More Christmas Eve

I know it's February and I'm finally getting around to posting these pictures.  But, better late than never!

This Christmas was so wonderful.  Everyone got here in a timely manner.  The snacks were yummylicious.  We changed the way we did gifts this year, with everyone delivering their gifts to others, one at a time.  I loved it!  It took us 2 hours to unwrap everything, but the cool thing was we actually got to see what everyone got.  It was so leisurely, it was a great change.

The girls were beautiful in their Christmas finery.  They both love to dress up and look beautiful.

Some wear fancy clothes, others don their fancy head gear!

While we were waiting for Travis and Kylie to arrive, I suggested to Rick that we should ask Mom if we could do our stockings.  My Mom always does stockings for Rick and I.  It's one of the highlights of Christmas for me.  There are some things that we always expect to find:  Whitman's mini candy sampler, a small tiny bottle of Drambuie, odds and ends Mom has collected over the year.  Some things we have been getting since we were children and it's just another one of those traditions we look forward to reliving.  But, I digress....

Rick agreed we should do our stockings.  I came out into the living room and said, "Mom, Rick wants toknow if we can do our stockings!"  hehehe.  Yeah, some things never change no matter how old you are!

It was coolBrent was psyched.  He had Chris screen print some shirts for the Team Bart clothing line.  Since he and Matt Miller are going to be running the Disney Marathon as a relay team in January, he decided to have some shirts made.  He had some regular shirts done and some good athletic gear made too and he had fun giving them to friends and family.  Of course he had shirts made for the girls too!

Gwen received a private climbing lesson from her Uncle Trav.  Gwen seems very tentative with it so Trav has promised her a special time with just the two of them.  I thought that was a great gift.

Mom gave me not one, but two coats.  One is a snuggly warm jacket and one is a great longer coat that I wanted for the cold blustery walk down the alleyway to work.  But the best part was that Mom knitted me a hat and a scarf.  I love that Mom took the time to make something so wonderful for me.

Mom and Trav enjoy watching the festivities while Kera clowns around with Brent and Dad.  And Kera is.....playing with Chris's ear?!!

Kylie is crazy about horses.  I think this large horse was a big hit! 





Kylie entertains us all by singing Christmas songs.  She's quite the entertainer and just oh so cute.



Brent got me a Panasonic FZ150 camera for Christmas.  I am so thrilled!  Even looking back over this post, you can easily tell which pictures were taken with my new camera and which with the old one.  I can't wait to learn how to use it.  Thanks honey!

Twelve more months until we get to do it all again!

Christmas Eve

Our family all gathers together on Christmas Eve for our celebration.  It's 1:00 in the afternoon and I am so excited.  Things are in pretty good shape for a change and I am not really frazzled....although there's still time for that I suppose! 

My dining room table is set and it looks just beautiful.  There's Christmas music playing and the new Mr. and Mrs. Claus are in front of the fireplace just waiting to be turned on.  Brent brought the singing Santa down and I can't wait for the girls to sing Christmas songs with him.  My tree is lit and is gorgeous.  I enjoyed having the whole family over to decorate it and have really loved turning it on each night.

The presents have all been wrapped for over a week, although I see that Brent has been a busy little elf and has placed some packages under the tree.  He is doing some crazy looking stretches and getting ready to go run.  I have a few food related things to do, but for the most part, I am in unusually good shape (and thus good spirits!).

Everyone has their traditions, and we are the same.  I love getting all the ornaments out each year.  I look forward to carefully unwrapping each of the heritage balls my Grandma Redlich made for me.  The last few years I've supplemented with some pine cones and birds I bought in Germany at Epcot.  The little angel my parents bought for their second Christmas still hangs on the tree, despite my Mom's best efforts to buy me a new tree topper. 

My brother always cooks Christmas Eve dinner.  The best crab cakes you have ever eaten and home made french fries.  This year we're having cole slaw and asparagus wrapped in filo dough and some rolls.  I look forward to this meal every year.

