A Big Thanks

Holidailies has come to a close for the year (actually I thought today was the last day - instead it finished up on Wednesday). I started a few days late and trailed off a little at the end, but for the most part, I updated fairly regularly. It gave me what I needed most though and thats to start writing again so that was the definite upside. Thanks to Jette and Chip for hosting. Thanks also to you who stopped by for a read and a special thank you to those you left me a note. Comments are always appreciated.

I miss the holidays already even though my Christmas lights outside are still burning bright and our tree is still up. Both will come down this weekend. I find that a most depressing job.

Things to look forward to over the next few weeks:

• My alma mater Auburn plays for the BCS Championship on Monday night
• a couple trips to the west coast for business
• holidays and three day weekends
• hopefully a snow storm or two - just don't go overboard like last year
• a nice bonus from work
• good friends and a wonderful family

New Years Day = Football

If it's one thing New Years Day has always meant to me is college football. All day long. In the old days, a good part of the day might have been spent recovering from the night before. So parking myself in front of the TV was more a necessity then anything else. These days I'm a lot smarter not to mention older. The thought of going out partying on New Years eve has long lost its appeal. My stomach and head are much better off as a result. I was hoping to plop down in front of a fire and enjoy the games, but it actually was too warm here today to even consider having a fire going in the fireplace. So I settled for chips and dip with a turkey sandwich.

The first round of games turned out to be pretty uninteresting for the most part. Blowouts for the most part. I started off watching Michigan State vs Alabama. I was hoping to watch Alabama go down, which is always a treat for me. No such luck. I finished up the first round watching the Florida vs Penn State. At least it was a game for the most part. I was looking forward to the Rose Bowl to see how TCU would do. They didn't disappoint beating Wisconsin. It was a good game, but TCU and by extension other nonBCS teams, showed that they can play with the big boys. So good for them. Oh and the Big 10 Conference - 0 for 5 today. Me thinks that's a conference a tad overrated this year

As entertaining as the bowl games are, the fact that Div 1 football is the only NCAA sport without a Championship is a travesty. I think we will eventually have one, it's just a question of when. This whole BCS thing is just a crock.

Making A List and Checking It Twice

With Christmas just a week away, today was the day for Ann and I to sit down and see where we were in terms of getting our presents taken care of. We have set up an Excel file to track who is getting what. We try top keep a somewhat level playing field between the kids and the two sons in law. Our review showed that we had done a pretty decent job to date. There were a few smaller things that we had missed, but overall we look to be in pretty good shape. Heave a big sigh of relief. After checking our list and checking it twice, it was off to do our Christmas cards. Doing Christmas cards is sort of a mixed bag for me. I certainly enjoy getting them, but it can be arduous task if you let it be. I like to put on some Christmas music to set the mood and jump right in. We don't do a Christmas letter like a lot pf people do. Just a card with a friendly greeting. We also don't send out a large quantity of cards - maybe 25 to 30. The one with the longest distance to go goes to a relative in Largs, Scotland. It's also nice to reconnect with a number of my friends from college. The one time a year I do so (although Facebook has changed that a bit). It's always good to relive old times.

So gifts ordered and mostly wrapped. Cards are done. House is decorated. Now just the Christmas dinner to buy and we're good to go for the big day. Somehow it didn't seem as hard this year.

House Tour

In participating in Holiday Homes Tour 2010 hosted by Jen of Jen on the Edge fame. The idea is to show how you decorate your home for the Holidays. We don't really go overboard on decorating for Christmas. Mostly because no one in this household has a speck of Martha Stewart in them. And we're lazy. So there you go, but on to the tour. Lets start outside.

For decorating outside there has been no better invention then light nets. They look better then individual strings of lights and they are much easier to put up and save untold amount of time. What you see is 8 nets with another triangle net for our Holly tree. The lights look great with a little snow on them. I do the lights and Ann puts up the wreaths on our front door

We set our tree up in the living room. This is a Douglas fir bought from a local nursery. Picking out a tree usually takes us over an hour as we literally look at every tree on the lot. This year we found our tree in less then 15 minutes. Pretty amazing for us. I put up the lights and in theory the rest of the family puts the ornaments on the tree. With adult children this becomes somewhat problematic. We couldn't arrange a convenient time for everyone to get together so Ann and I ended up decorating the tree ourselves. We assign a section of the tree to each of our three children, which contain the various ornaments they made in elementary school plus each has an ornament from their respective colleges - Daughter#1 - Ohio University, The Son - Radford University and Daughter#2 - Virginia Tech. I also have an ornament from my alma mater - Auburn University. This year Daughter#1 has the left side of the tree, The Son has the middle and Daughter#2 has the right side of the tree. Daughter#1 has already wrapped a fair number of presents which are now residing under the tree waiting for Christmas morning.

