CHRISTMAS: THE SEQUEL

At our house we actually our blessed that we get to celebrate 2 Christmas'. When Dave and I first mariied and were living in Lincoln, Nebraska his younger brother Trace and fiance, (at that time, now his wife) Pam came spent the holiday with us. The first year we moved to Texas, our best friends Charlie and Brenda and their kids joined the fun. Now though, everyone comes down a day or two after Christmas and stays till New Years. As I write, they are in route to our house and will be here this evening. I have to get the house in order and get groceries too. Fortunately, I am running *90% and almost my old self again. This thing has really hung in there and tried to kick my butt. It almost suceeded too! I have my voice back (mostly) and my faculties, what little there was to start with so I am near "normal", just in time! I will leave you with a few photos from our Christmas morning! Happy New Year Y'all!



The tree, the house is still, no one else is up yet. I have cinnamon coffee cake in the oven for breakfast and I'm enjoying the solitude.


Me and my baby girl. I realized on Christmas Eve as the 4 of us were all sitting around talking, this was our last Christmas Eve with Laura like this. In all liklihood, she will be getting married next year sometime and things will never be the same. I have to admit, I was a little sad thinking about it.



Laura has always been a Daddy's girl. They understand one another perfectly since their personalities are so similiar!


Charles is more like me in personality. I still have him a little bit longer! If you cick on the picture and enlarge it, you can see the OU fan I got for his stocking. It lights up and spells out: "BOOMER SOONER"!



I actually had stuff in my stocking this year! I am the stocking filler at our house and mine is usually bare. That's not a problem though but this year, my Sweetie put my gifts from him in my stocking!


Laura and Charlie and a moment of silliness!


My "baby girl" and "baby boy".


Dave holds up his gift from me. I found a company that transfers photos to canvas. This is a picture he took of IRIS FALLS in Yellowstone NP on one of his backpacking trips! He is thrilled with it. He told me what a fantastic gift it is!!! Yippee!



Our family is pretty good when it comes to silliness. Here, Dave is wearing the blinking hat on Christmas morning. Both kids looked at him as if to say,
"What the heck?"
Laura Louise Hopkins and Leslie Charles Deal, Christmas 2007

CHRISTMAS TIME

Yesterday after church we had our dear friends Randy & Lynette over to celebrate Christmas. We have been close friends for over 12 years. They're both Texas born and Texas bred but we don't hold that against them! Ha Ha!

Lynette is one of those amazingly powerful Prayer Warriors and Randy has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. You'll never find anyone more gentle and kind then him! When we went through our struggles with a prodigal child, Lynette was a strong shoulder for me to lean on and listened to a lot of "verbal vomit" as I am apt to call it! They had a house fire over 4 years ago, gutting their home. We spent Christmas Eve that year helping them move back into their home. These are very special people in our lives. Their daughter's Kristen (24) and Brittney (21) are like our own neices. Wonderful, Godly young women. This is what the holidays are all about, spending time with people that you love!



Our dear friends, Randy & Lynette.




My own personal Santa!







Kristen just got her braces off a couple of weeks ago!





Laura Lou shows off her new jammies. Lynette joked with her that these jammies would be "decent" since they didn't come from Laura's workplace: Victoria's Secret.



Okay this is scary I know, it just proves Charlie was there as well. Is it too late to buy him some rubber bands and barettes for that hair?It's a nice picture of Brittney though!



We have Christmas Eve service later on and then Dave & I are going to the movies.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

AINT MYSELF JUST QUITE YET

Wow! Who knew that feeling crummy was so darn crummy! Every day is a tad better but man oh man, when you're feeling poorly, you'd just about give your right ear (btw my left ear is deaf) to feel normal! Since I have an auto-immune disorder (Ideopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura or ITP for short) you can imagine that when I get sick it's not the same as say my hubby getting sick. A simple head cold can take 6-8 weeks to get over. I have an upper and lower respitory infection so this isn't going away overnight. I am going to see if I can get in to see the doctor tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon, Dave & I went to see, "I Am Legend" with Will Smith. It was very good, one we will buy for our movie library!

