Christmas Week Events

Well, Christmas has now come and gone in a seemingly blink of an eye. I always enjoy the season leading up to Christmas so much - its kind of sad when its all over. But it will come around again next year of course.

Last Thursday, we saw the movie Eragon. It was pretty interesting, I thought (I haven't read the book though). But my brother, who has read the book, said the movie left out tons of important stuff.

Last saturday afternoon, my mom, grandmother, brother and I went and visited a 98-year old friend of the family on the other side of town. She is originally from Germany, and came over here from Holland during the Second World War. My grandfather and his sister and a couple of brothers drove all the way to Manhattan, New York City, to retrieve her and her husband (and their dog too). Must have been quite a drive back down South with all of those people in one car and all their luggage (pre-freeway days!).

Christmas Eve was spent, like most years, at my grandparents house (mom's parents) with all the extended family. There was a lot of pick up food - and as usual I was stuffed to the brim afterwards. It was nice getting to see everyone. Christmas Day my immediate family awoke around 10:00 am and exchanged presents. I received a number of book that I have been wanting to read (those will keep me busy for a while). We had lunch, and then went and visited my grandparents. (They usually go around and visit all their grandchildren on Christmas Day, but this year, since they are both still recovering from broken hips, we decided to go see them). It was a nice day of spending time with and visiting family.

Tuesday I stayed at home all day for a change and just relaxed. Wednesday went back to work with several new projects to start off with. It was also my youngest brother's birthday, so we had a cake for him over at my grandpartent's house (I went there straight from work). Then we all just sat around talking and visiting until around 11:00 pm. Thursday was another full day at work. That night a lot of cleaning was going on at home.

I took Friday (yesterday) off from work and slept late. It was a beautiful warm day outside, so I sat out by the pool in the early afternoon reading (I started another one of my new books - I had already finished another one that I started on Christmas Day). Later, my mom and I went to see a friend who is working at Radio Shack and changed up our family cell phone plan. We are now paying about half as much as we were on the previous plan. Friday evening, we all went to an All Academy Military Ball at a local country club. One of my cousin's is a senior (and a wrestler) at West Point (U.S. Military Academy) this year. My aunt and uncle are actively involved in the West Point Parent Club. It was a nice evening. The dinner was delicious and consisted of: salad with a unique but tasty dressing, steamed vegetables, creamed white rice, baked chicken breast with cream sauce on top stuffed with a raising type of sauce, and creme brule for dessert. The speaker is a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. She is involved with nuclear engineering on aircraft carriers. She gave a general perspective of what its currently like to be serving in the U.S. Navy (and U.S. Military in general). She had a lot of advice for all the cadets and midshipmen present, and said the academies adequately prepare them for when they are actually out hitting the deck plates or on the ground in the real world.

Today was another day of sleeping late. My mom, brother and I, this afternoon, went over to my grandparents and helped them put away their Christmas decorations. We also went and fed dogs, cats, and other pets at one of my mom's brother's (and his family's) house. Some of them went to Orlando, FL, this week, and the other half of their family went to Seaside, FL, this week. They all really stay on the go a lot.

Well, tomorrow I think we're having lunch at my house, and my grandparents are coming over. They said they need to get out of the house. The main dish will be leftover Christmas ham with raisin sauce. I'll play in my church orchestra tomorrow morning as well. Don't know what all is going on for New Year's Eve tomorrow night. New Year's Day we'll eat the obligatory black eyed peas, cornbread, and turnip greens at my grandparents house.