The only other room we really decorate is our family room. We add lighted garland to the fireplace mantel and a lighted wreath. Add in a Nutcracker or two and a couple of poinsettias and you have a festive room. Even more so if there is a fire going in the fireplace. Currently I'm out of wood so that is a bit of the problem. Back in the days we would always have these somewhat shady looking dudes from mid Virginia or West Virginia driving around the neighborhood in their loaded pickups full of firewood to sell. They have all but disappeared in the last three years. The only thing I can think of is so many of my neighbors have switched their fireplaces over to gas that it's not worth their while to try and go door to door selling the wood. I sure could use some though.

That ends my tour. Fell free to drop by anytime this month as I will be updating everyday as part of Holidailies. I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and the best during the New Year.

First Snow

Today was the first measurable snow we've had since last winter. It snowed about 6 hours and left us with about 3 inches. Not quite Buffalo standards, but enough to cause concern among those who either hate to drive in snow or those that are bad at it. I love watching snow fall. It evokes such a sense of quiet and peace. It doesn't hurt that it snowed so close to Christmas. It fits right in with the spirit of the season. Who knows as cold as it has been, the snow might stick around long enough for us to have a white Christmas. Those are few and far between here in Virginia. Because it started to snow after I was already at work, I was worried about how long the commute home would be. Epic delays are not uncommon around here whenever it snows. Add in the fact that there was only two of us in the vanpool today, I figured I was due to be the driver on the way home. As it turned out, the other guy, much younger then myself, volunteered to drive both ways. That made my day. I promptly fell asleep coming and going leaving the driving to him. As it turned out, the commute home took us about 2 1/2 hours with a stop for gas thrown in. Frankly I thought that was great time given the circumstances. Of course my car was covered in snow when we got to the commuter parking lot where we leave the van. It was a fairly dry snow so it was easy to clear off without getting too much snow all over my shoes. Ann called me on the way from the parking lot to say she had hired two teenagers to clear our driveway and sidewalks so score one for that. Our outside Christmas lights look great glistening from under the fresh coat of snow. It really is looking a lot like Christmas.

12 Days of Christmas

Like most males, I shudder at the thought of going shopping. The trips to the mall, the wandering around, the endless looking and looking. Going from store to store. Having to park out in the boondocks, the crowds, the mayhem. Who needs that? Now what I do like is shopping on line. Give me a computer, a credit card and a shopping list and I'm good to go. Shopping on line is like the 12 Days of Christmas. I type in a few choice numbers and give them an address and just like that, presents ordered. Almost every day Santa disguised as the UPS guy or the Fed Ex guy pulls up to the house and unloads his Christmas treasures. It's like Christmas every day. To top it off, this year I have an elf working for me in the basement. I just turn my gifts over to her and she wraps them for me. That spares me that task plus my elf wraps things a whole lot better then I can. So this year I won't be up to 3:00AM doing last minute wrapping. Perhaps I can sit around and enjoy the specialness that is Christmas eve surrounded by family. Now wouldn't that be special?

Back on the Water

The weather over the weekend here in northern Virginia was just great. Temperatures reached into the high 70s with low humidity. It felt so good just to sit out in the sun. The start of this month also marked the first time when I could get back on the water in a single. I directed my browser to the appropriate web site and paid my membership fees and then hoped in the car and drove over to Sandy Run Park. The park was pretty crowded for a Friday mid-morning. This was mostly due to the schools being out for spring break and the coaches taking advantage by scheduling practices during the day rather then late afternoon after school lets out. In addition, the first full regatta was the next day. So some last minute fine tuning of starts and getting familiar with the course, I presume. I signed out my boat (but forgot to list the time I left - oops) and headed up stream. The water conditions were good. A slight breeze, but no choppy water. The first time out I want nice flat water until I get the feel of the boat again. Sculling in a single is not unlike riding a bile. Once you master it, you never really forget how to balance the boat but the first few minutes you're still a little unsure if you'll remember how to row and keep from flipping the boat. Overall I would judge it a good first outing. I got the boat to move much better then I had any reason to believe. I'll be the first to admit that my winter training this year was pretty much nonexistent and I need to work my way back into shape before my sweep rowing starts in June. Again given my fitness level, I was able to row decent distances between water breaks. My hands came out in ok shape. First rows of the season are notorious for chewing your hands up with multiple blisters and abrasions until the callouses develop. I had no real blisters although I manage to abrade the skin off the tip of my middle finger on my left hand. and a small part of my left palm. My right hand came out unscathed. I rowed up to Fountainhead park and back. A distance of 7 miles. I'm hoping to get up to 350 miles before the season ends. The wind started to pick up just as I was finishing up, but managed to get the boat back to the dock in one piece. I just missed hitting one rather big log floating in the water and one large tree that had fallen into the reservoir due to high water eroding the banks. Both times I turned around just in time to see them and stop the boat. Hitting objects in the water is not recommended.