So, I've been moving slowly and just taking my time getting things done. Fortunately, I have all the prep work for Christmas long done. Today is the begining of our big meals. We are having some good friends over today to celebrate Christmas. Normally, I have been doing our big meal on Christmas Eve so that I can actually enjoy Christmas Day. I'm able to receive phone calls without keeping an eye on the clock and my muddled pre-occupied brain on my to-do list!

We made the decision several weeks ago to order a smoked turkey and a smoked ham from RUDY's Texas BBQ. If there's one thing I've learned since living here, Texas knows how to smoke meat and do BBQ right! I will pick those up before church this morning. I'll be making my Texas Ranch Taters, Brocolli-Bacon & Raisin Salad, Corn, Rolls, Green Bean Casserole and Holiday Jello Salad (recipe to follow). Lynette is in charge of dessert. Over the next couple of days, I will replenish side dishes for the nice dinners and will make a cherry & pecan pie. (I cheated, I bought Mrs Smith's since I haven't felt like standing and making pie crust etc.) My family won't turn up their noses, trust me!

So without further adieu (drumroll please) here is my recipe for Holiday Jello Salad. Dave gave this to me years ago from a photography magazine he had come across. I have changed it up and tweaked it since then but it a staple at the holidays! I use a deep glass bowl to show off the colors!

LAYERED HOLIDAY JELLO SALAD

6 oz. pkg Raspberry Jello
1 cup hot water
20 oz, crushed pineapple, drain well

Place pineaple in bottom of bowl, spread evenly. In a seperate bowl, dissolve jello in hot water thoroughly and gently pour over the pineapple, refrigerate until set.

6 oz. Lemon Jello
1 3/4 cup hot water
8 oz. brick of cream cheese, softened
8 oz. Cool Whip

In a seperate bowl, dissolve jello in hot water thoroughly, refrigerate until cool but not set. In the meantime in a different bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth and add cool whip, blend thoroughly. Slowly pour in lemon jello, beating continually until smooth. It's frothy at this point, pour over the raspberry layer and refrigerate until set. (You can use low-fat on the cream cheese and cool whip)

6 oz. Lime Jello
3 cups hot water
29 oz. can pear halves, drain and chop

Dissolve jello in hot water thoroughly, refrigerate until cool but not set. Place chopped pears over the lemon layer and gently ladle the lime jello over the top.

Refrigerate overnight and enjoy!

TURNING THE CORNER?

So after spending essentially 4 nights this week on the couch, I am thinking I am on the upswing! I was coughing my fool head off last night before bed and wasn't looking forward to the prospect of lying awake through the night, coughing. I switched over to some Robitussin, squirted some nasal spray up the old schnozz and actually slept somewhat peacably! We don't keep our house overly warm, 69 degrees overnight but I woke up sweating several times. I'm thinking I have been running a low-grade fever to boot. I was going to go see the doctor today but since I'm seeing noticeable improvement, I won't bother. I'm really tired and run down and feel as though there's a cinder block parked squarely in the nmiddle of my forehead. But hey, I am actually feeling slightly better!

Charlie's last day of school was yesterday. He looks like he's just been pardoned by the Governor at the 11th hour! He has been in need of break for a while now. He spent the night at a friend's house last night. I am on vacation as well. Yippee!!

Today I will start planning the Christmas Dinner menu. Yes it's cutting it close but then I have not felt like looking at food this week. Can't taste anything so why bother? My "One Magic Christmas" movie arrived yesterday from Amazon. I decided since my hubby was being his usual unusual self about the VCR thing, I wanted to watch my movie and so I paid extra for shipping to get it here sooner! That'll teach him. (yeah right!)

So, I'm gently picking up the house and doing laundry today. I will wrap the remaing gifts and veg in front of the TV today.

"Hey pass me another truffle would ya?"

