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Dads Birthday 2023
Thanks to my family for all the wonderful gifts, I really did not expect it since I received several gifts early so that they could be used for our Halloween display (the spooky bird bath and the creepy fountain). This year was great with plenty of Halloween gifts including a fantastic Halloween cake.
As usual with any birthday in our family we ordered out. We found a new favorite near our home, Captain Jays, which has seafood and gives us an alternative to Long John Silvers when we order take out for fish.
Of note was the Christmas hoodie I got which I will wear at Christmas. I have plenty of Halloween hoodies but not a single Christmas hoodie.
Christmas Volunteer Work 2023
In the past few months James has been volunteering his time helping others through a volunteer program at Wayne State. While he does not get school credits for this, he does get volunteer credits which help him on other things while at Wayne State. It also looks good on a resume!
One of the volunteer works he did was a ten hour stint where he helped set up tables and decorations in a school auditorium in Detroit in preparation for a visit from Santa for all the local kids. James said when the kids came in he acted like an usher making sure the kids were in the right spot to visit Santa. James had a great time at this volunteer event and certainly put him in the Christmas spirit.
Christmas Fantasyland 2023
Unfortunately James had a class at nearly the same time as the VIP camp Christmas Fantasyland. Rather than miss it, James and Dad left early and were able to attend for about ten minutes before heading on to his class at the Mike Illitch School of Business in Detroit (Fantasyland was in Lincoln Park near an exit so James made it to school on time, although it was close).
James got to say hi to several counselors and a few friends from VIP camp and also got his picture taken with Santa, which has been a tradition since he was little.
Thanks to VIP camp for putting on a great event for the campers!
Thanksgiving 2023
The tradition of the Lions loosing on Thanksgiving continued this year, but what made it hurt was that they had already beat the tar out of the Packers while on the road in Green Bay, which would lead one to believe the Lions should at least win when playing in Detroit, but alas the Thanksgiving losing streak continued.
As in the past we put up the Christmas decorations after the Lions game to get in the Christmas spirit, and enjoyed a traditional Turkey dinner. We also enjoyed the parades on TV.
On Saturday we enjoyed a very exciting football game between Michigan and Ohio State and the Wolverines held serve and won the home game, thus sending them to play against Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game.
Halloween 2023 Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat was on a beautiful autumn day in Michigan. We had a great turnout of children and James handed out a ton of candy and chips. This year we used the flexible trashcans that say toxic waste for the chips and that made the look of the house that much more spooky.
We had a car in the drive and noticed that the skeleton’s shadow were being cast on the car from the display and that really created a cool effect. I think we took a pic of it.
Lots of compliments from the Trick or Treaters and we really did not miss the giant spider and skeleton horse which were sold at a garage sale earlier in the year. We did add a fountain and creepy bird bath to the display but we liked the display so much better without the spider and horse as it was too cramped in the past.
2023 Halloween Party
The Halloween party was a blast this year. This was the year of football at the party as there were several big games (OSU/Penn State, Michigan/Michigan State) and we had several tv’s throughout the house, basement and garage tuned to those games.
This year we ordered pizza from the new pizza place, Detroit Pizza Factory and used Mattis Deli for the sandwiches. The party went overtime due in part to the late start of the Michigan game (Michigan won 49-7).
This was the 13th Halloween party that we have had at our home and will certainly go down as one of the best. The house never got too crowded as we had a pretty constant flow of people coming and going throughout the day (we figure our home can comfortably seat maybe 25 people at a time max in the party area)
Haunted Garage Sale 2023
Mom and Dad went to the annual Haunted Garage Sale in Dearborn Michigan. James had classwork and could not attend, but Mom and Dad represented the family well. We noticed that several people recognized us from past garage sales, both here and the ones we do in the summer to help raise money to buy more Halloween stuff.
Mom and Dad made several trips to the car with goodies and everything we bought was very reasonably priced (which is why we attend, its only $5 to get in).
There was a giant skeleton raffle going on for all attendees but unfortunately we did not win (we never won any of their raffles).
Happy Birthday James
James celebrated his 20th birthday today and had a blast as we went to his favorite restaurant (Bubbas 33 which is located on Eureka road across the street from Southland Mall) where he had his favorite meal, hot wings. We then returned home to celebrate as James opened gifts after blowing out the candle on his cake.
James wanted to thank all those who sent him gifts and well wishes for his birthday. He dedicated his birthday celebration to his Grandma (which is why her picture was on the restaurant table).
Congrats James on twenty great years.
First Trip to the Halloween Store 2023
We started a little later than usual because most of the items that we wanted for the party we ordered online, but none the less it is a very special day when we get to go to the Halloween store and see the latest Halloween props on display with demonstrations and such. We did buy a couple items and we each used our 20 percent off discount coupon which has become a tradition for the family as each person picks out whatever they want.
Dad got a new clown for the kitchen which should be fun.
This was taken in Allen Park where the Best Buy used to be (it closed less than a year ago).
