Christmas in Union

We had a nice time hanging at Hoebenland on Christmas Day. Annette was particularly pleased with her new Mix-n-Chop (Is that the correct name?). Gina won the "Christmas surprise" award for the year by convincing me (Adam) that I was getting a new shirt ... instead, she got me a Nat'l Wild Turkey Federation Calendar! Sweet.

Christmas in Flo-town

We gathered at Howardland on Christmas Eve after 5 p.m. mass for dinner and the gift exchange. Of the hundreds of images captured, here are a few to share with you.

Caroling Party

On the Sunday before Christmas, the Howards of CV sponsor the annual Christmas Caroling party. This year we enjoyed cups of good cheer and decent weather as we went caroling around the neighborhood. A good time was had by all.

Decorating the tree

We're late to church right now - but here's a few photos from last night's gathering of Howards for the Christmas Tree Decorating tradition.

Getting the Christmas Tree

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we went out to get our Christmas Tree. We went to Home Depot (which made Adam terribly excited since he'd rather shop at a local Christmas Tree retailer) and picked up a tree. Then, we drove over to Meijer for some Christmas time necessities like candy canes and hot cocoa (or hot chocolate but that's for another blog). An hour or so later, we drove home straight into the garage. Seriously folks ... the tree was still on top of the van when we pulled into the garage. We narrowly avoided a disaster.




Adam contemplating, "How did it come to this?"


Decorating the tree with Mama.

Breakfast with Santa

Our annual Breakfast with Santa took place at St. Tim’s last Saturday. There were lots of kids, lots of food, lots of crafts and other then the people standing in the long line to see The Big Guy, everyone was having a good time.

It’s always curious to hear what your children are going to say. When we finally got up to see him, Clara wanted a baby and Christopher a “nerve blaster.” We think he meant a Nerf Blaster. We thought this visit might end without consequence but you never know with our kids. When Santa started to wrap up the conversation, he asked the kids to leave some carrots out for the reindeer. Clara emphatically replied, “We’re going to shoot the reindeer and then they’re gonna be dead! My Papa …”

We’re not sure how Santa responded because we abruptly ushered the children off of his lap to the elf waiting nearby – with a somewhat alarmed look on her face.

(Just for the record Papa didn’t get any turkeys this morning.)

Cereal early in the morning

Friday morning I (Adam) was trying to get out of the house early to
attend a meeting at the office. I have to be quiet since usually the
kids don't get up till 7 am. It was at 6:20 am when I was in the
kitchen and visited by two spirits. And that's when the fleecing began.

The boy said, "Papa, can I have some cereal?" I replied it was time
for him to go back to his bed which resulted in his inability to
control his bodily motions and threw him into convulsions. Then, his
sister appeared. And she wanted something to eat too! I was getting
close to being late so I capitulated. I said, "How about some O's?"
since that was the easiest thing to get out for them. Of course, the
boy refused and said he wanted Rice Chex. Now we're dickering over
what kind of cereal when he really isn't even supposed to be out of
his bed in the first place! Amazing. So, knowing that i would be late
and that he didn't eat much for dinner last night, I gave in and
offered him some rice chex. But only on the condition that he go back
to bed. I was hopeful if I gave them both some cereal they'd comply
and I could still depart the house on time. A deal was struck and I
gave him some chex and her some O's.

I took this photo so you'd know what they look like in case these two
shysters come to your house.

It's important to note the way Clara is holding her cup of O's. What
do you think happened immediately after the picture was taken?
Needless to say, picking up all the spilled O's made me even later
after she scratched her nose.