RUNNING ON FUMES

Okay, this is getting old really quick! Day 4 and last night I hardly slept at all! I started swigging cough syrup straight from the bottle! "Drink up me hardy's and really bad eggs". Working today, I'm just going to do the best I can. Yesterday's house cleaning with bleach is what I think did me in! The only silver lining I can think of right now is that being organized paid off. I would rather be relaxing right now all full of the holdiday spirit because I am ready for Christmas. Instead I'm coughing my lungs up and dragging my butt around the place! I am so glad I don't feel this way AND still have to get ready for Christmas!!!

RUNNING ON EMPTY

No, there's no Jackson Browne theme going on here. I'm on Day 3 of running on about 5 cylinders. A little better than yesterday but not well yet. I am muddling through the work week, having cleaned a house yesterday, I have one today and one tomorrow. Then, I am on vacation until Jan 8th! The last 2 mornings I have been up by 4 AM, coughing my lungs up and then dealing with the sore throat all over again! It feels like a fire is raging in there! I'm starting to get my voice back but still sound like I swallowed a razor blade! okay, enough of that...

Yesterday, all I wanted to do when I got home from work was watch "One Magic Christmas" and maybe wrap gifts. I started a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup (we also had Reuben Sandwiches with it last night) and went to the movie cabinet. My movie was no where to be found. After sweeping through 4-5 times I was aggravated and decided to just watch TV. Grrrr! I just knew I had that movie!!! My best friend Brenda had given it to me and it was MIA. My family is almost cruel when it comes to my love for this movie, thinking it's hokey so I knew that it wasn't in one of the kids bedrooms. Not even my family is mean enough to purposefully hide it from me either. They're ornery but they know that that would be crossing the line! After griping to Dave and looking yet one more time, I found it! Only thing is that it's on video and my hubby, for reasons that make NO sense to the rest of us, refuses to hook up the VCR to the big screen we bought a year ago! This is the same guy who left the SAMSUNG sticker on the front of the TV to this day and refuses to take it off. I don't know why so please don't ask!

It suddenly became clear to me. Last year I watched my movie on regular TV. I ordered a copy from Sprawl-Mart to be delivered to the store and when it came they called me to tell me it was damaged. Damaged??!! It looked like it had been dropped from an overpass, ran over by a semi and then taken to the junkyard! It's a conspiracy I tell ya! It is a lovely little movie but it just doesn't get "no respect!"

YADA, YADA, YADA

So, I'm feeling especially cruddy this morning. I started coming down with a sore throat Sunday night and by today, let's just say I'm up and on the computer much earlier than usual. Since I'm not too "with it" I will cheat with this post.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrap it and then embellish it with ribbon, picks and such!

2. Real tree or artificial?
Dave & I both love a real tree! I think it stems back to my childhood and how Meine Mutti could only afford a 3 foot, plastic-ish looking thing.

3. When do you put up the tree?
First weekend in Dec.


4. When do you take the tree down?
Depends but most times it has been by Jan 10th

5. Do you like eggnog?
Nope

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
I remember Meine Mutti gave me a metal doll house from SEARS one year that I loved!

7. Have a Nativity scene?
Absolutely!

8. Hardest person to buy for?
Father-in-law

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Meine Mutti

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A pin cushion type thing that if you set your hand on it for example, it would leave the outline of your hand on the reverse side.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Snail mail

12.Favorite Christmas Movie?
One Magic Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I am on the lookout all year especially when we are on vacation

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
More times than I care to admit

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Holiday jello salad. It's layered with raspberry jello and pineapple, then lemon jello with cream cheese and finally lime jello with diced pears

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
clear

17. Favorite Christmas song?
I have a several.
Sacred: O Holy Night & Hark the Herald Angels Sing (It has the entire Gospel message in that song!)
Secular:
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland in "Meet Me In St Louis."

JELLY BEAN WEEKEND

Jessica & Steven had a weekend for themselves and the Bean stayed with Grampy & I. We had lots to do and one of those things was to put together a Gingerbread House! It was a joint effort. I did the icing for the most part while she decorated it. Wilton makes a really nice, pre-assembled little house with 3 different ways to decorate it. I have never done one of these before so it was a new experience for me!



