Ring out the Old

Despite the fact that we didn't have any company in town for the holidays, we managed to visit a couple of nice Christmas displays in our area. The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden does a great job with their lights, and nearby McAdenville is a must if the weather cooperates. We had great weather for both events, and it was pleasant walking around to really enjoy the decorations.

Christmas lights

For the first time in our 46 years of marriage, my husband and I spent Christmas Eve and Day on our own. Early on we always traveled to either his parents or my parents, even after we started our family. After we moved to North Carolina in 2019, our kids came here to be with us. But this December our daughter couldn't get the time away from her job, and our son and his family went to his in-laws for the holiday.

We ended up opening gifts via FaceTime on Christmas Eve with our daughter. We made our signature Cranberry Cosmopolitan, and put on music in the background. While it wasn't ideal, I'm grateful for the technology that makes it possible to do a virtual gathering.

On New Year's Eve we drove up to our son and daughter-in-law's house to do our gift exchange with them. Again making our signature cocktail, we got our daughter on FaceTime and we opened up our presents together. It was a nice way for everyone to catch up. The next morning afternoon we again used FaceTime for our granddaughter to open her presents with her aunt. Hopefully we can all be together in 2025.

Shower Me with Your Love

The baby shower for our daughter-in-law was last Saturday. The week before, Jim road his motorcycle to St. Louis so he and a friend could take a trip together. I decided to go up to Cincinnati last week, and then the two of us would meet in Indiana for the shower. While I was in the city of my birth, I was able to have lunch with relatives on both sides of my family. I haven't been to Cincinnati in over three years, so it had definitely been awhile since I had seen folks. 

Grandma Shower

My cousin Mary Ann was kind enough to let me stay with her, and she had a small grandma shower for me, which was super sweet. They gave a couple books, toys and a picture frame for the baby's photo - items for me to keep at our house for Baby Dub. They also each had a gift for me to take to the kids for the shower. But Debbie wanted me to open hers up. I first lifted out a little yellow crocheted cap. I immediately said there had to be a family story attached to it. She quickly acknowledged that there was. I next brought a little yellow sweater out of the bag, and it included a label. The label read "Made with love by Catherine Kubler" - my mother, who died in 1989. Mom had crocheted the set for Debbie's first-born, Nate, in 1985. Debbie had held onto it all these years, hoping that I would have a grandchild so she could pass it on. She wanted my grandbaby to be wrapped in her great-grandmother's love. Needless to say, we all broke down in tears at the sentiment. What an incredibly thoughtful gesture!

sweater set

On Friday I drove to Jasper, Indiana to meet up with Jim. We picked up a trailer for his motorcycle so we could ride together on the way back. Then we checked into our hotel in Jasper. We were able to park the trailer and bike at Megan's parent's house so we didn't have to haul them around. Megan's brothers and their families arrived at the house a little after us, as did Andy and Megan, so we were all able to have dinner together. I had them open the gift from Debbie, which was a good call as I teared up again as I relayed the story of the outfit's history.

Saturday morning we set up everything for the shower, with the guys lugging the tables and chairs around. They took off for a pub to eat wings and watch football while we attended the shower at the house. Everything looked great as the guests began to arrive at noon. We had sandwiches with sides, cupcakes and adorable cookies. We then played a game before Megan opened the gifts. As there were 30 people in attendance, this took quite a bit of time. They received some wonderful presents, and got a good start on outfitting the baby as well as the nursery. It was a wonderful, happy occasion to be sure.

Baby Dub shower

After checking out of our hotel Sunday morning, we stopped by the house to pick up the trailer and say goodbye. We had a long drive ahead of us, so we did not dally for too long. The drive home was fairly uneventful, despite the fact that this was the first time we had ever towed anything behind the new car. It took us 10 hours, which is kind of what we expected.

The kids will remain pretty close to home from now until the baby's birth. We may try to run up and see them once more before the Baby Dub makes her appearance. We are in the home stretch now!

A Technological Christmas

Andy and Megan made it safely to our house on December 23rd, and we celebrated with Andy's favorite meal of Imo's Pizza. It is a must-have when he comes to town, so we figured we would just get it out of the way. On Christmas Eve Jim and I got a workout in at the rec center before the day's festivities began. I made my traditional Italian beef for supper, followed by our new tradition of Cranberry Cosmopolitans while opening gifts. As I mentioned before, Katie was unable to come home due to lack of vacation days, so we did the next best thing. I put my Macbook on the entry foyer steps where she normally sits during our gift exchange, with a Cosmo next to the computer for a virtual toast. Through the miracle of Skype we set up the laptop and my iPad so that she could see us opening the presents and we, in turn, could watch her open her gifts. It amazes me that we could keep in contact with her for over two hours at absolutely no cost to anyone. Thank you, inventor of Skype! Below is a fun gift I received to commemorate my trip to Switzerland this year. I really need to find the connection between this Kubler family and mine!

Kubler Absinthe

MoBot Train

While the kids were here we made our annual trip to the flower and train show at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was lovely as always, and surprisingly uncrowded on the day after Christmas. We also visited the Art Museum to see the new addition for the first time. While I am not a fan of the architecture it was interesting to see the new exhibition space. I particularly like the exhibit shown below that looked like a fabric quilt but was in fact made from liquor bottle caps. The interactive glass block exhibit is cool as well.

Jim on repeat

I was, however, very offended by this painting.

Jim and I fly out to Los Angeles tomorrow to bring in the New Year with Katie. Kirby will remain here with his favorite dog sitters though he always prefers to be with Jim. Speaking of Kirby, here is the gift I had made for Jim. He loved it, as you might imagine.

Kirby mug

Happy New Year to my readers. May 2014 be everything you hope for and desire!