We started opening gifts after breakfast around 9am. James had the most gifts and this year he received many clothes for his College career which is in between semesters right now (James got straight A’s the first semester). He also received many Michigan Wolverine gifts due to their awesome performance against Ohio State and in the Big Ten Championship day. Mom even got a Michigan gift as she got a Harbaugh bobble head (supposedly collectible).

Other fun gifts were a Skull incense burner for Dad that we plan to try out later, along with an awesome Halloween animatronic. We also got a family portrait Southpark style to go with our portrait last year Simpson style. Mom got a talking Tina doll, along with a pair a sun glasses that doubles as headphones as it has awesome speakers built into it. Everyone got lots of clothes so we should be looking sharp for 2022.

Continue reading “Opening Christmas Gifts 2021” →

It was a great day for all the kitties who got plenty of toys but without a doubt the kitty who enjoyed it most was little Hoot who had never experienced anything like this.

Carmen and Thelma enjoyed the cat nip toys which we set out for them in the front hall. This year we added a ball of yarn that went over well until the cat nip arrived. Without a doubt the biggest hit was the Sharper Image scratching post with the remote laser. I do not think the kitties even scratched the post once as they were too busy chasing that laser along the floor.

Its safe to say it was a great day for all kitties this Christmas!

Continue reading “Hoots First Christmas 2021” →

This was an exceptional year for great food, to begin with we had Moms special French Toast which everyone loved, along with biscuits and sausage. Later that day we had our lunch/dinner which was ham with all the trimmings including deviled eggs and the best scallop potatoes we have tasted in a long while.

Lots of decorations in the kitchen as well so here is a quick look at some of them. Big congrats to Mom for an excellent day of food this Christmas.

Once again, the kitties got their toys along with catnip so everyone had a special day today thanks to the magic Christmas kitchen.

Continue reading “Christmas In The Kitchen 2021” →

As usual the bulk of the Christmas decorating inside was done in the living room. We enjoy watching movies with the Christmas lights on so what better place could their possibly be to decorate. In the 1990’s we used to do parties in the basement but stopped that at the turn of the century.

Stockings were hung and gifts under the tree as we wanted the place to look nice in case Santa paid us a visit. This year we pulled out a few of the “old” Hallmark decorations from the 90’s and added them to the trees that were displayed in the living room.

Our new kitty “Hoot” had a blast, exploring all the new and wonderful wonders she was seeing this Christmas (her first).

Continue reading “Inside Christmas Decorations 2021” →

Christmas excitement was already building as the family made a few stops during the day for some last minute Christmas shopping. James dropped off a chicken lunch at Grandmas and then we were ready to watch some Christmas movies and order out some food.

We were surprised at night that there was a firework show which was really cool and everyone went outside to watch. The temperature was relatively warm for December, about 45 degrees in the evening and 55 during the day.

We took some pics of the front of the house and settled in to await a visit from Santa as midnight approached.

Continue reading “Christmas Eve 2021” →

It’s great how James and his VIP camp friends get together every December and this year was no different. The VIP Mini Camp Day was held at Skore Lanes in Taylor where everyone got to bowl to their hearts content. Lunch was served at 12:30 which consisted of pizza, fries, pop, and cookies and afterwards games were played with prizes.

Of course the main attraction was seeing friends that you have not seen since the summer. James had a blast and came home with some school supplies for his next semester at Wayne County Community College. A great time was had by all this Christmas Eve Eve and James and his family are now turning their attention to Christmas as this was Dad’s last day of work before the holidays.

About a week earlier we had seen the end of a documentary about an embezzler who stole 17 million over years from a bakery in Texas that made fruit cakes, supposedly the best fruit cakes in the world. We decided to order one and it showed up on schedule so our plan was to watch the whole documentary while we ate some of the fruit cake. The documentary was called “Fruitcake Fraud” and was on AMC+.

The documentary told the story of a family owned business that began losing money and they could not figure out why, turned out it was a well liked employee who was doing the stealing over about a decade or so.

The fruitcake was awesome and we enjoyed the documentary, perhaps a new tradition for us will be eating the Collin Street Fruitcake.

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This year VIP camp set up a special visit to Fantasyland in Lincoln park and it was the first time James and his family saw this Christmas display. It was two levels of decoration and many of the displays were tributes to popular Christmas movies. One of the rooms upstairs were a couple train displays, HO and O scale. I could not help but ask if the train people knew Mr Nick. To my surprise they had pictures of him on the wall and said he was a founding member. Mr Nick was James Dad baseball coach at St. Alberts and put on huge train shows at St. Alberts for decades.

James got a free picture with Santa so he took advantage of it. He also got to see his friends from VIP camp so it was really a beautiful evening all around.

Continue reading “Christmas Fantasyland Lincoln Park 2021” →

Sunday began much differently than it ended but its these unexpected surprises that sometimes make the best fun. After dropping of some goods at Grandma’s the family returned home and found out a car accident had caused a power failure throughout Dearborn and Dearborn Heights. With no power at home we decided to take a little road trip to Frankenmuth for some last minute Christmas shopping.

As one would expect, the place was crowded with lines outside of Bronners just to get in and a 2.5 hour wait for chicken dinner, but the family was not deterred as they spent a few hours shopping at the mall and even had a chance encounter with a Christmas hero of Dad… No, not Santa, but the Grinch!

A great time was had by all as we listened to the Lions win their second game of the year and lots of Christmas music.

Continue reading “Power Loss and a Trip to Frankenmuth 2021” →