Icing the roof!

Concentration abounds as she places everything on there just right!

Saturday also found us delivering cookie trays to friends and then having Grampy build a fire in the fireplace! I set up the little pup tent for her like I always do and she pretended to be on a campout, in front of her own little campfire. (fireplace)

Sunday morning she went to church with us and then later in the afternoon, we had a girls day out. I got tickets for the Nutcracker and took her to her first ballet! I bought her a little nutcracker ornament for her to hang on her tree at home. I told her that when she hangs the ornament she can remember going to see The Nutcracker with her Gigi!














Laura invited her boyfriend Les' Mom, Regina to go with us, making it a Ladies day out!


When it was all over and Jelly Bean had left I started to crash. Suddenly there was a phone call from her and she was crying. She told me she missed me! I hate that she was crying but it makes you feel like you're doing this Gigi thing right when they hate to say goodbye!

A SMATTERING!

Here is the tray of truffles and such that I sent with Dave to work yesterday!



In this photo you can see the cookies that were sent as well!








INVENTORY
Frosted Lemon Cookies
Frosted Butter Pecan Cookies
Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies
Dipped Gingersnaps
Pumpkin-Chocloate Drops
Holiday Truffles
Oreo Truffles
Rum Balls
Peanut Butter Snowballs
Fudge with nuts
Fudge w/o nuts
Turtle Bites
Dipped Ritz Peanut Butter Snack Crackers
Puppy Chow
Pumkin Raisin Bread

IN A PICKLE

Clever title once you read my post! Many years ago while I was out shopping, I came across the "pickle ornament". For those who have no such knowledge of this little gurken, it is a green, blown-glass pickle that hangs on your tree. I was enchanted to read the little insert that told of an old German tradition whereupopn the last ornament to be hung on the tree was the pickle. The first child who could find the ornament received an extra gift. Being German I was delighted to think of how I could incorporate this tradition into our family. Over the years, the pickle has been proudly hanging from our Christmas tree, glimmering in all of its briney glory! In the past, Charlie has won the extra gift more times than anyone else. The gifts are never extravagant, a can of cashews, a bag of Liebkuchen or Chocolate-covered cherries, etc. The tradition has been modified to fit other cultures as well. Our daughter Jessica hangs the pickle that she remembers from her childhood but they also hang the "hollowed jalepeno" now as well! The funny thing is why I never remembered Meine Mutti doing this when I was a kid myself?



At Thanksgiving, I told her how we had been doing this German tradition in our house for at least 10 years now. My chest was all puffed up, eagerly awaiting praise from her and and anxious to see her obvious pleasure, that I was proudly displaying my German heritage. Instead, what I got was a look, as if I had lobsters growing out of my head! "Never heard of it" she tells me. Now I was in a quandry! If my Uber-Deutsch Mutti had not heard of this, there must be a reason why? I began to think that WW2 had interfered with this family tradition of theirs. They were so destitute they couldn't have hung a glass pickle on the tree and a real pickle probably would've been split between the 3 of them! Surely THAT was the reason! Perhaps living closer to the Czech border, the Slavs had never heard of my beloved tradition. At any rate, the pickle was drug out of the ornament box this past Sunday evening and one of the kids hung it on the tree. In effect hiding it from ME I guess!

I began to google "pickle ornament" and lo & behold, all kinds of companies offer this precious, German "tradition" that you can hang from your tree. The only problem is that apparently it is NOT a German tradition after all! Meine Mutti is right when she told me that she had never heard of it. Glass ornaments originated in Germany and the Krauts will hang a lot of stuff on their tree but apparently this veggie isn't one of them!



What will I do? We will continue the Hopkins tradition of hanging the pickle but no longer can I claim it is a German tradition. One story that I read was about how its supposed origin had to do with a dying Civil War soldier in a POW camp. He was from Germany and before he died he begged for a pickle to remind him of his home away from home. (Personally, I would've been asking for Liebkuchen but this was HIS story and not mine!) Miraculously, he recovered and went on to live many more years. Every year at Christmas he hung a pickle on his tree as a reminder of his good fortune and a wish for it to continue in the new year.

