Really Cool Christmas Gifts

Don't you love unique Christmas gifts? Here are some really cool ones from this year.

All of us kids got these candy canes. I've always liked things that were personalized, so this was right down my alley.

This book is incredible. I haven't read it all yet, but here are a few of some really neat tips I already like:

1. If you're always a mitten or a glove short at your house in winter, try this: Hang several pant or skirt hangers in the hall closet. Ask family members to clip pairs together on the hangers when not in use. -Liz Grove, New Carlisle, IN

2. To get rid of the leg dents that heavy furniture leaves in your pile carpeting, place an ice cube in each dent and let them sit overnight. The water from the melted cube causes the fibers of the carpet to swell. The next morning, use a towel to scratch and fluff out the dent until it's the same level as the rest of the nap. -Sally Clark, East Bradenton, FL

3. In your bathroom, keep those odds and ends of pins, clips, rubber bands, etc. in a plastic silverware tray. -Rachel Siegrist, Lititz, PA

4. Use a meat pounder instead of a fork to make a pretty design on your cookies. -Ann Z., Coon Rapids, MN

All the kids with their stockings!

Makin' Memories

Christmas really is my most favorite time of year! Aaron and I sure made lots of memories this year as we had the privilege of "parenting" our nephews/niece (ages 10, 7, and 5) on a 10-hour trip to Missouri. We were planning on riding along with Vicki and the children, but when her grandmother unexpectedly passed away, we took the kids with us so she and Jeff could go to the funeral and the kids wouldn't have to travel 8 hours to PA, 8 hours back to OH, then 10 hours to MO. It really was a fun trip, but very different from how we normally travel. We hadn't been out of Cincinnati for more than an hour when Kaley was asking how much longer to Grandma's. :-) Then, we discovered what Caleb had received for a Christmas gift - a recorder! Before he started in on it, he did kindly ask, "Let me know if this is disturbing you." We rode along for a little while listening to him shrieking out "Hot Cross Buns" when we finally asked if maybe he could wait until we got to Grandma's house so there was more room for the sound to escape. It was so funny! They were really good and we did enjoy it, but we were ALL ready to be there when we finally turned into the drive about 9:30 that night.


The trip home was much different as it was just Vicki, Kaley, the baby, and me. (Jeff and Vicki had flown out to MO on Christmas Eve.) Jeff flew Aaron back to OH a day early for work and the boys both wanted to go to. Here's Caleb and Drew getting all settled.

Before they left, Jeff took Mark and Phil for a plane ride. They flew over the house and we all went outside and waved as they whizzed by. Yes, the plane is rather small, so click on the picture to see it better.

O Christmas Tree!

Since everyone else has posted a picture of their tree (except me) - I didn't want to be left out. Here's two pictures - one for the "lighting" effect and the other so you can see the ornaments. :-)

Finally - a good investment from all those school fundraisers! Cute little Christmas place cards.

It is Finished!

I have just completed the hardest class I have ever taken!! I submitted the last project and promptly shouted "Hallelujah" rather loudly (literally), which Aaron said was not necessary. :-) I cannot tell you how glad I am that this class is over! It was beneficial and I did learn a lot, but financial management is not something I really looked forward to studying. I will be putting the textbook on the web very soon to sell to the next student as I can hardly wait to get rid of it. Any takers?

Joy!

This is such an adorable Christmas card - that I had to blog this!

Michael and Shawna (my cousins) have 3 beautiful girls - what a neat idea for Christmas cards!

Christmas Parties

I love parties! Isn't it fun to get together with others and just talk, play games, and eat some really yummy snacks?! We went to Mark and Kristin's Tuesday night and had a great time with many people from our church. Here are some of our "actors" from a really fun game we played!

You know how hard it is to try to get people to guess someone's name when you can't say anything! Kristi and Emily both were good at this!

Not many people's names I know are associated with clothes,
but the team knew who it was when Kristin did this. :-)

Heidi and Jenny
("Hello, Buddy the Elf - What's your favorite color?")

A Sneak Peek!

The GBS Christmas Program is this weekend! I always take pictures at the dress rehearsal, so here's a sneak peek of what's in store!

Go Reds!

OK - yes it is winter, and the Reds are not playing right now. But, we wore our red on Saturday and went downtown Cincinnati to enjoy Redsfest 2006 with Matt and Erika. Although I am a big Reds fan, I really don't "know" the players. Erika and I definitely "went along for the ride" and just to be together. However, it was kind of funny what happened. The 4 of us were standing in this l-o-n-g line to get Joe Nuxhall's autograph and Erika and I were getting slightly bored, so we decided to go strolling on our own and have the guys call us when they were done. We went to get something to drink and saw a group of people started to make a line in the corner. We didn' t know what it was for, but the line was short, so we got in it! We were really close to the front when we realized it was a "photograph opportunity" with Bronson Arroyo and Brandon Clausson! I didn't even know what position these guys played (although Erika did), but we also knew Matt and Aaron would wish they would have been with us. It was so funny to think Erika and I were totally doing this!

Here's proof of what we did!

I also got my picture with Snappy Tomato - he/she/it was more fun than the baseball players. What gender is a Snappy Tomato?

They were selling everything there (of course) - even chocolate Reds hats!

Can you imagine a room like this?

The highlight of the day for Aaron and Matt was getting Tom Browning and Mario Soto to autograph their hats. (Yes, I did have to ask Aaron, "Tell me again who that was that signed your hat?") I got their autographs too, but had no clue who they were or what they did or why SO MANY people waited for ever to get their autographs.

The world's largest baseball bat.

Even the Kahn's pig came to Redsfest!

It was a fun day and we made lots of memories (along with the 11,000 other people that were there)!