Christmas at the Brady's

Christmas Day at the home of Jim and Nancy Brady, we see Tom, Jim, Nancy, Jim's Father, Ana and Porfi gathered pleasantly around the luncheon table. We are happy to see the newlyweds entertain their family with a special meal. Thank you, Tom, for the family picture.

A Cup of Tea, please!

Betsy and Hazen gave me a beautiful tea set decorated with a colorful bird including lots of interesting teas to taste. Thank you for all the wonderful gifts this year. It's been too much!

More Christmas!

Dustin showed me his new computer that Santa brought him. He is ready to roll!

Santa brought Bob a heavy duty radio, one that he can listen to when he works on his wood projects. He can take it with him wherever he goes and listen to his favorite shows while he completes his work.

More Fun on Christmas Day!

The homemade cookies were piled in hills of sweet and delectable displays. Jen played a swift game of air hockey!


Betsy and Hazen and little Hazen traveled through the rain to come and visit us on Christmas Day. Mike introduced us to his pretty, new girlfriend, Corrina! The men all gathered to play cards. May the best one win!

Our Family Celebrates!

Jess and Hazen rock on with their virtual guitars. They sounded great and mastered the fingering of the chords that were color coded. Deb shows Brad, Elisia and Jared the snowman band playing a tune. Jared thinks that the music starts when you pull Brad's ear!
Nate, Hazen and Bowen play on the WII a game of virtual tennis. The boys had lots of virtual games--tennis, boxing, bowling, guitar playing and photo slide shows with music included.

Christmas morning arrived and Bob and I cooked a turkey to take down at 4PM to Jen and Deb's in Sinking Valley for the Family Christmas party. Deb said that she hadn't tasted turkey with stuffing for years; her Mom passed away and she always made the turkey for them. I basted it every half hour and it came out juicy and succulent. Bob should have helped me spice up the stuffing. It needed something peppier. But, there were very little leftovers after the family gathered.

The Gifts!

We put all the gifts out in the living room under the Christmas tree and Greybaby and Blinky keep looking at them. It's so exciting to know that Christmas will be here in another day. I went swimming this morning and the children in the pool know that Santa is coming in one day. One little boy told me about his big train under the tree. He asked me what we had under our tree. I told him teddy bears. He didn't seem to think that was interesting. His train was the best and he knew how to run it. I told him that he was the engineer. He liked that idea. Bob took me to Church this evening and the weather is warm again. Everyone wishes for a White Christmas!

The Office

Today, I passed my test for entrance into the Jackson Hewitt Tax Preparation Office. To the right, the office welcomes all new customers with the bright banners displaying our service mottoes. Jane, our office manager, keeps an attractive welcoming area with blooming plants, sweet smelling aroma from candles and a basket of Christmas candy to keep our people full of joy. We have more training until work commences in January. It should be a bright and shining New Year in 2007. I am looking forward to it!

A Christmas Visit!

Yesterday Bob called and told us that he was coming to visit and bringing little Jared. So he bundled the baby up and took a ride. Jared kept looking out the window at the brightly colored decorations of the holiday and he fell fast asleep before he arrived here. So Bob put him down to rest and he took a long nap. There is something so peaceful about a baby sleeping. It reminded me of the Baby Jesus lying in the manger. His face looked angelic. Sleep in heavenly peace!

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Gray

After the ceremony, the Mother of the Bride waves goodbye and Mr. and Mrs. Gray ride off into the town in an army jeep, decorated and ready to go. It was an exciting day!


Bob walks Sue down the aisle to give her away. Little Bradley stays by his Mom before the wedding. Angela, Sue's bridesmaid, dressed in military style, waits for the big moment to begin.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Today is such a sunny, warm day. It doesn't seem that Christmas is just around the corner. The children feel the happiness and anticipation of Santa Claus coming soon. Last night, Santa rode on a brightly decorated firetruck past out house. I threw upon the curtains and waved at him. We have to be extra good and prepare ourselves for his coming. And today Sue and Tom become Mr. and Mrs. Gray. So I am baking some Wedding cookies for the happy couple.

Dusting the Pics!

Yesterday, Betsy sent me a great picture that she took at Thanksgiving. I printed out the beautiful photo of Bob's family to put up on our photo gallery. But when I went to insert the photo into the frame, I noticed immemse amounts dust on the shelves. So the evening became a marathon of dusting, waxing and polishing all the family pictures from the past. Bob helped me with the top shelf that I couldn't reach. After all the pictures and shelves were cleaned, I sorted out some of the older one and put them away. Then I chose another format to display the family.

We are having a Christmas Bake Sale at St. Michael's this weekend. I baked 5 pans of sticky buns with pecans and 1 loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. Also, I am making Buckeyes to sell and creating them up at the scene of the bake sale. My friend, Bridget, asked me to make them because she liked them at the Christmas Party. So, I hope that we have a successful bake sale. We all bake and buy and end up with each others goodies for the good of the Church!

