Then and Now

The picture on top was taken around the year 2000, where Nick would have been 10. 18 years later...
we tried to 're-enact' the first photo. That meant Nick had to crouch down a bit! (He's much taller than me in reality!)

Xmas Eve pt3

Katherine kept calling the little Santa "topo gigio," referencing the movie "The Santa Clause."

Finally got the four of them together for a picture!

Christmas Even '18, pt 2

Atticus has been with us 1 year today! 

He's quite a handful.

I gave Mike a set of different maple syrups.

One of Jamie's gifts was a Jurassic Park lunchbox. He was a fan as a kid and I thought this would bring back memories.

Christmas Eve

Katherine and Megan

Jamie

Katherine 

Julie

Jimmy Glover and Michael

Megan and Nick

Enjoying our traditional scungilli dinner.

More Tree Dec Pix

The Kids Decorate OurTree

Michael and Katherine came by to help decorate the tree. Actually, they did  most of the decorating and I just hung and ornament or two. Mike did a lot of earlier work in that he had to cut branches so the trunk would fit in our new stand. (We had to buy one because the one we've been using for years cracked!)

Michael

Mike and Katherine

Clare and Mike

Dinner with Friends

Patty got reservations for us at the Milleridge Inn. It is pretty much a Christmas miracle because this place is really, really hard to book.

It was so pretty, all decorated for Christmas. There were even carolers in Dickensian costume!

Me and Patty. We also walked around outside where there are shops. I got a cute bear shelf-sitter. Most of the things are too expensive.

More pictures to come!

Atticus attacks the candy dish

Atticus practically snorted the ribbon candy I put on the table. I guess because catnip and mint are closely related?

Good thing nobody eats ribbon candy, anyway.

We choose our tree

Michael and Katherine came with Mike and me to get our tree. Katherine's new boyfriend, Jeff, came too. He seemed more relaxed this time than when I first met him. He's got a sense of humor to match my daughter's. I hope he is finally 'the one.' We'll see.

I usually am happy with one of the first trees we look at, but Mike is more of a compare-and-contrast type. So we go over a few but usually end up with our 2nd or 3rd choice.

Katherine and Jeff

Michael and Jeff

I should go over past "get tree" posts and compare how much we have changed over the years!

More Things I Forgot

Jamie turned 32 years old on November 1st. (I didn't forget the birthday, just to post it.) Mike made him a nice scungilli dinner, which is one of Jamie's favorite foods.

On another day, James was lamenting that a copy of "Watership Down" cost him $20. I gave him a twenty and said that now it was a birthday gift. Jamie remembers me reading WD to him and to Nick when they were little. It was around the time after his accident, so he would have been about 8 when he first heard it. I would sit on the floor while the boys were in their bunkbeds and read. Didn't matter that it's not a children's book; I think they just liked the sound of my voice.

Hmmm, what else? My damn knee is acting up again so I start PT again on Tuesday. PT was really helping but unfortunately I'm not at 100%. So annoying, especially since I have so much to do.

Started decorating the house and gathering materials for cookie baking. I have to look over the gifts I have bought and see what I have for whom.

We will be doing a sit-down dinner on Christmas Eve rather than our big party. We stopped a year ago because it was just getting to be too much.

I'm sure there are other things to write about but I just can't think of any at the moment.