Tomorrow Night is...

... Ya Ya's!!

I'm so excited to see my Ya Ya sisters. We had to cancel our December get together because of the weather. (Nasty snow and ice!) But, we will celebrate tomorrow night at my house. I've already set the table. Since last month was supposed to be our Christmas get together, I had chosen a "winter wonderland" theme. I think it still works in January!

I Love...

... the smell of awards season in the morning! Ok.. I know that was corny... but it's true.

I never seem to have that "holiday let down" that many talk about. I know that when the holidays are over - award season begins. We'll be starting next Sunday, January 11th, with the Golden Globes! Very exciting. Click here to view a complete list of the nominees!

So far, we've seen "Doubt", "Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Mamma Mia", "In Bruges", "Burn After Reading", & "Vicky Christina Barcelona". These are all nominated in the best picture categories - with the exception of "Doubt". (The Golden Globes differ from the Academy Awards in that there are two "best picture" categories. One for drama and the other for musical or comedy.) We will try to get one or two more nominated films in before next Sunday. But, given the slowness with which some films come to Salem, I may not have the opportunity.

We just got home from seeing "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". So far, this is my choice for best picture of the year. Much of this epic film takes place in our beautiful New Orleans. Of course, we haven't seen EVERYTHING yet. But, this is about as close to a perfect film as I've seen. (And hey! Brad Pitt isn't too hard on the eyes either!)

On New Years Eve...

... we always celebrate with our good friends - Kerry, Dodi and their daughter Alyssa. Whenever we are together a fun time is had by all - and New Years Eve is no exception!

Here they are on New Years Eve 2003

John really loves to celebrate and ring in the new year. Here he is, covered in silly string, last New Years Eve. (That stuff was really not fun to pick out of the carpet... but we sure had fun shooting it at each other!)

But, the best New Years Eve of all had to be ringing in 2000! We began celebrating at 3pm... ringing in the New Year with France. We celebrated again at 4pm for England, and then at 9pm for New York, and 10pm for Chicago... well, you get the idea. We did ALOT of celebrating that year.

Here's our little party animal that night. He was five years old.

Wherever your celebration may take you tonight, have fun and be safe. We're looking forward to our annual celebration and to a wonderfully exciting and happy 2009.

We wish you all good fortune, happiness and health in the coming year! Cheers!

Christmas Morning...

...was WAY fun.

John had a wonderful time opening his presents. He was spoiled as usual.

He is getting to an age where he doesn't like "posing" for pictures. Getting him to take the picture with his Dad was difficult. This is the best "face" I could get from him. Looks like he's still half asleep!

By far, the best present of the day was Guitar Hero! He really loves it. (and truth be told, so does Cindy! An intervention may be in her near future!)

And, pretty much for the rest of the morning, this is all we saw...

We went to Kelly & Jay's (Richard's Sister & Brother in Law) for a very yummy Prime Rib dinner. It was great spending time with family. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera at home. So, you'll just have to take our word for it when we say everyone was there, the dinner was delicious, and John enjoying playing MORE Guitar Hero with his Cousins!

Hope everyone had a beautiful holiday!

Not A Creature Was Stirring...

...not even a boy and his cat!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. From our home to yours, whatever holiday you celebrate, we wish you a blessed holiday season!

This photo was taken a couple of years ago. John, and our baby Mitzi who is no longer with us, in front of our Christmas Tree.

OK, This is Getting Ridiculous!!!

I have always enjoyed it when it snows in Salem... but this is getting ridiculous! Enough is enough!

We had so much ice yesterday, and trees all over Salem - including several of ours - were breaking and raining limbs down on the ground. We thought we would wake up to thawing this morning - after losing power for several hours last night - and it looked like we might be out of the woods... but NO! More snow, which is beautiful, but now is sitting on a layer of ice. Snow on ice equals treacherous driving. All of the branches of Cindy's bank are closed today. So, here we sit.

Enjoy this video that we took this morning... thought you might be getting a little tired of pictures of snow and ice - so now here is a movie of snow for your enjoyment!! (Gosh, we're getting boring!)

The Ice Man Cometh...

In the 12 years we have lived in Oregon - this has been the strangest week EVER! We've experienced snow and ice before - but nothing like this. The weather yesterday was so unpredictable. Salem had not been predicted to get as much freezing rain, ice and snow as we did. Everything is frozen this morning. Here are some photo's for your enjoyment. I'm going to go sit by the fire and have some hot coffee now!

Light Post In Front Of Our Home (look at those icicles!)

Poor little frozen duckies by the waterfall in our backyard
The tree in front of our home that we showed you in the last post. The branches had light fluffy snow on them on Friday. Look at it now! Solid ice!

The very frozen lavender and rosemary plants

My poor rosemary. I hope it survives.

Let It Snow... Let It Snow...

... Let it Snow!!

We've had more wintry weather this week. Here are a few photo's that were taken this morning after another overnight snowfall. The weather has been very unpredictable - but this morning has been beautiful. We have had cotton ball size snow flakes, and several sun breaks that have made the snow glisten like diamonds. We live in a truly majestic place - and we are thankful for all of God's blessings on us. Enjoy the sights from our Winter Wonderland!

Can you believe how crystal clear the sky is in this photo! And look at the moon... still visible at 9am.

Driving around town

Oh! The Weather Outside...

... is frightful! We have had quite a bit of snow and ice in the Willamette Valley this week. It all started on Sunday afternoon, and folks in this part of Oregon aren't quite used to dealing with this type of weather.

Here's a photo in front of our house -

Here are some photo's of the snow falling, our back deck area, and our street -

The house at night with our colorful Christmas lights -

And here is the snowman that Richard and John built this afternoon. (While Cindy was AT WORK!)
For those of you in our area - enjoy the snow, but be safe out there. For those of you outside of the area... you can enjoy the weather vicariously! Happy December!

It's Beginning To Look...

.. a lot like Christmas! We have decked our halls and drank our nog. The house is decorated - let the festivities begin.

Here are Richard and JJ decorating the tree. Our tradition is that someone in the family will hide the "Pickle" ornament on Christmas Eve. This year it is JJ's turn. Here he is pretending to hide it amongst the branches.

Here is a picture of the outside of our house. This year we went with colored lights.

Here is the finished tree. Appropriately adorned with special ornaments from over the years.These ornaments are from Cindy's childhood. The Santa Claus is the first ornament that Cindy's Mom bought for her on her first Christmas - 1959. The Egg was made by Cindy's cousin Nona. We have a dozen of them that we hang with care - each and every year.

The Santa Claus below belonged to Cindy's Daddy. It is almost 90 years old. The Mushroom was one of the ornaments that Cindy's Mom bought. She liked unusual and special ornaments.

Here are some ornaments that belong to Cindy and Richard. The First Christmas 1987 was purchased on Cindy and Richard's honeymoon in Boston MA. The heart was given to them by Cindy's Dad.

Here are two of several special Ballerina ornaments that Cindy's Dad, and special friends have given to her over the years.

And here is the finished product.
We wish all of you a happy holiday season and hope that the hustle and bustle don't get you too stressed. Sit back, enjoy a treat, a cup of eggnog, and relish in this special time of year. Christmas is the BEST!