Since the girls have been old enough to tell their left from their right, we have read a "left/right" story where you pass wrapped packages to the left or right as the story tells you to.  The adults love this game even more than the kids.  This year, I wrote the story myself, incorporating everyone into the story.  It's pretty funny!

Someone always gives a toast at our family gatherings.  The last few years, my brother has been doing it.  They are always meaningful and wonderful.  The girls get plastic champagne flutes filled with ginger ale.  No one is left out!

It is so difficult to get everyone together during the holidays and we have two birthdays too.  Chris's is December 30 and Trav's is December 31.  To make it easy for everyone, we always celebrate them after dinner.  Kera, the family baker, always takes care of the cakes and they are as beautiful as they are delicious. 

Well, I do have a few things to finish up befoe everyone arrives around 4:30. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Zip It

Sometimes I feel like everything in the world is changing, changing, ever changing, and not always for the best.  From great incandescent light bulbs that work like a charm and provide good light to the new "green" bulbs that leave me practically in the dark for several minutes then give me a yellow light and don't even get me started on disposing of them.  Green my butt. 

But, I digress.

Let's talk zippers.

For women, the main zipper mechanism is on the right.  You feed to piece on the left into the mechanism on the right, yank the sucker up, and voila - a zipped closure.  Now men's zippers, like most everything else pertaining to men, are opposite.  The mechanism is on the left...yeah, you get it. 

Apparently not anymore.

I got 3 new zippered jackets/coats this fall/winter and guess what?  I have to learn how to operate a zipper all over again because suddently the mechanism is on the left.  Fifty-seven years of zipping one way, nothing is made in America, and the zipper mechanisms are suddenly on the wrong side.

Who knew.

GAWT IX

This GAWT trip was differrent from all others in two ways.  First, Brent and I decided not to arrive at our usual midnight on Friday, and so took the day off.  Second, so many of our Brooks family members were unable to join us this year so we needed to fill the bus with some friends.  This was the first time it was not totally a family trip.

We left very early in the morning and arrived at Taughannock State Park by 10:30 in the morning.  It was a beautifully crisp morning and an easy hike.  As you can see from these pictures, the views were spectacular too.  The Taughannock Falls is the highet waterr fall in the United States at 215 feet high, making it 33 feet higher than Niagra Falls.

 After our hike, we drove into my birthplace, Auburn, to have lunch with my cousin Memory and her husband Paul.  Paul had just had back surgery a week or two prior to this trip.  I think he's crazy, but he made it through the trip and grimace through the pain.  It was nice to be with just the two of them without the crowd so we could catch up on each other news.  I so wish we lived closer to each other.

We still had quite a bit of time before we needed to be at the hotel to surprise my folks and go to dinner with everyone.  Brent and I decided to hit some wineries on the east side of Cayuga Lake that we had never been to before.  We hit 3 and they were all pretty good.

 Saturday we all hopped on the bus and went to Sweedish Hill.  This is a good one because they open early and because they offer some sweeter wines for those who like such things.  Personally, I think they have some pretty good sparkeling which was my first purchase of the day.  Below you see tthe donkey Doobie.  We had heard a viscious rumor a year ago that Doobie bit the dust, but we were assured that Doobie was alive and well and here's the picture to prove it.

 Our friends Drew and Ginny Bitner and Dave and Bea Walters are reviewing the list of wines available for tasting and are making their selections.

 Here's the family making the first big decision of the day. When you've just had your coffee (or diet coke in my case), you're not really thinking of wine. Ha!  Who am I kidding!  We had no trouble at all.

 Is that Brent pontificating?  hehehehe.

 My cousin Memory with Paul and the ultimate trouble maker, Tony.

RJ, Tony, Judy, Memory, and Jaqui are listening intently.  I think Jacqi just wants more wine!

 Tony always takes our camera to snap some shots of Brent and me.  Good thing too or I'd never be in the pictures!

 Mom, Dad, and Rick displaying our family T's.

 Bonnie and Winnie enjoying the beautiful day and the spectacular landscaping.