Saturday had a meeting of my men's team (sweep rowing) for some instruction on the erg having to do with catches and releases. Unfortunately I missed the part of the message saying that's what was going on and I just thought it was an organizational meeting of sorts and didn't dress appropriately for erging. I listened to our coach for a bit and then cut out after the other rowers started their pieces. I feel a bit bad about that. After I got home, I took our two new miniature schnauzers (Amy and Emily) out for a long walk. At two years old they have endless terrier energy and long walks helps to calm them down a bit and not get into so much mischief at home (like chewing up one of our dog beds). We still trying to arrange some basic obedience training for them so they don't go so ape shit every time they see a living soul be it human, another dog/cat/squirrel. It does make it challenging to walk them. I try to go out on our walks when I think the least amount of pedestrian traffic will be about. The rest of the day was spent running errands and then, finally, watching the Final Four. I was happy to see Butler win and not so much to see Duke win. I will definitely be routing for Butler tonight.

Sunday morning Ann and I headed off to mass. Lord it was crowded Not quite as bad as Christmas eve masses, but not an open seat to be found. Seemed all that kneeling was a bit harder on my knees then usual. Getting old is hell. After mass and another long walk of the twins, it was off to get some much needed mulch for the island out in front of our house and the shrubs that border the house. and front walk. The yard looks 100 per cent better. Given the yard work and the nice day, I cracked my first Corona(s) of the year. Now if it will just stay warm. Fingers crossed.

The Real End of the Christmas Season

Today is traditionally one of the most depressing days of the year for me. The reason being is today is the day we finally took down our tree and the rest of the Christmas decorations. Our tree, which lighted up our living room and our lives is now a barren dead tree waiting on the curb for the garbage men to come by for it in the morning. The house looks plain and boring now after our literal festival of lights. I guess I should mention that the outside lights are still on the bushes, but not turned on. Ann insisted leaving them off after we were the only ones in the neighborhood with them on Saturday night. The outside lights would have come down as well, but it has just been to cold to work long outside. I am delicate after all.

What did drag my outside, if only for about 30 minutes was the delivery of a new 8+ shell to the boathouse. We co-own the boat with Forest Park High School. We originally bought the boat about 3 years ago and frankly the boat was a bit of a disappointment from a workmanship point of view and a durability stand point also. WinTech stepped up after much discussion with the high school booster club and agreed to replace the original boat. The replacement showed up today. I went down to he boathouse to help unload it and put it away. Looks like a great boat and I can't wait to get a chance to row in it. That is also a reminder that I need to get off my butt and onto the erg and weights to get ready for the upcoming season.

Late Christmas

So today we finally got to celebrate Christmas as the kids filed in one by one. Daughter#2 and her husband were the first to arrive around 10:30 this morning followed by The Son and finally Daughter#1 and her husband who had been on the road since about 530 this morning. We knew everyone would be hungry after driving, I made a vegetarian friendly egg casserole so Daughter32 could have something to eat to. I made it with some fake sausage and no-dairy shredded cheese. Everyone liked it so it wasn't a big deal making it vegetarian friendly. After our brunch of sorts, we retired to the living room to exchanges gifts. We a one gift at a time type family when it comes to opening gifts. It takes longer, but its fun seeing who got what from whom. Socks were the most abundant gifts as everyone got some. Some of the highlights: Daughter#1 got a rain jacket. The son got a winter coat. Ann got some cookware, Daughter#2 got a blender, her husband got a lot of drum equipment, Daughter#1's husband got a tour book and a gift card, and i got some home made charcoal made by Daughter#2's husband and a picture of myself rowing during the head of the Occoquan. By the time we were down, the living room was a mess and everyone seemed pretty happy.

After the gift exchanged, I headed into our family room to watch Ohio take on Marshall in the Little Cesar Bowl. Ohio got blown out early, but made a nice comeback before finally losing 21-17. The rest of the day it was all about the big Christmas meal. I was put to work peeling 5lbs of potatoes and then carving the turkey. The Son made oyster dressing again and the mashed potatoes while Ann did the remained. We got another Tofurkey for daughter#2, which she prepared. It was a glorious a feast as we had on Thanksgiving. We manage to save room for desert of which there was a selection of three different pies - Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan. There was also Vanilla Ice cream and some non-dairy Vanilla Ice Cream. After that we all just crashed in the family room. We watch "Angels and Demons" and then most of us headed to bed. At least those that didn't have Holidailies post to deliver. That was our special day. I hope you had one as memorable.

Waiting for Christmas

My Christmas Day was like your Christmas Eve. Presents still sit under the tree waiting to be opened. We are awaiting the arrival of Daughters#1 and #2 and their husbands before we celebrate the Day. Both couples were with their respective In Law families for the day. Each couple will be driving home to visit tomorrow morning. Tomorrow then will be our Christmas day. A day for spending time with family and enjoying each others company. A time to share our gifts with each other.

