NOW it looks like Christmas (better late than never...)

Well, as you can see, our white Christmas was on backorder, and got here Monday morning, only a few days late. The picture doesn't do justice to the 17 degree temperatures and the icy winds. Opa had quite the time getting his car scraped off - he didn't have an ice scraper in his car, and my nice one was safely inside my car, the doors of which happened to be frozen shut. I never did ask him what he used to get the snow off.
It all started mid-afternoon on Sunday when Micah came into the kitchen and said that the weather crawl on the Bengals game said that we were in for 3-5 inches. We had just about the five that they called for. At first it was just that nice dusting.
Oh well, it's Ohio in winter. Whatcha gonna do?

We are having a progressive Christmas this year. It started on the 19th. when we celebrated Christmas/Jim's birthday with Anna, Jim, Andrew, Amie, Grant, Jordan and Micah. Andrew and Amie's house has been holiday central, since it is the most centrally located. We met there on the 19th., and then again on Christmas Eve, for a traditional dinner of pizza and popcorn.
On Christmas Day Opa, Micah and I went down again to open presents and see what Santa brought the kiddies. Then on Dec. 26 we celebrated there with Matthew and Melissa. Andrew and Amie were probably relieved that Sunday's snow meant that Chicken Oma wouldn't be tempted to try to make it 4 days in a row.
Any way, here are some of my favorite pictures from the holiday:



Jordan warming up for the Day After Christmas Sales




Gee,Dad, I wanted to play with that!




Uncle Micah Warbucks empties
out his piggy bank.




Helping Uncle Matt and Aunt Melissa open presents.



Who needs new toys when they have Tupperware?


Taking a little family break time.


Our sweet little Christmas elf.



Opa in one of his new Christmas shirts. We have decided that from now on, we are going to have our children pick out our wardrobes. They do such a good job of it.

We still have one more Christmas to do. Joshua will be coming New Year's Eve, hopefully bringing Tara, too, if she can get away. New Years day will be another gathering at Andrew and Amie's to watch the Sugar Bowl and cheer for the Bearcats. I have taken to heart previous comments about current Bearcat sensitivity to my "Later, 'gators" sign-off, so I'll just quote a Tigger........TTFN.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It is looking a lot like Christmas. In honor of Anna's request, here is a shot of our Christmas tree. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Today Opa and I took the truck up to Joshua. He will be using it until New Year's to move into his house. We got the grand tour of the new domicile, and I really like it. It is a place with a lot of potential. It will provide Joshua with lots to do as he paints and refurbishes, and it has a very cozy feel to it. He is already thinking of hosting a holiday there in 2010. I encourage everyone to get up to Greenwich to see it sometime. Especially Jim. He needs to see the places where Anna spent her formative years. And if the Davis clan goes after Bavis is born, then Anna can introduce her to her Grandma and Grandpa Bennett.

Not much else to tell. We are looking forward to seeing everyone over the course of the holidays. Last night we dipped the buckeyes. Tomorrow I hope to make some fudge and cookies, but I have to work in the morning, so we'll see.

Better get your stockings out and hang them by the chimneys with care.

Grant and Oma say "hello"

Good morning to folks in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Circleville, Dayton, Greenwich, and all the ships at sea! Grant and I have had a busy day already. We got right up this morning and went to prayer time at the church. Grant played with his cars and trucks, looked at story books, played with a rubber band he found, and sang "Little Bunny Foo-Foo." He sang it very quietly, and whispered the rest of the time, and was as good as could be. Oma was very pleased.

We came home and had a snack (toast, juice and Nemo gummies) and now we are blogging. Grant has been practicing writing the letter "G." And we recorded the video below on Oma's webcam! Check out the last post again. I am going to try to put in the pictures I couldn't get to load last night.

Later, 'gators.

What's cookin' ?

What's cooking, indeed. The old blog is being fussy about letting load my pictures tonight, so we'll see how things go.

Grant is staying with us while Amie is TDY (I can't remember what that stands for, but it means she is out of town.) Andrew is bonding with Baby J while Bubby hangs here with us. Here are some pictures of Jordan playing Santa's helper with Opa and Micah.

Today was meal delivery for Manna, with Ruthie Longenecker helping us out. Grant seemed to really enjoy seeing Ruth.

When we got home Grant got to wear his new Christmas chef's apron to help me mix up cookies for Micah's Christmas party at work tomorrow. I've got to get them baked, so this post will be short.

Here are all the visuals I can get to load

Before I go, congratulations to Joshua on finally closing the house today! I guesss the bank got backlogged with turkey and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving time, and just got around to sealing the deal. I hope we'll get to see it soon.

Love to all.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.....

It is a lovely, sunshiny, cold (27 degrees) day here in Ohio. Opa has taken the day off to use up some of the vacation hours he has accumulated. Later this afternoon we're both going to get our annual eye exams, but right now Opa is out working on his combine.

We'll see how this whole video thing goes here. I don't expect the Academy Awards people to be calling just yet.

Meanwhile, here are some other scenes from life down on the farm: the goat and the horse are sharing a little lunch at the hay rack.

I also have some shots that just show the sunshine and the bare fields. I forgot how flat it is while I was surrounded by corn this summer. Now we can see all the lights in the neighborhood twinkling at night, along with the ethanol plant in Greenville. From some fluke of geography we can see that plant day and night, even though it is about 13 miles away. There is a plume of steam in the daytime, and all the lights on the structure at night. It is not unlike the ancient Israelites wandering in the wilderness, although I'm sure the view of the corn plant between the shed and the corn crib isn't as reassuring as the presence of the Lord over the camp.

