Ok, so it is the New Year and I have not posted anything for over a month. Well, here goes. I am going to start with Thanksgiving and try to get caught up.
We went to our Vacation home in Idaho for Thanksgiving. We had Joe's family over for dinner, I think around 35 people. I went up a couple of days before Thanksgiving with Cyndi to get the house ready, buy food and prepare food. We had a great time on Thanksgiving eating and playing games and visiting with everyone. The only problem is that I forgot to take pictures as I was so busy playing host. Oh well, we still had a great time.
On Saturday we had the Willis Christmas get together. We have found that the Thanksgiving weekend has worked well for most everyone to get together. We love to keep it as simple as possible, take out sandwiches, relish plates and chips and Grandma's homemade cookies! Yummy! Everyone can't wait for the cookies to come out. We play a game with a $1 gift that is really fun and then we get to open our gift from Grandma. This year all my brothers and sisters got together and got Mom a Wii for her present. We decided to give it to her early so we see her open it. She was so surprised! It was great. The kids set it up right away so they could play it. The picture is of my Mom playing Wii. I think she really likes it.
Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you......Tis the Season to be NICE!
11. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I do my own thing. For years I have made fabric Christmas bags that are every size you will need and we can use them year after year. It is great and saves tons of time on Christmas Eve.
3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving.
44.When do you take the tree down? The week after New Years Day. I take three or four days. That way the house doesn't seem so bare after all the warm and colorful Christmas Decorations. One year it was after Valentines Day. It had red lights and was so pretty.
5. Do you like eggnog? In small amounts.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
77. Hardest person to buy for? Carl
8. Easiest person to buy for? The grandkids
99. Do you have a nativity scene? At least thirty but why count?
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail and I love the newsletters at Christmas.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't remember any.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Christmas Story. We watch it every Christmas, mostly on Christmas Day while are just lounging around.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Depends on the year. Ideally in Oct but many years it was when we would get paid.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Most definitely. I don't see anything wrong with it, just make sure it doesn't got back to the same family.
16. Lights on the tree? Of course and lots of them.
17. Favorite Christmas song? I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. I love Christmas music.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home in the morning then go to Joe's family for the afternoon and have dinner together.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course…Rudolph.
20. Angel on the tree-top or a star? Angels
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. When the kids were little we always opened one gift on Christmas Eve.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Yummy. Christmas Eve, always Chinese Food and Christmas Day Mexican Food
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? 37 or 40 " LCD TV
The fall was one of the most beautiful falls I have ever seen. It was past peak but still just spectacular. I am going to post some of the pictures I took with my new camera. It took great pictures. The first ones are from Gloucester, The statue is a tribute to the fishermen lost at sea. Over 5000 men have lost their life since 1700. Lots of the shots are the ocean, the places in the area.
Joe and I got to go back to New England for 10 days this past week. We flew into Portland Maine.
We stayed with our friends for a couple of days. We have been friends for over 30 years. When we get together we seem to pick up our conversation right where we left off from our last time together. It is great to have friends like this.
We then left Maine and went to Gloucester, Massachusetts. We stayed at the Bass Rock Inn which is right on the beach. We stayed there four days. Joe went into Boston on the Train. They have a great transit system in Massachusetts. While Joe was at meetings I got to site see. I spend one day seeing Gloucester, a day each at Newburyport, Salem and Rockport. I love the history and I love New England. I loved the time when we lived in Nashua, NH. Next time we go back I want to get our family history out and find the places our ancestors lived.
I want a new camera! I have been looking at camera's every time I would stop in Best Buy, Sams etc. I was always looking for one that had a fast shutter speed. My digital camera is almost eight years old, has only 2 mega pixels and a very slow shutter/record time. I found the camera I had been dreaming about. It is a Canon, the PowerShot SD880 IS. It takes pictures fast and even can take one right after another, (continuous Shooting) has a large display screen and a Lithium-ion battery. I love how easy it is to use.