Is this true? Who knows? It was probably some clever Capitalist that invented the German "tradition" and raked in lots of pfennigs and deutsches-marks from its prolific sales. (Insert sigh, here)

Wow, first it was Santa Claus and now it's my pickle!

TREE TRIMMING & BAKING GOODIES!

On Sunday we went to church and the Cowboys played (and won) an early game that day! I made a really nice dinner and then we trimmed the tree. Laura got her "Snowball & Tuxedo" Hamark ornament for this year in her series.


Charlie's been collecting the "Puppy Love" series since 1991! This year's ornament was a bulldog sleeping in a dog bed, pretty darn cute!



I found this John Wayne Centennial ornament for my beloved. There's a button that you press and it says 3 different lines from a John Wayne movie, in JW's voice no less!




What all the best dressed bakers are wearing this year! Laura is in her Victoria's Secret ensemble! She's better get an apron on!



Holding one of MANY batches of cookies!


Monday morning, beginning at 6AM Laura & I baked our guts out all stinkin' day long! I started out with all of the cookies & here, Laura is frosting the lemon cookies.


Today, the first of many cookie trays are being delivered. I plan to take a picture and post it showing the huge variey of goodies we made. I will post a picture of the tree, all nicely decorated as well. First thing though, I've GOT to put my kitchen back together!!! It's making me crazy looking at all this stuff!

YESTERDAY

Yesterday (Saturday) was a full day for us. In the morning Dave & I went and picked up the Christmas tree. This year we got a 9 foot Frasier Fir. We usually get a Noble Fir but this one was very symetrical and fragrant. It's scraping the ceiling though so I will not be able to put the Angel on top of it. I might put the Angel on another one of the "everyday" pine trees that are in our bedroom. I decided that I would go ahead and put some of the lights on the tree yesterday morning since I had just bought 2 boxes when I went grocery shopping this week. Today I have to go out to the shed and bring in the last 3 rubbermaid containers filled with ornaments, lights and also the tins for our bake-a-thon tomorrow.

After showering, I made a cinnamon coffe cake and then I went to a Ladies Brunch hosted by my dear friend Lynette. It was a nice gathering of about 20 ladies from the Denton Campus for our church.

I came home and changed so we could leave by 2:30 for Dave's Christmas Party later that evening. We left early so we could call upon a good friend who had had a medical procedure done the day before and would be missing the work gathering. From there we drove down to Ft Worth and met everyone at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse. This is a premiere steak restaurant in Texas! I have eaten at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and trust me, this one is much better!

Although known for steaks I actually had salmon! I love salmon and it just sounded more appetizing to me than a hunk of beef! We had scrumptious jumbo shrimp appetizers in 3 different types of dipping sauces and a wonderful salad. We had their specialty mashed potatoes as well as a vegetable medly topped off with a creamy, fluffy cheesecake! In the past, Dave & I have gone here before, compliments of one of the Railroad's contractor's. He would give Dave a $100 gift certificate for Christmas and we would still pay $30 out of our own pocket! This is an extravagance we could never justify paying for ourselves, so this was a treat!

For the past 5 years the BNSF RR LARS (Load and Ride Solutions) department that Dave is in has forgone exchanging cheapy gifts with one another. Instead, we contacted the Cowboy Santa program which provides Christmas presents to needy children and we give gifts to their program. It's much more rewarding than getting useless junk or re-gifting an item to give to someone else! The first year the LARS department participated, we filled the bed of one pick up truck. We were told last night that they had to take 3 bigger truck size loads to the warehouse, just from us!! One of the Battalion Chiefs of Ft Worth's Fire Departments is our contact guy so each year he and his wife are invited to our Christmas Party compliments of the BNSF! We had a wonderful evening and left feeling warm and fuzzy knowing that there would be little kids getting bicycles and dollies and trucks on Christmas morning!