So how did we spend our day? Mostly getting ready for tomorrow. We attended Mass. We baked two pies - a pumpkin and an apple. We also watched a movie or two (Miracle on 34th Street) plus two Lifetime movies that we sort of got sucked into while wait for the pies to cook. The Son did drop by. I suggested opening one gift each, but that was shot down by him and Ann so we will wait until tomorrow. We enjoyed a spiral cut glazed ham for our Christmas meal. Something we haven't had in quite some time. With some pecan pie for desert, it worked out quite well. Our dog Rosie helping out with the pie making:

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and I know I'm looking forward to ours.

Christmas Eve in Virginia

I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight. I still have presents to wrap, Christmas carols to listen to and Christmas movies to watch. There is snow on the ground and we will have our first white Christmas in many many years. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past last two years and which I love.

"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" 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 God Bless Us every one.

All About Christmas

Because I'm a follower and coming up with new things to write about is hard for me, I present to you the Christmas meme that someone started and I'm happy to copy.

Eggnog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate. I can't say that I developed a taste for eggnog, but I've only ha it when i was young. With some booze in it, it might be a whole different story.

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? Of course Santa wraps the presents.

Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored lights for the tree. White lights for the bushes outside.

Do you hang mistletoe? No, but only because we never buy any. Nothing against it personally.

When do you put your decorations up? It varies. usually the outside lights go up the weekend after the Thanksgiving weekend. The tree might go up that same weekend or the following weekend depending on when we get around to buying it.

What is your favorite holiday dish? The turkey! Mmmmmmm.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No. We wait until Christmas Morning to open presents.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Colored lights - non-blinking. We have a mixture of ornaments. Some of the traditional glass bulbs, ornaments from the various colleges represented in our house - Auburn, Ohio, VA Tech and Radford. We also have some ornaments that mark important dates, like baby's first Christmas (1980 and 1982), the Atlanta Olympics courtesy of my sister, the new Millennium, some of religious nature and some crafty ones, a dog one, a Harpers Ferry (from a Girl Scout visit by Daughter#2) one and then a few made by the kids in school over the years. We have an Angel that sits on the top of the tree and we finish off with some garland of popcorn and cranberries.

Snow: love it or hate it? I love snow - in moderation, of course. I love watching ti fall and how quiet everything is. Makes everything look beautiful. Hate to shovel it, of course.

Can you ice skate? I can although not that well anymore. When I was younger and lived in the wilds of New Jersey (yes NJ has some gorgeous undeveloped areas in the north), I use to ice skate a lot. Not in any fancy rink, but on frozen ponds and reservoirs. There was a Girl Scout camp not far from us where we use to go to skate most of the time. Of course it wasn't open during the winter so only the locals went there. I remember we use to go there without any parental supervision whatsoever. It was left to us (mostly preteens) to test to make sure the pond was frozen enough to hold us. Our usual testing methodology was to find the biggest rock we could find and hurl it out onto the ice. If it didn't go through, we figured we were could to go. Can you picture that happening these days?

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Give me that Apple Pie, warmed up with Vanilla Ice cream on top.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? We watch "One Magic Christmas" every Christmas Eve.

Candy canes: yum or yuck? They're not bad, but take to long to eat. I get tired of them about a third of the way through. I don't usually buy any.

Favorite Christmas show? A Christmas Carol. Oh that we could all be visited by the three ghosts and s the benefit from the lessons they can teach us.

Today's Prompt - Holiday Movie Scenes

There is no one in the world, as my kids will attest, who loves a good holiday movie more then yours truly. I'll start watching them on Thanksgiving Day (Miracle on 34th Street) right on through New Years. I love them all. Lets face it, they all come out for the good in the end and whats not to like about that? Lets go to the video tape and look at some of my favorite scenes:

Love Actually

Favorite scene has to be Jamie (Colin Firth) proposing to Aurelia (Lucia Moniz) in the restaurant where she is working. I could watch that scene over and over. Very magical and from the heart. Second favorite scene is the school pageant and Joanna Anderson (Olivia Olson) singing "All I Want for Christmas". That girl can sing. If you ever watched the movie with the Directors comments on he said that she was so good that they had to dub in breath sounds to make it more believable that a 10 yr old (I think that was her age) actually sang the song.

One Magic Christmas

Favorite scene is where Ginny Grainger (Mary Steenburgen as the Mom) finds the letter that Abbie (Elisabeth Harnois as the Grainger daughter) has brought back from the North Pole given to her by Santa Claus. He tells Abbie that the letter will help her Mom make her dad all better (The dad had been shot and killed). The letter was written to Santa by Ginny when she was Abbie's age (6) and still believed in things like Santa Claus. Gets me every time. The list of toys in the letter are from a much simpler time. A Mister Potato Head was one and it always makes me smile.

The Polar Express

It took me a while to finally watch this movie. The whole digital capture/re-skin the characters took a while to get use to. The scene I like the best is at the end, where the narrator (The Hero Boy) explains that only true believers can hear the bell (a gift off of Santa's sleigh that was given to the boy as a gift from Santa) and how over time all his friends and eventually even his younger sister, could no longer hear the bell. Oh that we could all still hear the bell.

