Merry Christmas

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you tonight with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past four years, which I love. They represent to me the meaning of Christmas.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyrics from the song "Welcome, Christmas" from the TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and as Tiny Tim observed: "God Bless Us Every One"

Holiday Tour

Welcome to northern Virginia and the 2011 Holiday House Tour hosted by Jen of Jen on the Edge. The idea is to give the reader an idea of how we decorate for the Holidays.

We decorate pretty basically. We have a tree in the living room.



We did go to LED lights this year as I was getting pretty tired of replacing burned out bulbs and/or strings of lights. I have to say the new lights can be a bit bright. Actually bright may be an under statement. You almost need sunglasses to look at it. We do have a voice activated gizmo that allows us to turn the lights on and off without having to crawl behind the tree to pull out the plus to turn it off and that same gizmo allows us to dim the lights, which actually looks better. That same gizmo also provides hours of fun for Daughter#2 when she visits. She'll lay out on the couch and talk to the tree and turn in on and off and on and off... You get the idea.

We also decorate the family room. Lights on the mantle, stockings hung by the chimney with care...including ones for each of our four dogs. There is also a lighted wreath. The wreath is a fairly new addition.



Finally there are decorations outside to help make the neighborhood festive. We go for all white lights to cover the bushes. We also have two wreaths on the front door.



That's pretty much the extent of our holiday decorating. I can't say that we're very crafty folks so everything comes from the store except a few handmade ornaments on the tree - holdovers from when the kids made them way back in elementary school.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of our house. Things have been a bit hectic this December what with Daughter#2 graduating from the University of Florida with a Masters degree and over the same weekend having my Dad pass away. We burying him later this week.

From northern Virginia (or NoVA as we say in these parts), here's hoping you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and wishing you all the best for the coming New Year!

Christmas Aftermath

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We did here at the old hacienda. While not quite the mayhem as when the kids were little. it still ended up being exhausting as ever. I was up at 6:30 to prepare the family breakfast (for 6 of us) while Ann handled all the dogs. Five of them in all. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and OJ. We retired to the living room to dive into the packages left to us by Santa Claus. As we started the only one not in attendance was The Son who, although up, was running behind and still at his condo. He did tell us to go and get started and so we did. We had opened almost all the gifts by the time he arrived, but we sat him down and let him open all his presents. By the end I think I can safely say that everyone was quite happy with the presents received. After all the presents had been opened, Daughter#1 and her husband retired to the kitchen to prepare appetizers for the family to enjoy while the Christmas dinner was cooking away. We enjoyed a game of sorts (the name escapes me) the The Son managed to win. By late afternoon the turkey was ready and The Son had made his garlic mashed potatoes and we sat down for dinner. After saying grace for the many blessings we enjoy as a family, we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. That included apple pie ala mode and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert. All I wanted to do afterward was to lay around and take a nap before heading to bed. After tending to the dogs one last time thats exactly what I did. I was in bed by 9:30 and glad of it.

Because of the threat of a major storm heading up the coast, Daughter#2 and her husband decided to head home to Harrisonburg Christmas night rather then stay the night. They ran into the leading edge of the storm during the drive home. The pickup they were driving skidded on the slick surface about 30 minutes from home and hit a concrete wall. They were safe, but the truck was undrivable. A call was made to his parents to come rescue them. They finally made it home around midnight.

This morning Daughter#1's husband was kind enough to make us blueberry pancakes. That was the last thing he was able to do before being felled by the stomach virus that has struck Daughter#1, Ann and myself in the past few weeks. I feel for the guy as I know what he's going through. The good news it doesn't last more then 24 hours.

Christmas Eve Thoughts

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you tonight with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past last three years, which I love. They represent to me the meaning of Christmas.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyrics from the song "Welcome, Christmas" from the TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and as Tiny Tim observed: "God Bless Us Every One"

Christmas Movies

I was going to write about our family Christmas traditions tonight, but frankly the day got away from me and now I'm a bit too tired to think and write about them. So I'll just talk about a subset of our Christmas traditions, which is Christmas movies. I'll be the first to admit I'm a sucker for a good Christmas movie. I'll watch them over and over every year without fail. The first comes out on Thanksgiving because the movie itself starts on Thanksgiving Day. Sometime between getting the turkey in the oven and starting to peel the potatoes, I'll watch "Miracle on 34th Street".

I watch the 1947 version with Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn and Maureen O'Hara. In black in white and not "colorized". Occasionally I'll watch the 1994 remake with Richard Attenbourgh, Elizabeth Perkins and Mara Wilson, but I prefer the original.