Here is a photo of Dave & I from last night!

COMFORT & JOY

I thought I'd post a picture of one of my favorite Christmas ornaments. I love anything moosey and some of my favorite ornaments are the rustic ones!

I am off work today and I will be cleaning the house and getting caught up with some linens in the laundry and ironing Dave's dress shirts for work. I will probably put on one of my favorite Christmas movies, "One Magic Christmas" while I'm at the old ironing board. Dave & I saw this movie our first Christmas together. It's the story of a woman who has lost all hope at Christmas because the family has fallen on hard times. An angel shows her just how much she has to be thankful for. The Santa Claus in this movie is the kind of Santa I grew up with. Not the red suit and black booted, "Coca-Cola" Santa but the European Saint Nickolaus. When I see him in this movie I get all warm and fuzzy inside!

Today it's going to be almost 80 degrees outside! Kind of hard to be in the Christmas mood when it's that warm! (My apologies to my "Down Under friend" for whom this is normal!) Still, I will enjoy my day nonetheless!

Tomorrow morning we'll go get the tree and then later in the day, my friend Lynette is hosting a Ladies Brunch from 11-2. That evening we'll have the Christmas Party for Dave's work. The tree will be decorated Sunday afternoon after church!

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my step-brother's death. I spoke to my folks last night for about an hour. I had sent them a little goodie box with a few things I had gotten at the GermanDeli store. Remember that post? I just wanted them to feel extra loved. Pop was actually laughing last night and for those few minutes, I felt really good that I had taken their minds off of the sadness that tinges the Holidays for them. Last Christmas we were dealing with JR's death and the Christmas before that, my step-sister was recovering from surgery where they had discovered she is Stage 4 Colon Cancer. They gave her maybe 18 months. She went through chemo and 2 years later she is still "clean". After 5 years they may be optimistic to say she is in remission. As wonderful as the Holidays are and the joy that it brings, there are real people out there who need a little comfort as well.

Poll:
What is a must-see at the Holidays? Favorite movies? Favorite TV shows?

A LITTLE DECOR

This is Dave's Den. I have colored lights decorating it because he enjoys the nostagic feeling he gets when he looks at them. The brighter lights on the actual mantle are little red lanterns (hubby is a Railroad man!) On the left is his Slash Pine tree. Yes, it is a real tree and I dispise it at Christmastime! This is the spot where I want the actual Christmas tree to go! This is the only spot in the house that it will go and thrive in. He has had it nearly 14 years and he really likes it. I resigned myself to decorating it at Christmas so I can tolerate it now. When we deorate our tree in the living room and the ornaments are out, he'll hang our souveneir ornaments on it. On the hearth is of course my Nutcracker collection!




My nativity comes from my best friend Brenda. I take down all of the photos and such from off the top of the Computer desk and set it up there! It's a great spot because there's enough room to display it nicely without cramming it in some nook or cranny.


These are 2 of my favorite Nativity photos I post every year it seems. Jelly Bean was almost 18 months old and wanted Sponge Bob to see the Baby Jesus!









Poll:
Do you have a nativity you put out at Christmas?

CHRISTMASTIME IS NEAR

I am really enjoying this time of year! I love going around and seeing lights on houses shinging brightly, Christmas trees decorated with their ornaments & Christmas music playing on the radio. Our house, except for the tree which we will buy this weekend, is all decorated. I enjoy getting up early in the morning and turning everything on and enjoying the peacefulness of the Christmas season. All my cards have been mailed out, I am waiting for 3 gifts to arrive that I ordered from the internet and Monday is our Bake-a-thon day. Every year we make so many sweets that we all either end up with a sugar rush or in a diabetic coma! I found glass platters at Garden Ridge with nice Christmas scenes that will be used for the trays that I deliver to people. I have done this for more years than I care to count! I always send goodies into the office with Dave as well!