But I digress. Here are the other photos:

Tomorrow Anna and I are going Christmas shopping, so I hope we have another beautiful day like today!

OK, I said I have my limits.......

Last night I said I have my limits, and the president pre-empting "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was coming pretty close. Well, tonight Channel 7 crossed the line. THEY pre-empted "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" for a UD basketball game! Now I'm reeeaaalllyyyy steamed!

Not much happening......

Opa has about 90 hours of leave time to use up between now and Dec. 31. So, let us know what kind of plans you are all making for Christmas, and he can plan accordingly. We have been wondering if doing some of Christmas at Andrew and Amie's, either Christmas eve or morning, would help out the folks with children, and also those that live farther away. So put your little heads together and let us know what works. I'm kind of seeing Christmas eve, cheese, crackers, appetizers and munchies, some present opening..... this could be Christmas morning, too.

One item of note: I consider myself to be as concerned a citizen as the next person, but I think that the president could have found a time to address the nation that did not make it necessary to pre-empt "A Charlie Brown Christmas." I have my limits.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Things are winding down from a happy Thanksgiving. Opa is playing solitaire on the other computer, Micah is watching football downstairs, and I am here updating the blog. Tomorrow we are going to Clint Shellaberger's birthday party in the afternoon, and then back to real life on Monday, but with Christmas music playing in the background.

Thanksgiving was fun. I had wanted to brine the turkey, and so I bought a brine mix when I picked up the turkey. But when I opened it up to prepare it, I took a whiff of the open bag and realized it had sage in it. Opa does not do sage. Fortunately Micah came home about then, and immediately got to work concocting his own custom mix. Then it was into the brine for Mr. Turkey, to spend the night. The brining bags are a huge improvement over trying to do it in a 5 gallon bucket, by the way. Below you see Mr. Turkey surrounded by herbs and ice cubes, ready for the fridge.

Anna and Jim came early Wednesday evening, while Opa and I were at church. Shortly after we got home Clark's delivered our Thanksgiving Eve pizza. Soon after we finished the pizza Joshua arrived. We watched TV and talked, and I finished up a few cooking chores for Thursday. Everyone wandered off to bed around 11:30.

Everyone pitched in to help with the cooking Thursday morning. As you can see from the picture at the right, Anna is starting to definitely look a little maternal.

Andrew and Amie arrived with the kids later in the morning. Grant and Jordan were all dressed up in spiffy new clothes to go over the river and through the woods to grandma's house. But grandkids would be cute if they were dressed in Kroger bags.

Below you see the feast. I don't know if Andrew and Amie ever got to put any food in their own mouths. They were always feeding the little birds beside them. Andrew manfully washed one pot after dinner (I had taken pity and used disposable table ware.) I felt so bad, since I wasn't sure he had ever even got to eat, that I told him to vamoose and leave the pots to me. I didn't have to tell him twice. Joshua, the other baby-gender loser, had vanished long before the Palmolive appeared.
It has taken all my available brain cells to get these pictures added in, so I think it is time for Oma to head for bed. But before I go, Matthew and Melissa came Friday afternoon (with a big pot of coffee, some pumpkin spice creamer and some really yummy Amish bread.) We had a nice evening chatting with them, and then Saturday morning we fixed ham, sweet potatoes, biscuits and cranberries for lunch. They had to head back to Circleville soon after we ate, because Matthew had his first basketball game this evening. He said this may be one of those character building years for his team. Go Lady Vikings!

Still experimenting........

I thought I would try this blog site to see which is more compatible with my particular brain waves. Adding the picture of Sydney was easy. Getting her to sit still for a picture was another issure altogether. It took bribery - she'd sell her mother for a bite of Hershey's.

Opa got most of the corn done today, thanks to the help of Louie Reindel, the pastor of the Nazarene Church in Bradford. Louie left a big farm in northern Ohio when he was called to the ministry. I'm sure our operation is about like gardening to him, but he offered to run wagons for Opa today, as a chance to get away from his desk for a while. He and his family are really nice people, and we've been very glad to get to know them. At any rate, thanks to Louie's help, Dennis will be able to get done in good time tomorrow.

With my usual blaze of whirlwind excitement, I did the ironing today. That will be good news to anyone sleeping in the guest bedroom this weekend, since the ironing was all lumped up on the bed in there.

Tomorrow I will pick up the turkey and a few last minute fixin's for Thursday. Right now, the menu is looking like this:

turkey

dressing (Oyster & plain)

cranberries ala Davis

greenbean casserole ala Anna

mashed potatoes (personally herbed by Micah)

gravy
deviled eggs

rolls

baby pickles

applesauce (for Baby J, Grant, and Anna, who are fans)

Pumpkin pie

sweet potato pie

cherry pie

a pie to be named later (I'm open to suggestion)

Rose's cheeseball & crackers

If I have left out anyone's favorite thing, you'll have to let me know.

Anna and Jim are arriving Wednesday evening. Micah, of course, is already here. Don't know for sure if Joshua is coming Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Matthew and Melissa will be getting here sometime on Friday (I have to work all day. Bummer. But my boss is working for me Saturday.) Daddy will be here.

Well, enough of that. Now I am going to try to add a picture, to see how that goes with this particular blog ware. Let's see, what shall I select........

How about the cutest grandchildren in all the world?

Well, it's time for a hot cup of tea, a warm bed and a good book. 'night, all.