The next four I watch in no particular order. It's whatever strikes my mood at the time.

First up is "Love Actually". I love this movie. Love the stories, love the music, love everything about it. The scene at the end where Colin Firth proposes to Aurelia always gets to me.

The next one I just watched tonight - A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott as Scrooge

I'll watch other versions if I see them om TV, but I happen to own the above version and I've watched it a lot. I've given a copy to Daughter#1 as well. I really like the 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Cratchit, but it's hard to find on TV. Some trivia - Gene Lockhart also played the Judge in the 1947 version of "Miracle on 34th Street".

The next two movies took me a while to warm up to. I really didn't like them at first, but having watched them a few times I've really gotten to like them. The first of these is the "Polar Express".

It's the one Christmas movie I watch that I don't actually own. I have to catch it on TV. At first I didn't like the animation. It looked kind of creepy. However over time the message of believing and being able to hear the sleigh bell won me over. At times I think its a bit overdone and could have easily been shorten by 30 minutes, but thats just nit picking. Besides who doesn't like Tom Hanks?

The next movie, which I bought about two years ago is "Prancer".

At first glance it appears to be just another cheezy kid Christmas movie, but Rebecca Harrell's performance as Jessica Riggs will win your heart over. We should all believe as sincerely as Jessica. Watching her save Prancer as he in turns saves her will bring a tear to your eye.

This final movie is what the family gathers together to watch every Christmas Eve before we turn in for the night to await Santa's arrival. Even now that the kids are adults, we still watch it as a family. The movie - "One Magic Christmas".

It has sort of a "It's a Wonderful Life" twist to it. It's always interesting to contemplate how changing one small thing changes all that follows it. The scene where Mary Steenburgen (the Mom) reads the letter she wrote as a child to Santa that her own child has brought back from the North Pole is the high point of the movie for me.

What Christmas movies are your favorites?

A Dog's Christmas

Today was my last day of work for a while. I don't have to commute down to my place of work until after the New Year. That being said there is always work to be done around the house. The first and foremost is taking care of our pack of dogs. We have four total.

The old lady of the Group: Rosie She turns 17 in February. She's a Schnauzer mix.

Mischief personified: Emily on the left Amy on the right. Miniature Schnauzers. They will turn 3 in February

And the only other male in the house besides myself: Scruffy. He's 11

All our dogs are rescues.

Ann and I take turns walking the dogs or at least letting them out to take care of business. Scruffy gets the longest walks as he's the biggest dog by about 30 lbs and he's also the easiest to walk. At 17, Rosie isn't that interested in walking. She's more about the treat waiting at the end of the walk. The twins can walk as far as Scruffy, but walking them is a disaster waiting to happen. If we run into someone, they go berserk with the barking, pulling on their leashes and carrying on. Their bark is just at the high pitch level thats it's like fingernails on a blackboard. No one wants to hear that. Especially first thing in the morning. So Scruffy gets the long walk. Since its currently Canadian weather here in Virginia, I limit the walk to one mile round trip. We walk to the local elementary school, which is a half mile away. This time of year school is in session so there are two crossing guards at the school. One always carries a treat for the local dogs. Obviously she is a dog person with three of her own. Scruffy eagerly awaits for her to dig into the pocket of her uniform to produce the prized treat. He gets a bit mystified on weekends or school holidays when we walk to the school and there isn't a treat waiting for him. Last week, after giving the Scruffy his treat, she said she had something for us. She went to her car and brought back this enormous chew bone. She told Scruffy he had to share it with his sisters. We placed it under the tree too hand out Christmas morning. Its for a Dog's Christmas.

End of the Season

Today marked the official end of our holiday celebration as we took down our tree and put it out on the curb for the garbage men to pick up in the morning. I always find it so depressing taking the ornaments off the tree and putting it outside. Needless to say, I put it off as long as possible. We were really happy with our tree this year. It's probably one of the best we have ever had. Even in taking it out out today, the needles were still pliable and it still smell piney. I was really sad to see it go. I think we'll seriously consider getting this type of tree next year Goodbye tree.
Before dealing with the tree, I did attend my erg class and managed to finish with slightly over 10,500 meters. A good total for me. I also do the weekend breakfasts so after I got home from the gym and showered, I made waffles for Ann, The Son and myself. We also tried some turkey bacon today. It's a lot less fatty and I had heard, I think on the "Today" show, that it tastes pretty much the same as regular bacon. I thought it was ok ,but my other panel of experts gave it a thumbs down. I guess we are back to the real thing next time we shop. The rest of the day, except for dealing with the tree, was spent lounging in front of the TV watching football games and just maybe slipping into a nap or two in the process.

