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Halloween Store Grand Opening 2022
Today we took a break from winter and did a little Halloween fun in February!
Believe it or not, this was our second Halloween break since we rang in the New Year, the other happened quite by accident in January. While Dad was getting his car window repaired he walked across the street to Michaels where low and behold, they were unloading a truck load of Halloween props at 80% off. The manager explained they were on the boat for months and just came in so Dad immediately called Mom who went to other Michaels and picked up some great deals of Halloween .. in January. And best of all, since no one knew about it, there was not a Halloween crowd at all and we had our pick of the litter.
James had college today till 11:30, then we picked him up and took him to the Grand Opening of Crypt Keepers on 14 and Van Dyke. The shop was great and we got several cool items including a Cotton Candy Candice Halloween machine and Mom got several t-shirts. We then went 15 minutes down the road to Gratiot and visited Screamers where we got a coffin shaped wine rack for the 2022 Halloween party.
January and February have traditionally been a time for working on repairs and putting together new items that were purchased after Halloween just to make sure they work. After Halloween we are too busy taking down Halloween and putting up Christmas but January and February, with the cold days and sun setting before 6pm, is an ideal time to do the “grunt” work for our Halloween display.
Below are videos of some of the items that we put together after the first of the year including the Cotton Candy Candice prop we just got at Crypt Keepers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022
The New Years celebration began with a bit of a disappointment as Michigan lost its playoff game to Georgia, but considering Michigan was not even ranked when the season began and to end up Big Ten champs, in the playoffs, and a #3 final ranking it was a very great season.
After the football game James took a break and put together a Pizza Puzzle just in time to get the real thing delivered to us.
Once again James welcomed in the New Years with his countdown in front of the television, and this year Hoot joined us as it was the kittens first New Years celebration. In the past, most of our pets did not like New Years due to the fireworks and noisemakers but that did not deter Hoot in the least.
Finally after the New Year was properly counted down, we all went outside to watch the New Years celebration and fireworks. Continue reading “HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022”
Opening Christmas Gifts 2021
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.
Hoots First Christmas 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!
Christmas In The Kitchen 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.
Inside Christmas Decorations 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).
Christmas Eve 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.
VIP MINI CAMP DAY 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.
Collin Street Bakery Fruitcake
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.
