Another Year Over

our signature cranberry cosmo

The holiday season blew by and we are rolling into the middle of January already. We had a great Christmas with the kids and their families gathering here. Our daughter was again able to work remotely, so she was here for a few weeks. It's nice to have the extra time one on one with her.

Our son, daughter-in-law and their daughter were able to spend five days with us before heading on to see family on the other side. As our granddaughter is mobile now, we had baby-proofing to do before they arrived. I was very concerned about the Christmas tree, but she really only batted a couple of low-lying ornaments. As I had made sure all the low ones were non-breakable with cloth hangers, that was no big deal. I just didn't want her to pull the tree down on top of herself. I also didn't want to be the grandma that constantly said NO. 

We took them to the Stowe Botanical Garden to see the lights. My only choice with their schedule was December 23rd, which happened to be the last night of the light show. We lucked out in that it was in the low 50s, so we did not get cold. The lights were better than last year, and everyone enjoyed it.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

The day after Christmas we sent the big kids off to a movie. That gave grandma and grandpa some nice alone time with their only grandchild. She was very happy with us, and it was fun to take her for a walk in our neighborhood to show her off.

New Year's Eve our community had a party here. We didn't attend last year due to Covid, but we decided to go this year. They had a huge tent since we don't have a building large enough to house a big party, complete with a red carpet for us to walk down. Our picture is washed out due to the lighting, unfortunately. There was a second tent for the food, and there was also an eight piece band. It was a really nice way to ring in the new year. We are looking forward to seeing what 2024 will bring us.

Bring on 2021

With Covid dominating not only the news but our lives in 2020, I think we all are ready to bid the year a not-so-fond adieu. We are sticking close to home tonight (like most nights since March), playing games, watching movies and waiting to toast the New Year. Here's to 2021 delivering more than a toilet paper shortage!

Happy New Year

Bring on 2019

We had a very nice Christmas holiday. Our daughter arrived on the 23rd, and she and Jim went to see A Christmas Story at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre. I'm probably the only person in America who cannot stand that show, and I have already seen it at both the Rep and the Fox Theatres, not to mention countless movie viewings. I was so excited that she wanted to go so that I didn't have to see it again.

Anastasia

Christmas Eve we drove up to Iowa to see my in-laws, and we didn't tell them that Katie was coming with us. They were very much surprised, and we had a wonderful visit with everyone. On the 27th we came back to St. Louis, and the 28th Katie and I went to the Fox Theatre to see Anastasia. It was excellent, and I had a fun night with my girl. Jim went out to dinner with us before the show, but he graciously let Katie have his play ticket.

cranberry cosmos

On the 29th Andy and Megan arrived after having spent Christmas with her parents and family. We opened our gifts that afternoon, enjoying our customary holiday cocktail (cranberry cosmos) as we did so. That night the four of them went to the St. Louis Blues hockey game while I finished getting things ready for an open house on Sunday. We invited my sister and her family as well as some old neighbors over for the afternoon so that they could have an opportunity to see our kids. It was a very nice afternoon.

New Year's Eve we drove out to a winery in St. Charles County, played some games, watched the local fireworks from our perch on the curb in front of our house, and then toasted in the new year. Katie flew back home the next day.

Aerie's Winery

Wednesday the four of us visited the newly reopened Soldiers Memorial in downtown St. Louis, and then had dinner at Cunetto's restaurant on The Hill. Thursday we stopped by the Audubon Center before driving up the River Road to Aerie's Winery in Grafton. This is the first winery I have been to where they charge by the glass for a tasting, and you can select any wine on the menu. Normally I don't do the tastings because I only like sweet wines and those normally aren't an option. At Aerie's I tried two different wines, and settled on getting a glass of one of them to enjoy as the others drank their selected wines. The views from the winery are incredible, as advertised. From there we hit Ted Drewe's for the requisite frozen custard stop.

Andy and Megan headed out on January 3rd, and actually drove straight through to their home in Virginia. We are trying to get back into the groove of not having company, and also getting back to healthy eating habits again.

The holidays were filled with great food, games, puzzles, laughs, presents and, most importantly, being surrounded by our family. It was a great way to end the year, and to get 2019 off on the right foot.

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve

We do not do anything for New Year's Eve typically. We're just not that interested in putting our lives on the line due to drunk drivers. So we made a nice steak dinner (awesome to be able to grill out on December 31st!) and I am having a nice glass of wine as I sit at my computer. Today has been pretty introspective as I have spent the last two days scanning documents and photos of my ancestors and current family members. I had asked for a Flip-Pal Scanner as a present since I had seen one in action at the Federation of Genealogical Societies annual conference in Springfield earlier this year. It is amazingly light-weight, runs on batteries and scans 4" x 6" pictures like a champ. For larger documents or photos, you simply remove the cover, flip it over and scan the item in pieces. As long as you have properly overlapped the scans, the stitching software provided puts it all back together with no seams. Amazing!

Anyway, as you can gather I received one for Christmas so I have been putting it through its paces. It does a wonderful job, and I have been uploading the scans to my ancestry.com family tree. I have been thinking a lot about the people in the photos. What was their day like? How in the world did they manage to raise 8 (or 10 or 12) children? How did they feel when their children moved away to another state? All the strangers in the box and the stories that will remain untold. While our lives today may not seem all that important, down the road our descendants may be very interested in how we spent our time. What stories will you preserve in 2012?

Another Year Has Passed

We normally do not go out on New Year's Eve, and haven't for years. Too many drunks on the road, crowds everywhere, why bother? This year Jim's partner Ted invited us to out to eat with his wife, brother and sister-in-law. With reservations at 7:00, it seemed safe enough to venture out. Don't I sound like an old lady? Anyway, they had decided on a Thai restaurant. I am not a very adventuresome eater, but I was assured the restaurant also serves great Chinese food. It was an interesting place on South Grand Avenue, where some of the tables had the appearance of sitting on the floor to eat. In fact it was an illusion and a space below the table allowed you to have your feet on the floor. Cool concept... Ted ordered appetizers of some chicken on a stick (can't remember the real name), spring rolls and pot stickers. They were all great. I ordered from one of the two Chinese dinner choices (Empress Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken). Luckily I like both so I went with the Sweet and Sour Chicken. It was good, and I only ate half and brought the other half home.

Following supper the other four were heading to Bailey's Chocolate Bar for dessert. As we are still trying to get back on track following the Christmas train derailment of our diet, we passed. Plus we had gone there for Valentine's Day, and honestly I don't see what all the fuss is about. True to our normal New Year's Eve behavior (and most other nights, truth be told) we were snuggled under our electric blanket with our books by 10:30. Another exciting New Year's Eve!

Our early to bed, early to rise philosophy gave us the needed energy to pack up all the Christmas stuff today. It always feels so good to get the house back to normal. Now I can concentrate on a new quilt I am making for Jim. In light of his epic Route 66 motorcycle trip last year, I am making him a Route 66 lap quilt. Vroom, vroom!