Saturday Ann, The Son and I traveled up to Fairfax for a lunch of BBQ at Red, Hot and Blue. I do love me some BBQ. I got the pulled pork and rib combo. I was delightfully stuffed when we finished. After lunch we drove across the street (almost literally) to the Patriot Center on the campus of George Mason University. GMU was playing the Monarchs of Old Dominion University from down in the tidewater region of Virginia. As before its good couple hours of fun with GMU winning in the end. We hope to attend a few more games during the course of the season.

Friday was our compressed work schedule day off and payday. Yea! I did the grocery shopping and worked on the books for my rowing club. Nothing too exciting, but it's always nice having a day off.

Hope you had a fun weekend.

An Official Red Ryder, Carbine Action, Two-Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

Well not exactly, but I do feel like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" and how he feels about his very special Christmas present. To quote Ralphie: (it was) The greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive. I felt like that this Christmas as my family presented me with this:
A Felt F75 Road Bike complete with bike shoes.

While Santa delivered it, it was up to Daughter#2 to make the arrangements and her poor husband was dealt the hand of putting it together. To both and Santa (Ann) I can only say "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you". I had been coveting this bike for about two years now and I can't wait to give it a spin. I have to admit though I am a bit intimidated about the clip in shoes. I've never ridden with them before and I'm sure there are a few falls in my future until getting my feet in and out of the pedals becomes automatic. Daughter#2 is dropping by tomorrow and we're hoping to get in a short ride. I'm looking forward to it.

A Christmas Recap in Pictures

I thought I'd give a short recap of our Christmas to date through pictures. On Tuesday evening, Daughter#2 and The Son-In-Law rolled in from Harrisonburg with Gracie,their lab mix, dropped her off and rolled back out to visit a friend in downtown Washington. On Wednesday morning, after much drama in New York trying to find the right Delta terminal and not miss their flight, Daughter#1 and The Fiance arrived at Washington National Airport.

After their arrival and Daughter#2 arriving back home, we ventured out to have lunch at Daks Grill here in Woodbridge. I have no idea what we did for dinner. We did dig out some old home videos to show The Son-In-Law and The Fiance. A few good laughs were had by all. Christmas morning we discovered our camera was missing (it was later found in Ann's purse) so we'll have to wait for Christmas present pictures are downloaded from Daughter#1's camera. After we opened presents we had a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs , bacon, some fake bacon for Daughter#2, toast and OJ. After breakfast everyone went off to clean up and prep for dinner. Daughter#2 fired up the crock pot to make some hot cider with mulling spices.

By 4:00 the turkey was ready to be carved.

A family picture before we say grace and dig into the turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, gravy, peas and rolls

After dinner and desert of apple pie a la mode and pumpkin pie with Cool Whip, most of us retired to the family room with groans a plenty. The two daughters gave a preview of the bridesmaid dress for the up coming wedding of Daughter#1 and The Fiance.

We watched the movie "Maid of Honor" before turning in for a long winter's nap.

Today we kept breakfast simple with just some bagels and pumpkin bread muffins. We also discovered that the minivan's battery was dead due to the lights being left on inside the van while charging Ann's new Garmin Nuvi. I put it on the battery charger and all was well until I tried to turn on the radio and it asked for the security code. Now I understand the whole security code as an anti-theft deterrent. However, the van is over 3 years old and I have no idea where the security code might be written down, if we ever got it at all. I quick look through our owners manual and other paperwork didn't turn anything up. I guess we'll have to contact the dealer and see if they can help. What a pain.

After rounding up The Son, we headed in to Old Town Alexandria for the afternoon. We decided to try out Zandrias's favorite bar and have lunch at O'Connell's. It was very cozy and we got seated close to the fireplace. Their O'Connell's Ale was outstanding. This picture of us all was taken by a gentleman wearing an Auburn sweatshirt so we exchanged "War Eagle's". He was very generous to offer to take a picture of the seven of us. I had the Shepard's Pie, which was quite yummy.

After lunch we walked around Old Town for a bit and dropped by the Torpedo Factory. This converted Navy building, where they did indeed manufacture torpedoes during WWII, is an art center featuring studios of many different artists. Here Daughter#1 and The Fiance pose in front of some sculpture.

Before heading home, we walked along the waterfront. At this point it was getting a bit chilly so we didn't linger long.

