| Celebrating the Holidays with Melody's Family |
| Since my Holiday Greetings are so late this year, I thought it would be cool to send you a glimpse of holidays at our place in Mountain View, California. No, we don't have any snow here -- but we did get quite a bit of rain yesterday and last night. |
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| I got a taste of the holiday season in the midst of a 12-day work marathon when I attended Megan's Holiday Chorus performance at the middle school wh.ere Megan is in the 7th/8th Grade chorus. |
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| (Above) the 7th/8th Grade Chorus sings "Carol of the Bells," They sounded really good. (Megan is second to the left with Selina below). She and Selina both hated wearing the "long black gown" with nylons and black shoes! |
| (Above) The 7th/8th Grade Chorus teams up with the 6th Grade Chorus for the "Weird Al" version of "The 12 Pains of Christmas." Miss Weatherly said that most of the kids hadn't even heard of Weird Al! They had a lot of fun doing this song -- Megan was number 4, "Sending Christmas cards." What a fun way to kick off the holiday season! |
| Jeremy arrived with Floyd the Dog on Friday evening (Dec. 23rd) from Marina to spend the weekend -- No one wanted to miss out on the festivities! One of his friends got him a "hi-hat" for Christmas, for his drum set. It's that cymbal with a foot pedal contraption, and it sat in my living room for the entire weekend. |
| Happy New Year from all of Us! (Above: Stephen, Megan, Jeremy, Melissa & Floyd) |
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| Pop Warner Mountain View Marauder Cheer Squad Pee Wee Intermediate -- 17 girls do it again! First Place Champions Invitational, Conference and Regional Competitions Megan and I spent the first week of December in Florida with the Mountain View Marauder Pee Wee Cheer Squad. Yes, they made it to Florida once again, this time taking fourth place in the Nationals, with incredible competition in the Intermediate Division. They were the only Pacific Northwest Cheer Squad to bring home a trophy. |
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| When we returned from Florida, reality kicked in as I worked 12 days straight without a break (12-hour days) due to major computer conversion and filing on a big case. When I finally got off work on Friday, Dec. 23rd, I immediately went into "Run Run Rudolph" mode, the fast, rock n' roll version, attempting to get stuff done, i.e., sending cards out, last minute shopping, etc.! |
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| On Christmas Eve night, all four kids and I went to the movies with the four AMC movie passes I received from one of the attorneys at work -- we had to wait for Melissa to get off work, so we went to the 10:10pm showing of "The Narnia Chronicles, Lion, Witch and Wardrobe," which we all totally enjoyed. The older kids said it was way better than the "cheesy version" they used to watch on video all the time, and I couldn't even remember that one -- I only remembered reading the books a long, long time ago. |
| The festivities began on Christmas morning when Stephen and Melissa arrived, after Jeremy reminded me of the year I fell asleep in the living room while wrapping presents...(I don't remember this either!) |
| Melissa arrived with a garbage sack full of gifts, in "Santa" style, with a few from Stephen as well...She was very excited to get her "Mickey Mouse Santa" which came from DisneyWorld! |
| Good thing "Santa" remembered the "Lifesaver" books and chocolate in the stockings, something my kids still love -- even the grown ones. |
| The best gift of all for me was having all four of my kids together...with lots of laughter and fun. |
| Jeremy is obviously having a great time and Megan wants me to open the big gift from Mike ("Daddy Santa" on the from card) Eeveryone has been wondering what's in that big box...even Floyd, who was thrilled with his new doggie toy. Shishu the Cat, who also received some new toys, was hiding someplace glaring at Floyd... |
| Megan liked her MP3 Player, even though it wasn't an "I-Pod." |
| But Megan especially loved the new jacket she got from Melissa which she put on and wore pretty much all day long... |
| Jeremy cannot stop laughing as he holds up the 49ers t-shirt which he wore for the rest of the day... |
| The kids laughed hysterically when Jeremy showed off his 49ers t-shirt and Pink Floyd sweatshirt jacket -- and Stephen got a Disney "2005 Where the Party Never Ends" t-shirt and sweatshirt jacket -- Jeremy got the hat and offered it to Stephen to "add to his collection." It was a momentus moment that I'm sure will be talked about for years to come... |
| Melissa and Stephen having a good time. Stephen got us all little "tranquil fountains" that light up in different colors -- stress relievers. |
| Stephen shows off his new attire -- DisneyWorld "Where the Party Never Ends" sweatshirt jacket, t-shirt and hat! |
| Mike's brother Kenny and girlfriend Tash arrive on the scene to share turkey dinner with all of us -- Mike is the mastermind and chef for this special meal... |
| So, what's in this big box?! Could it be? Is it? Wow! It's a Karaoke machine! Cool!!! There's a classic rock CD with original background recordings, all right! |
| Mike loves his new crock pot...just what he asked for! |
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| Everyone gets ready to eat a yummy dinner! |
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