Christmas, Ferryboats, and Gingerbread Houses...Oh My!!!!

Wow! It has been a while since I have attempted to write anything on my blog. One reason is that I just don't take the time to do it. Another reason is that I haven't had any pictures uploaded to add. I must admit, though, that the new blogger makes it much, much easier to put pictures in the posts, and that should make me more eager to get on here and 'blog'. I still spend several hours trying to write just one blog, so that is another reason that I haven't penned one lately! We have had some pretty exciting adventures in the last couple of months. Rachel's tummy is finally looking like there is an actual baby inside there! I was beginning to wonder if she would ever 'poke out'!!

Adam and Vicky are in Florida, and they are not able to get home very often. Adam did make a surprise trip, for one day, to attend Kate's college graduation! He was intent on getting here, even if it meant making that long trip, staying one day, and then making the long trip right back home for work. Thanksgiving came and went without much hoopla. We went to my brother's house for dinner. He enjoys having everyone over there and 'frying' a big turkey. We missed Adam and Vicky, and Thomas and Lauren, but they are grown ups now and have their own things to do - like WORK! Rachel, Don, and I went to Tampa and had an early Christmas with Adam and Vicky, because they were not going to get home for Christmas. We had a great time. While in Tampa, we made the usual trip to Ikea :), which is a place the kids love.

We spent a little while on Saturday at the dog park, which is on a little section of beach near their house. We took some beautiful sunset pictures while we were there.

We also saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie, and I was very impressed with Robert Downey, Jr. He is a really good actor. We celebrated Christmas on Sunday. They asked for a Lasagna dinner, which I obliged and happily made for them. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Adam and Vicky gave me a great big purse that I have been using every day! I do love pocketbooks!! Rachel gave all of us one of those neat Tervis Tumbler glasses. We will all enjoy those! Alas, we could only spend the weekend in Tampa, and we came home on Monday. We had a great visit, though. Rachel and Vicky spent some time making some crafts. Rachel found a neat star to make, and Vicky joined in and made some really neat snowflakes!

Each Christmas in Savannah, there is a big gingerbread house display at the Westin Hotel, which is right across the river. A co-worker of mine has told me about taking her son on the the ferryboat from River Street across to the Westin. It is a free ride, so I thought I would take my little niece and nephew over there. They were scared of the water and the ferryboat on the trip over, but they finally settled down and enjoyed the trip on the way back across! I must admit that the boat was very loud! Little Dewey kept telling me we were going to see the choo choo train, although I knew we were going on a boat. I guess he knew what he was talking about, because Thomas the Train was there!! Boy oh boy did he have a wondrous time chasing Thomas from one side of the display to the other! I showed him how Thomas would come around the bend and then go over to the other side. After we saw that a couple of times, he started FLYING around the display to catch Thomas on each side! I just knew he was going to knock over an older gentleman, with his cane, who was there with his granddaughter. Dewey never once ran into him, though. It was an amazing feat! He would wave and say, "Hi Thomas!" Then, ZIP!! He was on the other side! After about thirty trips like this, he started zooming away as soon as he saw Thomas come around the bend! Julia was busy looking at the gingerbread houses and the other items on display, but she tried to get into the Thomas spirit a bit, too. No one could keep up with Dewey III, though!!

William and his family came over to see Daddy Friday night, and I got them to all come over to my house. I made hot chocolate and the girls made a gingerbread mix that I had. It was delicious. If you can find the Krusteaz gingerbread mix, BUY IT!! John William put together a train set that I found in the attic this year. I bought that for Adam some years ago, and I haven't seen it since. The box was unopened, and the kids had a good time putting it all together. It is an electric train, and it works great. We put it around my tree. John William also put in a lot of lightbulbs for me, in my high 'ceilinged' lights, AND he fixed my toilet. It now flushes! I have had the top off for a long time and have just been pulling up the bar inside the tank! Daddy bought a piece for me to fix it, and John William saw it sitting on the table (where it would still be, if he hadn't gotten interested in being a handyman!).

Julia got 12 inches cut off of her hair! She is going to send her hair to Locks for Love. I took Daddy over to see her and 3D, who also got a haircut. She told me that I could not tell Papa, because it was a surprise. She said that, and I quote, "He will realize, though. He will realize!" This statement is coming from a FIVE YEAR OLD!!