After we arrived home the daughters and the Husband/fiance went their separate ways to meet old friends while The Son treated his parents to some Thai food for dinner. Then it was time to come home and crash, except for this entry. Merry Day After Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I missed posting last night, Christmas Eve, due to no Internet service. Thank you Comcast. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We did here in Virginia despite the lack of snow. There is nothing like having family around you when you celebrate Christmas. I will have a detail wrap up later on this week, but it's late and its been a busy day so I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight and leave you with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used last year plus one.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyric from the song "Welcome, Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and God Bless Us every one.

Favorite Christmas Movies

I've been thinking about this post since Holidailies started, but haven't gotten around to putting it together until now. I saw the list of The Top 100 Christmas Movies and I thought I would rank my favorites. This isn't a comprehensive list of all the Christmas movies I've seen, just my favorites. Without further ado:

1. Love Actually (2003) - Not Ranked - A bit strange it wasn't on the list. Currently my favorite
Christmas movie. A collection of different love stories woven together. My favorite, the writer
and the Portuguese maid.
2. One Magic Christmas (1985)(Ranked #61) - It got lost in the theatres going up against "Santa
Claus" starring Dudley Moore. It has a very "It's a Wonderful Life" touch to it. The family
watches this every Christmas Eve before turning in for the night.
3. A Christmas Carol (1984)(Ranked #11) - George C. Scott plays a great Scrooge and the music
is fantastic. A must see for me every year. I bought a copy for Daughter#1
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)(Ranked #2) - This movie kicks off our Christmas season.
Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwen are great in the title roles.
5. A Christmas Story (1983)(Ranked #12) - This movie hits really close to home of what it was
like when I was growing up I never stuck my tongue to a flagpole though. Darren McGavin as
the Dad is priceless.
6. Prancer (1989)(Ranked #31) - This movie has slowly moved up my list of favorite Christmas
movies. You can't help but love Jessica Rigg and her belief in Santa and wanting to get Prancer
back to Santa.
7. A Christmas Carol (1938)(Ranked #6) - I love this Dickens tale as you can tell since I have two
versions in my top 10. Reginald Owen as Scrooge and Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit are
wonderful in this black and white version.
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1963)(TV)(Ranked #9) - Technically not a movie, but a
favorite Christmas must see. Watching the Grinch be transformed always gets to me. Dr
Suess was genius.
9. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1964)(TV)(Ranked #14) - Again a TV show and not a movie, but
I look forward to this every year and hearing Linus's speech on the true meaning of
Christmas.
10. Polar Express (2004)(Not Ranked) - The elves are a little creepy and the whole animation
was a weird, but I loved the bit about being able to hear the bell if you still believed in
Santa.
11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) (Ranked #1) - A perennial favorite. It's a bit long, but I love the
parts where Clarence shows how life would be without George Bailey in it. We all touch so
many lives.
12. Scrooged (1988)(Ranked #22) - Bill Murray rocks as the Scrooge type character. Funny
take on the old classic.
13. Home Alone (1990)(Ranked #23) - Another one that took me a while to warm up mainly due
to Macaulay Culkin. The relationship he strikes up with the older neighbor and how they
help each other makes it a hit for me and the comedy is pretty good too.
14. The Homecoming - A Christmas Story (1971)(Rank#79) - Made for TV movie that
introduced us to the Waltons. I loved that show. I don't have a daughter named after the two
younger girls for nothing.
15. Miracle on 34th Street (Ranked #56) - Remake of the classic. Richard Attenborough, Mara
Wilson and Elizabeth Perkins are great, but too many blatant product placements and the
whole ending was a good deal weaker, in my opinion, than the original.

Feel free to weigh in with your favorites. And to all a good night.

A Bloody Mess!

When I managed to extract myself from bed this morning, I had a few things I wanted to do today. Not that I wanted to get up seeing it was another cloudy, dreary cold morning. Its been a while since we've seen any sunshine. The things I wanted to do were to erg, watch Navy play in their bowl game and fix our outside lights. As I was getting my morning coke from the refrigerator, I decided before my day got underway, a Christmas movie might be nice way to ease into the day. Comcast's On Demand Channel is running a large selection of Holiday movies, some free and some not. Ann likes the Bill Murray movie "Scrooged" so that's what I picked. It's really pretty funny and has the usual "A Christmas Carol" happy ending. So that was two hours well spent.

