "shadow of Christmas" Birthday celebration. But, Hannah and I will do our best to make it special, won't we?

Lydia and Bob are with us for three days, and what a time we had playing our favorite card game, called "Oh heck!" Granny Lou came up from Richmond too, so we had the whole crew together.

Hannah did lots of cooking. Lou prepared a meal as a "present" to Ellen. Hannah did her usual variety of concocted dishes which were greeted with rave reviews.

We also had a couple of good "SKYPES", with Hopkins of New Hampshire fame, (Patrick, Allison and family) and also with Doug, "The Chief" in Florida....Britany and Ben were also online long enough to give us some SKYPE time...that was fun.

The big post-Christmas snow storm dealt us a glancing blow, as it "scooted" up the coastline to dump on Pat and Megan in New Hampshire. We have not yet gotten a report from them!

Oh! I almost forgot! We were treated to a sumptuous breakfast with Sarah, Nathan and family, down in Weyers Cave...(weirds cave!) on Christmas morning. Creamed chipped beef on biscuits and toast! It was great!

Here it is Thursday, December 23rd, and we are just getting our Christmas Tree decorated. We had a great old fashioned time yesterday, when we traveled to Timberville, Virginia to cut a fresh live tree!

Julianna, William, Alexandria, Hannah, Ellen and Grandaddy were along for the good time. The tree we selected was a very modest 5 feet tall, just the right size for the spot we have readied there by the piano.

After the cutting, (it was in the 20's) we stopped in to a good Italian Pizza Restaurant, in Timberville, and had some good Pizza and a Submarine sandwich for Hannah and I.

Then back to Harrisonburg, and another snack and some rest. Nathan came by to collect the children later in the afternoon, after they had a nap on the living room floor.

Are we ready for Christmas?

Yes, and no. We expect to go to a Christmas Tree Farm, tomorrow, December 22nd to cut a live tree. Sarah and Nathan's tribe will be with us. (Except for Luke...why's that?)

We have been loving the addition of Hannah to the circle here, as she arrived home for mid-semester break. She and Ellen have gotten most of the "house" decorations put up, and also decorated the outside tree in the front yard, as per usual. So many lights on that tree! Well, it's over 8 feet tall now. It was our inside/live tree 6 years ago. Then we planted it out front. Very healthy and handsome tree.

Grandmama/Phyllis left on Saturday and returned to Richmond. Wirt came up to retrieve her. Granny Lou is coming up for the afternoon on Christmas, and will stay overnight.

Other than that....we might travel to Pennsylvania for a day over the Christmas to New Year's week. We shall see.

The target we set for a New Hampshire visit did not materialize. So, we won't be able to get to see the eight (8) wonderful Grandchildren there. If only.....yes, "if only" we had a method, a connection, (other than SKYPE) to stay more current with all of them.

We saw Doug (the Chief) Coath over the Thanksgiving break! He was in Virginia to visit a relative and we had time (with Ellen and Hannah) to work on his I-Tunes application on his laptop. That was fun!

Early December, 2010

These are busy days for us! Hannah is completing the first semester of her senior year, at The University of Mary Washington. Sarah and Nathan continue being the best parents they know how to be......they have added another "child" in case you haven't yet noticed: George is his name! And, what a handful he is....
I expect we will get out the lights, the tree, and other decorations this week and hammer out our display identity for the 2010 season. Likely to be nearly identical to the 2009 identity.