Miracle on 34th Street

The 1947 version with Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara and Edmund Gwen is my favorite version. There are two scenes that I love in this movie (actually more, but I'll limit myself to two). The first is where Santa first directs a Macy's shopper to another store to find that hard to find toy - a fire engine for her son. His talk to his Mother about where to find the fire engine and for how much and how Christmas was about making the children happy and not who makes the sale is priceless. The second is at the hearing into Santa's sanity (oh so politically incorrect these days) and the scene where Santa's lawyer is reading about the U.S. Postal Service and how big and efficient it is. That always brings a laugh and even more so when the judge tells him to bring in all the evidence and the bailiffs bring in bag after bag of letters (21 in all according to IMDb) to Santa that were in the NYC dead letter office. Love it.

Prancer

Another Christmas movie that I came late too. Your heart just goes out to this little girl who has lost her mother and her father is on the verge of losing their farm. My favorite scenes in this one is where the Minister reads an editorial from the local paper about her (Jessica Riggs played by Rebecca Harrell) and her belief in Santa Claus and her idea to get the injured Prancer back to him. The second is when her Dad reads to her from a book the article entitled "Yes Virginia There is A Santa Claus". Ok I'll throw in a third, but its a given when they release Prancer and he hooks back up with Santa (after thinking he jumped to his death - yikes) is always a tear jerker.

A Christmas Carol

I own the George C. Scott version of this classic although I always try to catch the 1938 version as well with Reginald Owen as Scrooge. It also stars practically the whole Lockhart family including a 16 yr old June Lockhart of "Lassie" and "Lost in Space" fame. Her father Gene, who play Cratchit also plays the judge in the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street. Actually my favorite scene comes early in the film when Scrooge's nephew Fred visits Scrooge at his office and gives a short speech on what Christmas means to him and mankind in general. I always use it in my Christmas Eve post.

That was fun reliving those memories and thanks to IMDb for help on dates and names. I hope some of you will jump in with some of your favorite scenes.

Christmas Cards

Today was the day when I sat down to do our Christmas cards. It seems like a large task looming ahead, but by the time I actually sit down and do them, its not too bad, maybe even a bit pleasant. We're not ones to put together the dreaded Christmas letter. Mostly I just sign our names, but to a few, I'll jot down a few notes. Letting those few know what we've been up to. Even though we don't have that many people we send cards to, we had three different boxes of cards this year. Ann always gets a box through our church and I always get one or two boxes to send our less religious friends. Once I finally get into the actually signing/addressing/stuffing envelope process, what makes it bearable is the memories each name in the address book draws forth. The first card I do goes to my best friend growing up in Maryland. We lived a few house apart, swam on the same neighborhood summer swim team, went to the same high school, went to the beach together and had more then one crazy drinking escapade together. He still lives not that far away, but we never get together anymore. We just sort of drifted apart. Then there are my two fraternity brothers that I send cards to. I haven't seen them in years, but the good times we shared in school makes me want to still reach out and touch them this time of year. There are our relatives, of course, but also two nannies that lived with us as the kids grew up. They did a wonderful job with the kids and its nice to remember them. They both have families of their own now. I guess the cards kind of symbolize the whole Christmas time of year. The time when we think of those present and past who have touched our lives and made our world better for it.

A Christmas Tradition

Pulling one from the writing prompt of the day, I'll talk about a Christmas tradition we have. It's not really an odd one, but beloved it is. Every Christmas Eve we'll gather around the TV and watch "One Magic Christmas". I can't really remember when we started watching this particular movie. It came out in 1985 and stars Mary Steenburgen, Gary Basaraba, Harry Dean Stanton and Elisabeth Harnois as Abbie. I'm not sure the movie did all that well when it was released as it was over shadowed by another holiday movie released at the same time - "Santa Claus", which starred Dudley Moore. It was a bigger budget movie and was marketed much more heavily. I originally discovered the film based on a review in the Washington Post that gave it high marks. As anyone in my family will attest, I'm a sucker for a Christmas movie. A brief summary from IMDB:

Gideon, a Christmas angel, is sent, by Santa, to help Ginny Grainger. Ginny is a cynic, and she hates Christmas. She and her family (husband, Jack and two kids, Caleb and Abbie) have fallen on hard times, making it even harder to believe in anything that can't be seen. With help from Abbie, and a trip to see Santa Claus himself, can Gideon find a way to make Ginny believe again?

What I particularly like about the film it employs the "if one things changes, then the future changes along with it". Ginny gets to change a series of catastrophic events, by the mere purchase of a camp stove. It's hard to go into much detail without getting into spoilers, but if you're looking for a movie to help you get into the spirit of Christmas, then this is a movie I highly recommend. And know come Christmas Eve, I'll be along with Gideon as he gets his assignment from Santa Claus to go help bring the spirit of Christmas to the Graingers. Merry Christmas!