After the movie, I headed upstairs to erg. Working out on the erg for me is a funny thing. Sometimes I feel into it. Sometimes I don't. Today I didn't feel it. I struggled through 5,000 meters. About the best I can say for it was that I finished it. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more into it. After a shower, I settled in to watch the first of the college bowl games, which featured Navy vs Wake Forest. I really like both teams so it was hard to know who to route for. In the end, our and my family's association with the Navy won out over Jim Grobe's (the Wake Forest's coach)
Ohio University ties. It was a good game with the score going back and forth before Wake finally pulled away at the end.

Next up - lunch. Ann and I grabbed a sub from Jerry's Subs and Pizzas before I tackled the outside lights. It was a two fold job. One, remove the net with the melted connection and two, find the burned out light on another net that was keeping a section of that net from lighting. Removing the melted net was quick and painless and I moved some other nets around to cover that space. Good, one down and one to go. I brought the second net in to find the burned out light. After plugging in the net, it only took me a few minutes to find the problem. A bulb had broken off leaving just the remnants in the base. Frankly it was a lucky find right off the bat, otherwise I was looking at checking some 50 lights. As I tried to get the broken bulb out I got a shock as the wires to the bulb were still there and exposed. Note to self - unplug the lights before you work on them. I replaced the broken bulb and the net lit right up. However, I did notice another bulb that was burned out. As I was going about trying to extract that bulb, it broke off and cut the heck out of my thumb. It wasn't a bad cut, but did it bleed and bleed and bleed. I continued to try and replace the bulb, but I was dripping blood onto the kitchen floor, which didn't sit well with Ann. She took over the task while I worked on stopping the bleeding. Once I got a band-aid on it, that seem to do the trick. I took the now repaired net outside and out it on the bushes and it's now burning brightly in the night.

After attending church services, Ann and I dug into bowls of white bean chili with The Son driving up to join us. We retired to the family room to watch some more football and the three of us promptly all nodded off to sleep. No one can say we aren't a lively group. Now I'm off to finish that nap.

To Donuts and Burned Out Christmas Lights

First let me thank the Holidailies's staff for selecting yesterday's entry A Rockwell Christmas as a Best of Holidailies selection. It's very humbling and certainly helps the number of visists to my page. Hopefully some will like what they see and continue to return.

I worked from home today. I traded today for my usual Wednesday work at home day. I had to go in yesterday for a big in-house review of a Request for Proposal that will be released next month. That went a lot better than anyone expected. And there were donuts. Mmmmmm.

Speaking of donuts, I weighed myself this morning and found that I was eating my way out of my lightweight status as defined by US Rowing. I decided I had to get a lot more serious about my off season erging and get on a much more regular schedule. So during my lunch break I hopped on my erg and did 5,000 meters. I managed a best time since our rowing season ended, but a long way from where I should be. Since I'm home until Tuesday, I'm going to try and erg at least 3 of the next 4 days. Lets see how disciplined I am about doing that.

Today I also checked on our outdoor lights, which have quit working for the most part. I found that one of our light nets was partially fried. This was one that was involved in last year's frying incident, but I had hoped it was good enough to go this year. Apparently not. I took that net off line and the others are now working again although obviously there is a hole where the missing net is/was. We're going to shop for a replacement tomorrow, but I fear most decorations have been pretty picked over by this point.

I leave you with a picture (above) from this year's Diamond States Regatta back in July. The webmaster and our unofficial photographer just got around to posting this year's pictures to the club's website. I'm seating in bow of our Men's Quad. I miss being out on the water.

To the those in the midwest and northeast about to get clobbered with snow tomorrow, think white Christmas!

A Rockwell Christmas

Deep in our hearts I think we all long to experience that all American Christmas as portrayed by the works of Norman Rockwell. The small town idealistic setting, with snow on the ground and more gently falling from the sky. The horse pulling the open sleigh. The family all at home gathered around the tree and fireplace while carolers serenade from outside. In a lot of ways I lived those Christmases portrayed by Rockwell. For many years after we moved to upstate NJ, I would trek out into the woods to cut down our Christmas tree. Usually one a tad to big to fit comfortably in our small living room leaving my Dad the job of trimming them down to a manageable size. We had the bubble lights to put on the tree. A string passed down from my grandparents. Back in the "old" days, if one light went out, the whole string did. We had Perry Como on the record player. Not tape, not CD, but old vinyl as played on our RCA console stereo. I also made our own wreaths for our front door. I even sold one or two to neighbors. Of course I no longer have a crafty bone in my body. We had the annual Christmas plays at our elementary school. Good old Paradise Knoll. My first year living in Newfoundland (NJ not Canada), when I was in the first grade, before I made it to Paradise Knoll, I went to a three room school house. Now that's rather Rockwellian. I also sang at the early service at our church, which I'm sure would shock anyone who had the misfortune of hearing me sing now. We has these maroon colored robes with big white bows. It got us out of the first half of Sunday school. We had the best place to sleigh right outside our front door. I nice big hill that the town often left unplowed just so we could use it (there was another exit to get out to the main road so not plowing it wasn't a big deal). I still have the sleighs we used back in my youth stored in our basement. Unfortunately we don't get to use them here in Virginia much. Finally and the best part, I had a very loving family without which Christmas wouldn't mean nearly as much. This includes both sets of Grandparents. My dad's parents would spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with us before returning to Bloomfield. The afternoon and Christmas dinner was spent with my Mom's dad and step-mother. By the time we made the drive home from High Crest Lake, we were worn out puppies and treasuring our Christmas memories.

