The Ghosts of a Christmas Just passed

It is Tuesday and it feels like Monday. Christmas has come and gone and some of the memories still ring loudly on the first day back to work. The highlight of this Christmas, for me, was going to Christmas Eve service with Jennifer, Alicia and Darla's parents joining our family. I told Jennifer after the service that the best present she could give me was going to church with me. The service was very well done with Christmas carols and drama interspersed. There was no sermon, per se, and there never is on Christmas, so I didn't even bring my Bible. The message was about the gift of everlasting life and it was told powerfully through the eyes of a mother who is spending her first Christmas without her married daughter, and a soldier in Iraq who is away from his family at Christmas.

We then returned home for a repast of Prime Rib and all of the other foods (salads, potatoes, rolls, etc.) Steve, Darla's brother, and his daughter, Taylor, joined us for dinner and then spent the night. Jennifer also stayed over and was there in the morning to open gifts and share in the family togetherness. It was a great Christmas. Darla decided that my Barbie tools are passe' and bought me a new roller cabinet and tool chest combo for the garage. My old one was worn out and the rollers were shot. The new one has drawers with ball bearings and I bought liners for each of the drawers. The boys bought me a new cordless drill that doubles as a screwdriver. I put in a couple of shelves in the garage above the roller cabinet to hold the WD40, and cleaners and waxes and tire treatments and car wash, etc. The things that gather in a garage and were stored on top of the old roller cabinet and were always a mess. Jennifer bought me some golf gear (hat, Nike jacket and golf towel) from The Lakes golf course in Osan, Korea. It is definitely unique and the jacket is first cabin. She did a great job in choosing gifts, which she always does and gave the boys some nice clothes and Darla a new padfolio and Cross pen for her work. I bought Darla a set of pearl earrings and a necklace. She had bought herself a slew of gifts (mostly sweats and jackets) and had told me not to buy her anything, but I don't listen. We bought David a new wakeboard case and a new neoprene vest that matches the jet ski. Daniel got the laptop as a combo birthday and Christmas gift. He also got some clothes. We bought Jennifer a new MP3 player that will hold up to 12,000 songs. She spent a big part of Christmas Eve downloading songs onto the computer and uploaded them after she opened the gift on Christmas day. I had her research the players before we bought one. She ended up with a 30 GB Creative Nomad Jukebox player and is having fun loading it for her trip back to Korea.

I'm planning to take Thursday off to spend with Jennifer. Darla and I are looking to buy a new tv. Our console in the living room is about 22 years old and we want a new widescreen DLP HDTV receiver. We are looking to go about 42" in diameter. Friends have told us to go larger, but our current tv is 27", so 42" will seem huge to us. I may play golf in the morning and have lunch with Jennifer and then go tv shopping.

We are in the rainy season. It rained so much over the weekend that I had to drain the pond in the back yard and again fix a clog in the downspout of the gutters, this time in the front yard. I waited for a lull in the weather and then bundled up and got on the ladder. Sure enough, the downspout was clogged with leaves and twigs and when I pulled them out the water all rushed to the downspout and caused a geyser that drenched me. I couldn't jump free of the water as I was up on a ladder. The joys of home ownership.

Well, that is it until next week. Jennifer will be off to Las Vegas for the New Year's Eve festivities. She is staying at Mandalay Bay and will ring in the New Year in style. Hey, to be 25 and have the world as your oyster. Not bad...I'd take that gig. Hope all are well. God Bless each of you and keep you safe into the New Year. Happy New Year all. Ciao.