After our visit, it was time to back out of their yard. Well folks, I ran into a TREE backing out of their yard! So, I now have a cracked back bumper!! I knew the trees were in the yard, but I thought that I was not headed for one. I was not feeling so terrific that afternoon, but I surely thought I was not aimed directly at the tree!! I must tell you why I was kind of 'out of it' when driving that particular Christmas Eve afternoon. Earlier in the day, Rachel and I had gone out shopping for candles and an extension cord (big spender!). On the way home, just a few blocks from my house, some young girl decided that she didn't need to stop at that big red thing on the corner that we like to call a STOP SIGN!! Yes, she ran the stop sign and almost RAN INTO US!!!! I swerved really hard, screeched the brakes, and tore up the left side of my body from the swerve. If I hadn't, Rachel and her unborn child would have been crushed!! Talk about an angel being on my shoulder...I know that my angel was there!! I wanted to stop and yell and shake my fists at that person, like the monkeys in Caps for Sale, but Rachel told me to keep on going. I noticed, in the rear view mirror, that the girl had stopped in the street. I HOPE SHE WAS SCARED OUT OF HER WITS!!!!!! Needless to say, I was very, very sore for the rest of the day and night... and that is my Christmas Eve story for the year! Christmas morning came in silence this year. I was by myself here at the house, so I wished myself a Merry Christmas!

I piddled a bit, and then I went across the street to be with Daddy, who was also by himself. I tried to get him to stay with me overnight, but he wanted to stay home. He did stay at my house until pretty late Christmas Eve, though. Anyway, we had a bit of breakfast, and then Rachel and Don came over to my house. We exchanged gifts and had a nice, quiet Christmas morning.

Then, William and his family came in. It was about 12:30 by then. So, we all went across the street to spend the rest of Christmas Day at Daddy's house. I had baked some gingerbread cookies and two cakes for the day. We took those things over to the house, after I let Lauren pick out the various toppings to use as decorations to use on the goodies. I have been teaching her a little bit about decorating cakes. She loves to do the "piping". I showed her how to put the icing in a ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole in it, as a way to do a piping job. I didn't want to take a bunch of tips and things across the street, since we weren't going to do any real serious decorating, other than putting buttons on the gingerbread men and sprinkling the cakes. Lauren enjoyed piping buttons and things on the gingerbread men, and then she adorned my two cakes, a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus. She had picked out the red, green, blue, yellow, etc. stars to use, as well as the shiny gold and silver glitter. She also used some shiny red sugar and shiny white sugar for the cakes. They turned out very nicely. Thomas and Big Lauren came over to join us, in between visits to the Powells and her families. They didn't stay long, because they had more traveling to do that day. Big Lauren got in on decorating Santa and the tree, though!!

Rachel took over the cooking for us yesterday, and Amy helped her. I usually volunteer to do the cooking, and then I wear myself out! With my back being in such bad shape these days, I just didn't think I could stand up for hours doing the cooking. I guess I spoke that out loud, or complained a bit too loudly about it, because Rachel did not allow me in the kitchen yesterday!! Thanks to she and Amy, we had a nice spread of things to eat, and everyone got plenty full. After dinner, we did the Christmas present exchange, and everyone seemed to actually enjoy their presents! With a bunch of adults, you never know if you are getting the right thing or something that someone will like:) Daddy doesn't like for us to get him presents, but I got him a calendar with Rainbow trout pictures and a Farmer's Almanac. Those seemed to suit him just fine. I told him they were things he could use every day. He really loves the fish pictures. I found it at Barnes and Noble, and the pictures are really interesting. I never knew there were so many different kinds of trout!!

I mentioned my back, well, I am in a lot of pain with my back almost every day, which is caused from leftover remnants of my car crash injuries from 21 years ago, as well as moving too many heavy things at work and tearing up my back! The least little thing will set it off. Kate has a friend who does massage therapy, and I have been talking to her about going to see the lady. Well wouldn't you know, she and Susan gave me a gift certificate for a deep tissue massage!! I am definitley going to call this lady up this week and get this thing done. I think that will be much better than going to a chiropractor. Having worked in a chiropractor's office once, I know that I do not want an adjustment of any kind. I am eagerly anticipating the deep tissue massage. I might even get Rachel a certificate for a prenatal massage. She has been having some back problems with her pregnancy. I think that would be a nice gift. I will see how my visit goes and then take Rachel. I hope that everyone in blog reading land is having a great holiday vacation, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year!!