Whose Woods Are These, I Think I Know

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods On A Snowy Evening" is one of my favorite poems and seems just right for December and Christmas. The reason I bring up poems and poetry is today was get the Christmas cards done day. It's not a task I look forward to as it seems boring and tedious. However, once I get into it, it draws out memories from the past. The first card ( I do them alphabetically going through my address book) is an old friend from my high school/college days in Severna Park. Smart kid (Physics major and then law school) and decent athlete. We had some really fun times. Even though we only live about 50 minutes apart now, we can't seem to make time for each other as our lives have diverged over time. There are others like college friends that live in Georgia. Our two nannies that we hired right out of high school. One still lives close by and the other is in Wisconsin. Both have families of their own now. We also have new people on out list as Daughter#2 In-Laws have been added and now Daughter#1's fiance's family. It's an interesting trip down memory lane.

The glass of beer is from the first bottle from my batch of Scotch Ale that I brewed about 5 weeks ago. Seems to have turned out pretty well although, while clear in the bottle, its hazy after being poured. I assume its from sediment in the bottle. I thought this bottle also tasted a bit watery at first. It might just have been me though. The second bottle tasted fine. I'm going to save most of this batch for Christmas to share with the rest of the family.

The gifts continue to be delivered. A few a week. Now we need to get with the wrapping.

O Christmas Tree 2008

Today we finally got around to buying our Christmas tree. This is a good week later than we normally buy it, but time seems to be getting away from us this holiday season. We get our tree from the local nursery. They usually have a good selection. They had a fire going today as we pulled up. We normally buy a Douglas fir, but couldn't find one we liked. Actually we did find one that we like until we looked at the trunk and saw that it curved like a banana. We selected a Frazier fur instead.

When you buy a tree from them, they give you a pointsetta.

We ended up picking these two. Now if we can remember to water them, they might actually last until Christmas.


Another perk if you shop for a tree at the nursery on the weekend - they feed you! They had various cheeses and fruits, a tasty crab dip, spicy wings and meatballs in a bbq sauce. You can wash it down with coffee or hot cocoa.


They trimmed our tree for us, packed it up and tied it to the top of our minivan and we were ready to roll for home.

I had all kinds of offers to help decorate the tree. The Son shows how he helped out. Actually he left to go home and do laundry.

Taking a cue from The Son, Ann helped decorate the tree from across the room.

So I was pretty much on my own for getting the tree decorated. I put on some Christmas music to set the mood and I got to it starting with the lights. At first I thought this string was totally nonfunctioning as it would not light at all. That's until Ann walked over and threw the switch that controlled the outlet I was using. Ooops.

The lights took longer than I would have liked as I found three bulbs that were out. I cannibalized some replacements from other defunct strings of lights I keep for that purpose, but they barely glowed at all. I think I need to get new lights for next year before these totally go. Ok, a shot with the lights finally up.

After the lights, I began adding our ornaments. It's a mixture of bulbs and objects like a boat, a Santa playing bagpipes and some decorations left over from when the kids were in school. After about an hour I was all done. Here is the finished tree. Merry Christmas!

Tis the (End of the) Season

Today officially marked the end of our Holiday Season as we took down the tree and our outside lights. To me this is always the most depressing day of the year. I hate taking the tree down. Not so much because of the mess of needles that always occur, but it's so sad to dismantle what was once so beautiful and looked like this:

To it lying in the gutter waiting for the garbage men to haul it away. Actually I think there is a poem or story that tells the sad story of the Christmas tree. Alas poor tree, we will miss you in all your lighted glory and your sweet pine smell.