 Mine brither posing at Leidenfrost.  This was a new one for us and they had some good stuff.  Worth a stop.

 Red Newt has long been one of our favorites on the east side of Seneca.  We like their wine and we love their restaurant.  Here's our server with a flight of reserve reislings which were yummy  As much as we like this place, their prices are totally out of hand.  Way pricey, and I don't think people bought much there because of it.

This trip was differrent for us, but every bit as enjoyable as ever.  I hope that more of our family will be available next year.

Renaissance Faire

Last year, I took Gwen to the Renaissance Faire as a trial to see how my knees would hold up walking around all day.  Gwen and I had so much fun that we decided to go again this year.  Grandpa felt left out, so we decided to let him come along.  The first thing Gwen wanted to do was get her hair done.  Last year it was the very last thing we did and Gwen wanted to have her hair French braided again.  Something different this time was using a spear to grab the brass ring.  When the let the unicorn lose, it swings down pretty quickly, but Gwen had a good eye and got the ring..  the prize was a gummy bracelet - she was tickled pink!



 Hmmmm, who're the crazy kids with the gargoyle?!!

 Gwen wanted to ride the wild boar.

 Gwen told me on the way to the Faire that this year she was brave enough to ride the elephant.  I thought she might back out, but she marched right up and climbed on the elephant's back.  What a diffeence a year makes.

...and the Winner Is.....

The girls are old enough now that they enjoy going Christmas dress shopping with Grandma. As a result, I now know the locations of all the little girls clothing stores in the Capital City Mall. And also where all the bathrooms are! LOL!

On a Friday night a few weeks ago, Kylie and I had dinner at the food court. Kylie was very specific that sshe wanted pineapple pizza and french fries with salt and ketchup. Between Sbarro and Boardwalk Fries, we were golden. We tried on only three dresses and were able to narrow it down to two. Kylie thought she'd like to have both of them, but I told her we needed to narrow it down because she needed tights and shoes to go with the dress. She chose the first dress from Macy's. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do the dress justice. The top is black and the bottom is white with silver and black. With silver tights and pretty new black patent leather shoes, she'll be stunning!

The search for Gwen's dress was interesting. She generall still likes the little girl dresses with the big pouffy skirts. They are getting hard to find as she moves from the little girl dresses to the larger sizes. My Mom saw a really pretty one at Penney's and as therre was only one in Gwen's size, she snapped it up. Gwen liked it okay but wanted to go shopping....of course! What little girl wouldn't choose a shopping trip! We tried several that she looked good in and one beautiful emerald green number that Mom and I loved, but Gwen settled on this red dress. Very different than what I expected her to choose, but she is tickled with it.

Clothes shopping with the girls is great fun. But, I have to wonder what these clothing manufacturers are thinking. So many of the dresses were nixed simply because they were inappropriate. At 5 and 7, they don't need to look like a flapper or worse a little ho. I have to wonder not only about those making some of these dresses, but the parents who allow their children to wear them. I'm lucky that both the girls understood when I said, "no, that dress is inappropriate."

It Is What It Is

I had what I hoped, yet again, would be my last appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. He and I are both really happy with my right leg. It's got plenty of flexion and works pretty darn good. The left one...ah, yes, the left one. The left one is simply not as good as the right. It doesn't have as much flexion, it has more stiffness, and I have pain in the outside of my calf when I try to do certain things.

When Dr. Meade examined it he said he could feel the scar issue and he said there was some fluid in there. Well he removed the fluid (and can I just tell you that it hurt), and gave me another shot of cortisone. He believes the pain in my calf may be related to my sciatica - it is not a mechanical issue with my knee. He said that he has seen this issue correct itself up to five years out from the surgery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that within 3.5 years it will be better.

Anyway, to sum it all up, it is what it is. What it is today is probably what it will be tomorrow, next month, next year and so on. While I may still have some difficulty coming down stairs and while my bike seat is still 1-2 inches too high, I can walk without pain, I am going to yoga, and I am going to boot camp (of all things!). I have my life back and I'm so grateful.