Decorating for the Season

I never know whether to hate or to love holiday decorating. I usually love when it's all finished, but just thinking about it drives me to despair. It just seems like a task that will take forever. At some point though you just have to bite the bullet and get it done. First to go up are our outside lights. Putting up the outside lights has gotten considerably easier over the years with the introduction of the net lights. Much quicker then trying to put up individual strings of lights and they look better too. I do have a problem with my particular house though. Except for the major appliances like the hot water heater and the furnace, I swear the rest of the house is all wired on one circuit. And this one circuit seems to be a bit of a princess and will trip the circuit breaker fairly easily. Over the years I've been able to figure out what I can do and can't do, but it can be touchy. Another complaint with my house is there are no outside outlets on the front of the house. Bad planning there. This means I have to run extension cords from the back of the house or from the garage. It takes me about 2 hours to complete and in the end it looks like this:

Next up is to tackle the tree. We always opt for a real tree. In my mind no artificial tree can measure up. We buy our tree at a local nursery. Very different from my youth when I use to trudge into the woods and cut down a tree for our family. Over the years we've had a variety of trees from Scotch pines, to Douglas firs to our current Frazier fir. We've had that these last two years and we've been quite happy with them. Decorating the tree use to be a big family event. I would put on the lights and the kids would put on the bulbs and other decorations. Each child was designated a certain section for their ornaments. You know like the ones they make is school with their picture on it. We still have them and hang them up every year. Since the kids are grown now, its hard getting any help at all. This year I got the lights out to put on the tree only to find out that two of the strings were burned out. Not exactly the kind of start to get one motivated. As it happened it was the day we were having our first snowfall so out into the snow I went. I was considering switching to LED lights this year since they are cheaper to run and last forever, or so they say. My burned out lights gave me the push to do it or would have if they had had any more in stock. Oh well maybe next year. I did manage to get 450 new regular lights for $12 so all wasn't lost. I finally got the lights on the tree and called it a day so I could go watch some college football. A man has to have his priorities. The following day the tree was completed. Ann helped a bit in the morning and the The Son and I finished it off. So there was a bit of help. The Son decorating the tree:

Here I am trying to detangle something or other. It's not Christmas if you don't have to detangle lights or snowflakes or whatever.

The final touch is putting up some garland consisting of popcorn and cranberries. I'd like to tell you they were real, but such is not the case. We're not that crafty or crazy.

We also out up some lighted garland on our fireplace mantel and hung up a lighted wreath. I'll try to get a picture of that up soon.

What do you do to decorate for the holidays?

What I Have Been Up To

Well it has certainly been a while since I have updated. I'd like to say I have been way to busy, but in fact I have not. Not any more so then usual anyway. With Holidailes coming up (starts Dec 7), I need to get back into the swing of things here. So what have I been up to? I'm glad you asked. Lets get to it.

On November 14, Daughter#2 and her husband, otherwise known as Wookie, traveled up from their home in the Valley to go with us to the VA Tech vs Maryland football game. The game was played at Maryland. Daughter#2 whipped up a vegetarian chili for us to eat while tailgating. It was cold and drizzled on and off as we partied in the parking lot so hot chili was the perfect choice. It was quite tasty and this from a non-vegetarian. Ann chipped in the a five-level Mexican dip, which was also very good. When it comes to presentation at tailgates, we're not much. We just ate out of the back of our van, but it was all good.

Mmmmmm...the chili was so good. Thanks Daughter#2! Excellent choice! Ann, Daughter#2 and Wookie dig in.

There was, of course, beer. I had picked up a Sam Adams variety 12 pak for us to partake of. My favorite was the Irish Red. I wish I could find it just by itself. Very hard to find though. Part of the 12 pak was a Cherry Wheat, which Daughter#2 shows off here. It sounded interesting, but tasted more like cherry flavored cough medicine. Daughter#2 liked it though.

By game time, the drizzle had stopped and it warmed up a bit. There were as many Hokie fans in the stands as there were Terrapin fans. Given the season the two teams have had (VA Tech - good/Maryland - terrible) and the large number of VA Tech alumni in the Washington area, it's wasn't that surprising. As I'm a fan of both teams, it was hard to decide who to root for. I shot this picture from our seats, Maryland is in black and VA Tech in white. I wasn't a fan of VA Tech's new white helmets.


Next up in November was Thanksgiving. Since the daughters are now married, we do have to share them with the In-Laws for the major holidays. This year we have the Daughters for Thanksgiving and the In-Laws have them for Christmas Day. We'll see them the day after Christmas, which means two Christmases for us. It will be weird just having Christmas Day with just Ann and The Son though. Back to Thanksgiving, it was great having everyone home. Lo the kids (The Son, Daughter#1 and Daughter#2). We are very proud of all three.

There is nothing I enjoy more then a turkey dinner with all the fixings. The leftovers are almost as good. Nothing like a good turkey sandwich the day after. This year we had a 22 lb Butterball.

Daughter#1 is big on appetizers while we catch up with everyone. She fixed us up with some hot cider. Very tasty.