I had a problem with my outside lights this year. They worked fine until the weekend before Christmas when about half of them failed to come on at dusk. The ones that wouldn't come on were all linked to an extension cord I run from the back of the house. In a brain fart designing the house, the builder did not include any outside sockets in the front of the house. Brilliant. Anyway, I discovered that a circuit breaker was tripped. Every time I reset it, it would immediately trip off again. I even tried a different outlet, but the same thing happened. I assume both outlets must be on the same circuit. Finally I just gave up and they stayed dark until I took them down today. In dismantling the various connections and extension cords, I discovered this:
At first I thought it was just covered by mud since it rained yesterday. Closer inspection revealed that it was burnt and had melted some of the rubber insulation. I couldn't separate the two cords since the melted insulation from both cords had made them one. No wonder the circuit breaker would trip. I suspect that when Daughter#1 arrived home and used her hair dryer that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I swear half the house is wired into that one circuit. I'm glad to see the circuit breaker did what it was suppose to do.

I watched the Redskins exit the playoffs on Saturday. It looked so promising after they had rallied and scored 14 points to take the lead in the second half. They then recovered the ensuing kickoff on the Seattle 14 yard line only to come up empty missing a field goal. I think that was the defining moment of the game. After that it was all Seattle. Time to wait for next year.

I made my erg class today. I got in my goal of 10,000 meters and lord was it hard. There was a good turnout today. Every erg was taken, which means we had 24 (I think) people rowing, including the instructor. It's amazing the energy that group will generate. It's really hard for me to plant myself on my erg at home and rattle off 10,000 meters. It would take me about 43 minutes and the boredom that would ensue boggles the mind. Not to mention the exhaustion in rowing that far on the erg. It's much easier doing it as part of a group. Shared misery and all that.

Tomorrow is my first day back at work after being off for two weeks. The idea of getting up at 3:30 is not very appealing and I know it will just be crazy at work with everyone coming back. I just want to survive the day. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Christmas Eve

As I had predicted, this weekend has been all kinds of crazy, but usually in a good way. We got The Son sort of set up in his new place. He still isn't living there full time, but after Christmas he should have everything he needs to live there full time. He still doesn't have any lamps for his bedroom, but we're working on it. Daughter#1 arrived on time Saturday morning. She helped with some of her mad shopping skills and a guest entry. Sunday, Daughter#2 arrived husband and dog in tow. We enjoyed some white beam chili for lunch before we headed down to her twin's new place to show it off. They seemed to like it. We went out to Olive Garden for dinner that night. all seven of us, including, The Son's new girlfriend. This morning, Christmas Eve, we woke up and exchanged presents with Daughter#2 and The Son In Law. They won't be able to be with us on Christmas Day as they will be with his family. I guess the up side it will be like having two Christmases. After presents there was the breakfast and mimosas. We really had no plans for after breakfast and Daughter #2, Ann, The Son In Law and myself went for a hike at Hemlock Overlook. Pictures for all of the above to follow.

As this is Christmas Eve, we should all be with our families so I will keep this short. As to my feelings about Christmas I'll defer to two writers much more talented than myself - Dr. Suess and Charles Dickens.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!' = A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and God Bless Us every one.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Hey!!! I’m daughter #1, the high-maintenance one, the princess, the anal-retentive one, the materialistic one; however you want to look at it. I am happy to write as a guest blogger on my Dad’s blog.

So, I’m home for the holidays. I currently live in Stamford, CT. Technically, a cross between being its own little metropolis and a suburb of New York City. Dad wanted me to comment on holiday traditions, but I thought I would give a commentary on how I remember Christmas growing up.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Yes, of course the gifting part of it was huge, but also the traditions, the Christmas carols, decorating, random acts of kindness. I definitely take after my Dad-we are total holiday fanatics. Being a traditionalist, we do a lot of the same things, every Christmas. So not many stand out in my mind. But we got things down to sort of a routine.

First of all, in one of his posts, my Dad wonders if he took the kids to see Santa. That would be a negative, ghostrider. I think I remember seeing a picture of us with Santa, so we must have gone to see him, but I’m sure the nanny took us. Seeing Santa, the one time we must have sat on his lap, I think must have made me apprehensive. Like when you have to confess your sins to your priest at First Communion. You feel like you have to tell him you haven’t been 100% good, cuz what kid is an angel? But you can’t confess anything THAT bad, or you wouldn’t get any presents, in Santa’s case. Plus, it’s always awkward to sit on some strange man’s lap. Um, I mean, it must be, right?