Last night my oldest daughter Jennifer decorated their tree with the girlies and has posted today, some sweet photos and even sweeter memories! Jess, I'm waiting for yours! (hint hint) Jennifer posted how she has continued the ornament tradition. I always get the kids an ornament every year for the tree. When they move out they get all of their ornaments except for their "1st Christmas" ornament. That one, I get to keep! In addition to that I always buy an ornament from wherever we have been on vacation that year. When it's just Dave & I we will still have PLENTY of ornaments for our tree!

Here is a poll:
Do you prefer colored lights or clear for decorating? My preference is clear except for the den which is Dave's room. The colored lights are nostalgic for him, reminding him of his childhood so his room is decked out with colored lights! I will post a picture in the next day or so!

LAKE TEXOMA

Yesterday Dave & I played heathens and skipped out on church. We had originally planned a day of fishing up at Lake Texoma on Saturday with a couple from our Life Group, Mike & Alicia. Sunday wound up working better for them. They are the family we went camping with last year at Caddo Lake and our canoe flipped over spilling one of their twins into the water with us. I posted about how God had protected Madison and how none of us saw how she managed to get back into the canoe all by herself! Can you believe they still talk to us let alone want to have anything to do with us? Ha Ha! Mike grew up in Minnesota and is an avid outdoorsman, fishing etc. He and Dave hit it off right from the start!

So I'll admit I went in with low expectations. I am not a fisherwoman by any stretch. My hubby is the one who gets flown into remote Canadian wilderness areas and fishes his brains out for 10 straight days! We had a guide who took us out on the lake where we fished for Striper Bass. They were really hitting when we first got on the lake. We had some clouds and drizzle that were passing through. We had a front move through, bringing winds out of the North and so they weren't biting as enthusiastically. Alicia landed a huge catfish and later in the day I landed one too, just not as big. We crossed the open lake and the winds made the water really choppy. Thank goodness we weren't in a canoe is all I can say! Luckily we had brough our rain gear with us but it only works if you actually put it on! Imagine that?!

I was wearing my rain jacket but didn't think I needed the pants. Wrong-o! The spray was coming into the boat so I tuned around and found out that the back of my calves were getting wet. I pulled the pants on up to my knees. I really didn't want to have to stand up in the boat with all of the choppy water and bouncing up and down as we crossed the surface of the lake. As soon as I sat down, a huge wave came over the boat and hit me at my waist area sending a huge amount of water down into my jeans and across my derriere! Needless to say, I stood up and yanked those pants up the rest of the way!!

I hadn't been getting much action on my lines while everyone else was pulling them in. I was a little discouraged to say the least. You see I found out that I actually enjoy fishing but only if they're biting! The nice thing was that I was the only one to land anything our last 2 stops! I felt vindicated! I enjoyed being out on the boat, it was very relaxing. When we got back at the end of our day, the guide cleaned our fish and handed them off to us. Now taht was ideal, no fish guts, no stinky hands or anything!

We stopped and had dinner at a nice restaurant, took Mike & Alicia home where we divied up the fish and then came on home. After showers and changing into jammies I wondered if I could even stay up until 10PM. Just barely! What a fun day!!

HAPPY DECEMBER!

WOW! Today is December 1st already! Soon we will be into 2008 and wondering what the new year will have in store for us? I managed to get everything done yesterday that was on my list! No small task if you had seen it! I went to the German Deli store and spent WAY too much money! I'm going to have to cut back on my groceries next week to make it less painful! I will post a picture next week of all the goodies I got. We will decorate the Christmas tree next Sunday and that's when I will put everything out to munch on. I got Pfeffernusse, Lebkuchen, European Chocolates (stocking stuffers), Gummy Bears, Advent Calendars and much more including my broetchen!. I came out with 4 bags of goodies!

One bag was strictly for Meine Mutti and Pop. She hasn't been able to get her favorite candy, Mon Cheri, this year so I bought her 2 boxes. I bought Pop a great apron to wear around the house and I also bought them a Christmas CD filled with beautiful instrumental music! I loved being able to do a little something special for my folks. I wish I could see their faces when they get the package!