Daughter#1 also made us some zucchini flat bread, which was also very good. She made a regular and a vegetarian version. Sort of like pizza.

We do put The Son to work in the kitchen. We tried a new to us oyster dressing this year, which he put together and which came out great. Definitely a keeper. We also put him in charge of the garlic mashed potatoes. I peel the 5 lbs of potatoes and cube them. Ann cooks them and then The Son does the rest. They come out amazingly good. He'll have this job forever.

We also make accommodation for daughter#2 our vegetarian. We picked up a Tofurky for her. It comes in a box with sides. Having tried it, its really pretty good.

We serve ourselves sort of buffet style. We place all the food on the kitchen table and let everyone help themselves. Except for Gracie, Daughter#2's dog. She doesn't get anything except what her Grandma and Grandpa can slip to her on the side. From left to right: Wookie, Son In Law#2 (married to Daughter#1), me, The Son, Daughter#2 and Daughter#1.


We actually eat Thanksgiving dinner in our dining room. We almost never eat in this room. Just Thanksgiving and Christmas really. From left to right: Wookie, Daughter#2, The Son, Ann, Son In Law #2 and Daughter#1.

On Black Friday rather then fight crowds at the mall, we headed south along I-95 to visit the newest member of our clan (we're Scottish). My Cousin's wife had given birth to their first child - a boy, Cameron Duncan [last name] just 4 weeks ago. We all took turns holding him and giving baby presents to the new parents. Here Daughter#2 takes her turn



As did Daughter#1

I took a turn as well. It's been quite a while since I've held a baby.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well. I am certainly grateful for my family and the joy they bring me. Now its time to cue up the Christmas music and get in the Christmas spirit. Joy to the World!

The Last Race

This past weekend marked the last race of the 2009 season - The Head of the Occoquan. It's run by the Occoquan Boat Club, which is one of the two rowing clubs I row for/with. The Head of the Occoquan, or HOTO as it's known, is a two day event with college 8+s and 4+s and singles racing on Saturday and everything else on Sunday. I had entered into three races. A single on Saturday, a first for me, and a 4+ and 8+ on Sunday. The races are held on our home water so traveling wasn't an issue. I'd like to say this was the view of the water for Saturday's races, but lo it was not. This photo was taken earlier in October right before the Occoquan Chase. Its the view from the Oxford Boathouse looking out onto the cove that empties into the Occoquan. I just like the way it turned out so I included it here. I wished it was like this all the time when I row.

Saturday's weather was warm, but windy. Considering I was racing in a single, the wind was of some concern. Ann and The Son accompanied me to Sandy Rum where I would launch and recover. I picked up my registration package,which consisted of a bow number for my shell and a number to be pinned on my back. I was number 1122.

My support crew needed nourishment and there was a BBQ caterer on site to feed the hungry masses. So Ann and The Son enjoyed a couple of pulled pork sandwiches.

My launch time was at 1:00 with a start time of my race at 1:45. It takes a while to row to the start of the 3.5 mile race. I was racing in a Peinert 25X. Here I'm at the dock tying in before pushing off.


I was racing in the rec category, which is one step up from novice. It was my first race in a single so I felt it was the proper category. It was pretty neat seeing the gathering of 25 or so singles marshaling up at the start line. I thought my start was good and the first straightaway went well, The turn at Jacob's Rock was also good as was heading down the long straightaway from Jacob's Rock. I had a hard time picking up the buoys at the next turn and having a Marshall sticking his boat out on the course and in my way didn't help. I had to maneuver around the first buoy and went a bit wide on the second. The race down the next straightaway where the Oxford Boathouse is located was interesting. Right outside the cove leading to Oxford, I got squeezed in between 2 other rowers overtaking me. I had no where to go and actually clashed oars with the rower to my right. Since I was the slower boat I had to yield so I coasted for a moment to allow both boats to clear. After making the turn by the Painted Rocks and heading toward Sandy Run, the water got really choppy and it was hard to maintain a good rhythm and run. That changed once I reached the turn at Sandy Run. At this point I could also see a friend closing in on me and I used him to pick up my own pace to try and hold him off as best I could. He finality passed me as we approached the finish line of the 2,000 meter race course. At this point there was about 500 meters left in my race. Unfortunately, I hadn't gone out and looked over the course a final time and the finish line was not where I expected it to be. I thought I could cut the final turn and go straight to the finish. I couldn't and almost ran off the course and narrowly missed hitting a huge buoy. Recovering, I start back up and headed off to the finish. Here are two pictures with about 500 meters left in the race.



I was of the understanding that the finish was at the race course grandstand area. As i approached that area, I could hear the officials calling out the finishes for the timers. I thought I had crossed the finish line but was sadly mistaken. I was about 150 meters short. oops! Stupid actually. Here I was just coasting in front of the crowd and I still had hadn't crossed the line. I recovered and finished, but that a pretty bad mistake. Here I am at the finish.