I remember writing letters to Santa. I think I started reading at a pretty early age, and thus writing at a relatively early age. I was on Yearbook in high school, AP English, a Journalism major (don’t judge me!!). I would like to think my grammar and penmanship were impeccable, even at the tender age of 5. The letters probably went something like:

Dear Santa:

Hi! My name is Daughter #1. I live in Woodbridge, Virginia. In case you aren’t sure where that is, it is 20 minutes south of Our Nation’s Capital. I hope you and Mrs. Claus and the Reindeer and Elves are very well. I have been a very good girl this year. I want X, Y, and Z. I hope that is not a problem. Have a safe trip! Love, Daughter # 1

I suppose I’d put them in the mailbox with paid postage and my parents would take it out in the dark of night to see what I wanted. But Santa always ate the milk and cookies we left out! Seriously, it must have been an f-ing nightmare to wrap all the Christmas gifts after Children’s Mass (now THAT is a nightmare) before us kids woke up at 5 AM.

As for traditions, we don’t have anything crazy. We used to start listening to carols the moment the Thanksgiving dinner was served; we would go look for a tree together, decorate it together, go to Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve (because it was the shortest mass, with all the screaming kids); watch One Magic Christmas, go to bed. God forbid we open a present on Christmas Eve. We would ask, but to no avail. You’d think we were asking our parents for half a million bucks. We would wake up at 5 or 6 am, go and jump on our parents bed (well, I would, I’d always bee the first up). We would have to sit at the top of the stairs while they dragged their tired butts out of bed, I’m sure only running on 2 hours of sleep. Dad would have to get the ancient, huge, heavy, camcorder ready to film. The twins and I would be going nuts by now. Then we would race downstairs when the parentals were FINALLY ready, to open our stockings. There was something magical in the early years about seeing our stockings full, and presents literally spilling into all corners of our living room. After tossing aside our tantalizing stocking stuffers (socks, chapstick, candy) we would go racing into the “nice room” to open the real deal. Back in the day, we used to find our “section”-whichever part of the tree you decorated as your section-that’s where Santa would leave your gifts. And we’d open presents all at the same time like starving men on a morsel of food. Now, we mix them up and someone plays “Elf”, and everyone watches the person who has an gift, which stretches present-opening time to about a 3 hour ordeal. After that we have a huge breakfast with mimosas (that came later, obviously our parents didn’t feed us alcohol when we were 8), and then I guess we watched football all day? I think my Dad would make a fire if it was especially cold. Then Christmas dinner.

I have to be honest, this was the first Christmas I haven’t really felt it was ‘tis the season. Work is busy, we had several Christmas parties to go to, I obviously can’t share in a lot of the traditions my family is involved in as I’m up in Connecticut. But it’s great being back with family. Because that is so important-being thankful for your family, the ones who will always be there for you. I am very, very thankful for my family. I wish you Merry Christmas, from the Northeast.

The Weekend Forecast: Crazy

As the weekend decends upon us, it's devloping into one crazy weekend. Too much to do and not enough down time. Tomorrow The Son goes to closing on his condo. He has a final walk through at 9:00 and then the actual closing at 11:00. Its weird thinking of him as a homeowner. What we do after closing is still in the air. The Son would like to paint his bedroom while it's still empty. Or rather he would like me to paint his bedroom. I don't mind helping out, but I'm not sure I like the idea of working on HIS place while he sits and enjoys a cold one. We'll see how that plays out.

Saturday Daughter#1 is flying into Dulles at 8:00. The cable company is scheduled to arrive at The Son's place between 9:00 and noon. In addition, he is having furniture delivered during the same time period. Heaven help us if we are painting at the same time. I would like some time to bake cookies with Daughter#1.

Sunday Daughter#2 and The Son In Law arrive with the Black Demon in tow. We've gone back and forth about having our Christmas dinner on Sunday or having it on Christmas or trying to do it both days. If we have it on Sunday obviously Daughter#2 and The Son In Law will be able share it with us. However, that begs the question on what to do for dinner on Christmas. Having two dinners seems too ambitious. Plus we'd have no room for leftovers. I think the current thinking is to have dinner out on Sunday and stick to having Christmas dinner on Christmas. We'll exchange presents with Daughter#2 and The Son In Law on Monday before they head back to Harrisonburg and have Christmas with his family. This trading holiday thing sucks, but I can't think of another way to handle it that's fair to both families. On Christmas we'll exchange the rest of our presents with Daughter#1 and The Son. Then retire for a long winter's nap.