The Polar Express

Mom and Dad took us on the Polar Express the day before Christmas Eve. It was a perfect start to the serious holiday festivities. There were singing waiters, a conductor who punched tickets and made them snow on kids' heads, a funny wandering hobo, hot chocolate, cookies, the story, sing a long Christmas songs, and of course Santa. The cd of our pictures with Santa arrived today.

We had a great time!

Diana's (Big) Golden Book

-A Christmas Story-
Written by Diana Denney

Once upon an time there was a girl. Her name was Diana. And for Christmas she wanted (dearly) a cell phone. All her friends walked around with their BIG FANCY cell phones. They were mocking her.

The reason she didn't have a phone was her evil parents (the Stevester and the Teresanator) were very anit-celluar. They also hated unlimited talk and text. There were tragic times Diana was living in.

Diana received a letter...

Dear Diana,
I bring sad news. If you do not receive a celluar phone for Christmas, all Christmas spirit will be lost. Give the Teresanator and the Stevester thos puppy dog eyes and the whole shingding.
                                                              Sincerely,
                                                              The AT&T Elves

"And the whole shingding," thought Diana.

She made figgy pudding. The Teresanator's personal favorite.

She sliced the roste beef. The Stevester's least favorite thing to do.

She decked the halls with bows of holly.

And sang Falalalalalala.

On Christmas morning she walked down stairs shakily. And under the tree was...a cellular phone with a text:

                              U savd X-mas! :)
                               <3 The AT&T Elves

Diana huged her parents, now Teresa and Steve.

Note to my readers: Santa WILL NOT be delivering a cell phone to my ten year old daughter. Christmas spirit is in serious jeopardy. Also, I really hate figgy pudding.

All Aboard the Polar Express!

Baking Christmas Cookies!

Piano Recital!

Last weekend, was the girls' first big piano recital. It was held in a church, and about 100 people attended. All the kids were amazing, and we were so proud! Enjoy!

I apologize for the poor quality of the video! Hopefully the music comes through just fine!

A Milestone

It's early on a Sunday morning, and I've been the only one up for an hour. Bliss! While sipping my coffee and listening to Christmas music, I've been uploading and sorting through two months of pictures which need organizing and posting. It's shocking that my last post was 5 weeks ago, Halloween. The time goes by so fast, and here we are in December. Two stories seem blogworthy to me this morning...

First, my inlaws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on November 23. They hosted 19 for Thanksgiving at their house as people began arriving in Gold Beach for the big celebration the next day. Truly, Thanksgiving paled in my mind compared to the import of the anniversary. What an accomplishment! What luck! How many couples make it to 50 years, I wonder? Chuck and Sharon met at a high school beach bonfire, which Sharon almost didn't attend. She thought it wouldn't be fun. Months later, after graduation, she headed off to San Francisco for dental hygenist training. Within a week, she was home and planning a wedding. Three kids and seven grandkids later, they travel the country in their rv and adore their 57 Chevy which Chuck completely remodeled himself.

The party was perfect. We all spent the night at Tu Tu Tun Lodge up the Rogue River from Gold Beach. The owners are childhood friends of Steve and his brother and sister so we were truly treated like royalty. It was the most gorgeous, classy setting! No decorations were required as the lodge was perfect with its beautiful rock fire place and huge picture windows framing the Rogue and lush forest. There were delicious appetizers, drinks, and about 50 friends and family to celebrate the occasion. Steve's sister had made a beautiful quilt and planned entertainment for the evening. Mary started it off by reading a poem she had written for her Grandma and Papa:

You're just gonna have to turn your head here. I cannot get this stupid thing to turn!

Next, Cousin Zac Houdenney and his Lovely Assisstant Diana performed some fantastic magic tricks:

Grrrr! Sorry!

My niece sang Love Me Tender beautifully, and Laura presented a Powerpoint about life in 1960. That girl is a natural born teacher, I tell you. Here are a few tidbits she learned: minimum wage was $1 per hour, Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon in the presidential election, individual ketchup packets were introduced, and a postage stamp was four cents. I'm so proud of them all!

It's actually turning the pictures around by itself!

The Sweeney Sisters made a surprise appearance and entertained us with their musical/comedy sketch about Chuck and Sharon.

Why not this one??

And we had cake:





And, a few more pictures from the special night:



Thanks Lisa and Doug, David and Shelley for all the work you put into it!

Since the family got up, it has taken me two hours to finish this post...blogworthy story two will have to wait. We're off to get our Christmas tree!