My time was a very slow 27:39.8. The only redeeming factor was that I was only 7 seconds behind the only other rower in my category. My time notwithstanding, it was still fun to do and I plan to try it again next year.

Rowing back to Sandy Run after finishing the race.

Thank god it was warm - at least on Saturday.



Over night a front came through and the weather changed to rainy and cold. The rain was on and off for my 4+ race. It rained as we waited for the start, but over the course of the day, the rain went away, but it stayed chilly. The 4+ race went well for us. We finished 4th with a time of 20:58.6 just under 4 seconds from third. For the 8+ race, I joined a boat with a mixture of our fitness rowers and a novice or two. I had no illusions that we would finish anywhere but last given the makeup of the boat. I did it because I enjoy rowing in the 8+s. We finished last with a time of 20:35. The set wasn't bad, but there was no power in the boat. Our "A" boat passed us right outside our cove and we made them work to pass us so there was that although I think it also drained our tanks and we still had a good 1.5 miles to go. We finished a good 2 plus minutes slower then the "A" boat, which finished with a time of 18:18 to our 20:35.

Back to Saturday, which was also Halloween. I carved a pumpkin for the occasion with The Son lighting the candle inside.


We got almost no Trick or Treaters. Maybe 9 total. That was a bit of a surprise. We never expect a lot as most kids, like ours, are grown and moved away, but we still have kids in the neighborhood. I'm sure the drizzle that was falling didn't help. Just means more candy for us!

The Red Eye Home

I took the red eye back from California and landed at Dulles about 6:30 this morning. It was one full flight. Every single seat on the plane was taken. They were bribing people to give up their seats before take off. I don't remember any of the flight as I was fast asleep. I'm lucky that I can sleep on a plane, which is part of the reason I take red eyes. The idea of spending a whole day flying east just seems a colossal waste of a day. By taking the red eye, I have all Friday at home rather then on a plane landing just in time to hit afternoon holiday traffic. No thanks.

Before my flight home, I finished my long week of sitting in a conference room listening to such interesting subjects as work packages, COBRA reports, basis of estimates, resource loading, earned value management, etc. Made for some very long days. I so looked forward to getting out of there. I had a small hop from Sacramento to San Francisco on a commuter flight. Despite the hearings on the commuter plane crash in Buffalo, I get a kick out of riding the smaller planes. The single flight attendant we had was a a hoot. Telling us she hoped we never smoked period let alone not doing it in the bathroom. Or if we ever planned future trips in a pressurized metal tube, think of her airline. So thanks Kathy for the levity.

The majority of the day after getting home was spent just resting up. I took a nap. Woke up and showered and unpacked. Just relaxed the rest of the day and enjoyed the great weather we're having. The Son came over for pizza in the evening. Better yet, it appears that The Son may have a job! He goes in on Wednesday for a final meet and greet, but he has been told that the job is his. Lets hope so. It certainly lightens the mood around here.

Hope everyone has a fun Memorial Day weekend. I know I'm looking forward to some rowing on the Occoquan and some biking on the W&OD Trail. And for those who serve and for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our great country, we salute you. We can never thank you enough.

The End

Today marks the last post for Holidailies. This is the second year I have participated in this event. At times the words flowed freely and other times it was a struggle to come up with something to write about. Luckily it comes at a time of year where a lot is going on what with the shopping, the preparation, the decorating, the eating and most importantly, the family. The Holidays don't mean nearly as much unless you have someone to share them with. I have reached the stage of my life where my children are now grown (I wonder though sometimes) and live their own lives apart from their mother and I. The days of them waking up at the ass crack of dawn to race downstairs to see what wonders Santa has left is behind us now. I like to think that the magic of Christmas as we exchange gifts these days though is still in their hearts. I know it still exists for me and I'm glad I get to share some of my thoughts with those of you that have dropped by over the proceeding month.

My little blog receives more visits during December due to Holidailes then the rest of the year combined. I like to think I have a little niche talking about the sport of masters rowing interspersed with tidbits of my family and my life. Thank you to those who have dropped by for a read. I hope you found it an enjoyable experience enough that you chose to come back during the rest of the year. Thanks also to the Holidailes Reader Panel who selected my "A Rockwell Christmas" as a Best of Holidailes. Writing it brought back a flood of memories of my childhood Christmases. I like to think that my children fondly remember our traditions and have special memories of their Christmases. They are starting to make their own traditions and memories as they start families of their own. At some point the pitter patter of little feet will return to our house as the grandchildren race downstairs to see what lies under the Christmas tree much as their parents did before them. I know I'll enjoy the ensuing chaos and seeing that special joy on their faces when they open that special present. Afterward we'll all gather around the table for our Christmas feast and experience the joy that comes with being with those that you love.

So from northern Virginia or NOVA as it is referred to hereabouts, here's hoping that your Holidays were all that you hoped them to be and the New Year is as special for you as what you wished for as the clock struck midnight marking the start of the New Year.