Advent and Buckeyes

Bob made an Advent Wreath for Sunday, the first week of Advent, preparing for Christmas. And we lit the purple candle and said a little prayer, " You are coming Lord, upon the clouds and in the hearts of kind and gentle people; You are coming Lord to bring, justice, peace and orer to our jumbled world. You are coming Lord like light peeking over the mountains on a crisp Autumn morn. Amen."

Thank you, Laura, for a great recipe. I am taking the Buckeyes to a class party tomorrow!

Let your lights shine!

Bob and I went to the Home Depot this week and found a holographic train with Santa as the engineer. So we added it to our lights on the side of the house. It looks so cute at night because the wheels go around and the smoke moves out of the engine stack. Our neighborhood just glows at dusk. Everybody's Christmas displays turn on for viewing.

I worked last night arranging Mom's angels around the base of our Christmas tree. Mom made them for the home and the old people's Christmas tree. She called it her Angel Tree. So I kept the angels and have been repairing the lost eyes and decorations on them. Also, I made a few new ones. They are a handful of colorful angels. But, we have 2 cats, Greybaby and Blinky. And I thought that the yarn hair might entice them. And I didn't want to see my 2 cats trying to eat Mom's angels. So I packed them up to take to St. Michael's Guild Christmas Party this week. We could use some angels there!

Thanksgiving

Jeanne, Dana, Sarah and I went to the Thanksgiving Festival downtown last night. We passed a lighted carousel in a backyard on the way. It was a wonderful event with the lighting of the huge Christmas tree, the Chorus singing Christmas carols, soup sampling, ice carving and a petting zoo. Jon and Zachary went to see Gettysburg and the whole family left today to explore the battle fields again. It should be a great family day; but we miss them all so much!

Candy Cane Tree

My friend and neighbor Mary Kay bought a candy cane Christmas tree this year and they put it together in the living room. After they did that, the tree wouldn't fit through the door. So she left it in the house. But, later, Cliff found a way? to get the tree up on the roof. Last night was the tree lighting and I took a zoom picture of it. Bob put our tree up and decorated it yesterday in between the football games. The Steelers won!

Hard Freight!

Here I am in the campus computer center in front of a beautiful white flat screen MAC OS X. I got my friend Suzanne and her daughter up on the screen. Suzanne helped me create the Hollidaysburg Landmark Quilt this year on my birthday. It was a fantastic achievement and Suzanne did all the quilting. I took the pictures. Anyway, I was at the campus for my class on the Literary Magazine, "Hard Freight." The co-editors have the magazine ready for publishing and we proof read the copy for them today. I didn't find any mistakes only a poem with Our Lady of Fatima was in lower case. But the editors said the poet wanted his work like that. So I took pictures of the proof readers and enjoyed the rest of the class period.

Jared comes to visit!

Little Jared came with his grandpa Bob to play at the house and the park. Jared liked to pick up the crumbly leaves and sticks and explore. And he loved to swing, slide and play hide and seek. He's a joy! I took pictures with my new Lumix and used the zoom. Then I had to come home and drink a warm cup of Ovaltine and Jared had some snacks too.

A composite

Notice the similarity between Jennifer's hairstyle and her exquisite cat, Bianca! I like the effect.

Sunday, November 12

Our family gathered together to celebrate Deb's 40th birthday Sunday evening. Jen had a dolphin theme because that is Deb's special hobby collecting dolphin memorabilia. Deb received a dolphin snow globe and some other dolphin items. We gave her a Home Depot card because Jen said that she likes to do work around the house. They are putting in a mudroom now and it looks good. Bob played Yaht-Zee and won with the highest score! I talked to Chris and Dustin and Bradley and watched them play games on the TV. It was a cool day and I took plenty of pictures plus a mini-movie.

Photography

My hobby is photography and I got a new camera recently, a digital Panasonic Lumix. Presently, I am learning how to use it. It's a beautiful camera and has the ability to record movies with sound. Today I went to visit some old friends who live in nursing homes. One of them was a popular photographer in our town and he founded the Photography Club. He has been very kind to me and today he gave me a supply of new photography magazines for reference. I captured his hands and his literature in the photo. And he took a picture of me with my new camera.

My Pink Paradise

Here is a view of my pink paradise. It's a room filled with my hobbies and crafts. To me, it's a place to create and study. The room might look cluttered; but everything has a use. Even though some sections might not get attention, they sit and wait for me to take charge. My sewing machine projects include: an heirloom quilt with family pictures and polo shirts for our daughter, Ann. She wears the shirts to work and she picked out some knit material. Well, the main tool in my pink paradise is the computer, and it takes more time than I can admit. But it helps to make my room a true paradise.

Christmas Thoughts!

The Friends of the Library held a Fashion Tea for a fundraiser and I was a model in it. Here is my favorite outfit. Ann, our daughter, bought me the bright red chenille sweater for Christmas. I love it!

I asked Bob to put up the Christmas Tree early this year. Christmas comes and goes so quickly and I would like to keep it longer.

Rainy Day

Today the street glistens with the shine of newly fallen rain. Fog covers the roof tops and I am getting ready for a new day.