Christmas in PJs

This year we celebrated Christmas just the three of us and spent the entire day in the house and in our pjs! What fun! (far from an everyday occurrence) We awoke and had a breakfast of biscuits and gravy (another unusual event). Then we exchanged presents. David really enjoyed opening the presents this year... In fact, Michael had a hard time reading his clues and guessing before David ripped into his Daddy's presents too. (D did prefer Mommy's cheap $1 store wrapping paper over everyone else's expensive thick paper; the thick paper just was too hard to tear open!) The presents ran on two themes this year (completely coincidentally). I received -all hand-picked by me :) - slippers and pjs. David received pjs and slippers from us too. Michael received a coffee maker, coffee, and a coffee mug. His favorite present though was by far the 97cent Matchbox cobra that I bought him!

We had a sweet family time and played together all day!

For the record:

David also received a matchbox car and a rooster Christmas ornament from us, money and a Nativity book from Grandma Kiesewetter, a small flap book from Grammy Wilder, another flap book from Uncle Leigh and Aunt Sylvia, 3 board books from Uncle Paul and Aunt Susan, a little people plane from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Rich (he loves this!), and a stuffed animal bear from the Landwers. Thank you, everyone! We have been reading a lot!

Merry Christmas! Christ has come!

Merry Christmas to all!

Rather scatterbrained, only half of our Christmas cards had our name. Oh well...keeps you guessing!

Letter from Santa

Here is a personal letter from Santa to David! Whether or not you "do" the Santa thing, this is a really well done web-site! and entirely free...Have fun! http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/89e82ef6b970c1cc8609b31064ed716f

The hills are alive...

(just a funny note: I originally typed, "the Hills are alive..." This made me laugh!)

Michael and I went to see Mary Poppins last month on Broadway Across America. Frankly, I was disappointed. There were only 2 complete original songs. A couple more were original but changed in some way and several new songs. It is not that I mind different theatre renditions from the movies, but... They changed the plot so much so that it was hardly recognizable. They took out the most amusing scenes and substituted them for rather menacing ones (I probably would not take a young child). They even added a character! The backdrops and props were wonderful, however, and the "magic" of Mary Poppins was very well done! They had Mary floating up to the balcony, Bert dancing up one side of the stage and upside down across and then back down the other side, coatracks and trees popped out of Mary's carpet bag (and I am still a bit perplexed about this one), tables broke and fixed themselves. All in all, parts were rather clever but on the whole disappointing.

Not so with the Sound of Music!!! It was very well performed and mostly accurate to the movie. (and the few changes were well done, although I am rather puzzled as to why they were made in the first place) I did have a hard time getting over a brunette, little bit plump Julie Andrews, but she had a wonderful voice and again the props were well done. There were even a few highly entertaining scenes where they used unexpected props. I was so enthralled that I forgot for a few minutes that I was not the actual audience for them in Salzburg at their music festival. If you are in Houston (or a place where they tour) and you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it!

The party of the century

Yesterday we attended our 6th party (of 8 that we have this Christmas). It was indeed the party to end all parties (even if I found our other events more intimate and enjoyable). For those who live here locally, you may be familiar with the Lanier party. We were invited since Michael is doing the investigation for one of his cases, involving an inflatable (see the irony later).

We parked around the corner from his house and rode one of the several coach bus shuttles in to his front gates. Michael, already sporting his wrist band, had to pick up ours at will call. Despite wearing his own wristband, producing his ID and being only onr letter off on the last name, they questioned him very closely since they had misspelled our last name (what a surprise since it is almost never spelled correctly). No chance for party crashers!

Once through the gates, we decided to take the train ride around his 30 acre property. Yes, full-size train, complete with train depot. Next, on to one of the food tents. We opted for the Ninfa's fajitas and County Line BBQ buffets. It was unlimited food. (other options were hamburgers and hotdogs) After food, we bypassed all the inflatables (see I thought you might enjoy this irony), the full-sized ferris wheel (I was concerned D would try to climb out while we were at the top), and rode on the carousel instead. David had fun on that. Later, we stopped to pick up hot tea and coffee while eating our funnel cakes and cotton candy before heading to catch a glimpse of the lemurs, parrots, kangaroos, and llama. This led us to the pony ride and the petting zoo (again a favorite for David). There was just enough time before we headed home to get David another funnel cake (he really was fond of those...wonder why? :) ), stop in and listen to the end of the Bon Jovi concert (yes, he was there in person), examine the European style cathedral/chapel and hamlet, and peek at the other carnival rides: the tilt-a-whirl, the free-fall drop, the pirate ship, the balloons, etc... Back on the bus and back to the warmth of our car.

Yes, this Christmas party was a bit chilly, damp, and VERY MUDDY! (we have had so much rain the past several weeks) Yes, it was quite lavish and must have cost a pretty penny. Yes, even a bit over the top... But, yes, we would go again though, simply for the novelty of it all...plus D should enjoy it more as he ages.