One of Mom’s gifts this year is a Video Bird Feeder which is tied into her phone via an app. The bird feeder sends a text message when it takes a motion activated pic, but it has to be close enough to the house for the wifi to work so we hung it on the garage. It has a solar panel so it should keep the camera charged outside assuming we get a little sunshine this winter. The first day we had it up we only picked up our neighbor walking to the garage but then we got this little fellow stopping by for a snack.

This was a great Christmas for the whole family as we celebrated the birth of Jesus together and had lots of fun doing it. Mom did a great job with the Christmas meal which included a selection of prime rib, turkey, and (of course) devil eggs.

The gift giving was fun as usual. Dad got more Halloween stuff, Mom got bathroom bombs and kitchen stuff, and James got some items to help him with his youtube channel and also his school work. Mom and Dad also got got surprise gifts from James.

A great Christmas and a fun time for the whole family.
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The kitties are very familiar with Christmas day and we believe they now anticipate it when the decorations go up. Christmas is the day they get new toys plus catnip on paper plates. In addition to the new toys (which come in stockings from the pet store), the kitties also got 4 new Christmas based scratch pad houses which James put together in the back room as a sort of city of kitty houses.

The kitties also got special food which they enjoyed and we even shared a little ice cream with them, which of course they enjoyed. It was a wonderful time for the kitties this Dec 25th and at the end of the day the kitties repaid us by snuggling up to us and helping to keep us warm this December day.
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We met up with our VIP camp friends at Fantasyland and had a very fun time. We have gone here the last several years and it never fails to amaze or entertain. The most popular exhibit is (as you may have guessed) is the Santa photo where kids and adults get their picture taken with Santa. James showed Santa his report card and asked for a scholarship to college and gift cards to Bubba’s and Texas Roadhouse, his favorite restaurant.

We also visited the train display upstairs which was founded by Dad’s old baseball coach, Mr Nick. They have a few pics of Mr. Nick that I took a picture of. Anyone who went to St Alberts would know who Mr Nick is.
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We had a great Christmas but what really was a surprise was the Lions winning the division for the first time in about thirty years on Christmas Eve. Congrats to the new division champs, but enough on the Lions.

We spent at least an hour opening gifts and I think everyone got what they wanted. Deviled eggs again were a hit with no left overs and we even brought out the Donald Trump standup out of the rafters for Christmas since we are going into an election year. Lots of fun, great food (turkey and stuffing with all the trimmings) and great gifts made this a great day and lots of fun. Later in the evening we got a special treat with a firework show on our block.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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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.

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!

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This was very close to being a perfect Christmas for our family. The weather outside was frightening and we were kind of trapped inside due to the freezing cold which was described as a “generation” storm. But it was still a white Christmas. The Christmas dinner was awesome as we had prime rib for the first time since Mountain Jack restaurant closed down. It was just as good as we remembered.

The gifts this year were awesome including a couple Wii games for James, along with many new clothes that were Michigan, Lion, or Wayne State oriented. James also got a bit box of all his favorite snacks!
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This was our second year visiting Fantasyland in Lincoln Park and James ran into many friends on this visit. The event was organized by VIP Camp and all members got a free picture with Santa included with their visit.

Dad went upstairs where the train display was to see if they still had the pictures of his old baseball coach on the wall ( Mr. Nik was a founding member). Sure enough they were still up there and Dad contributed to their raffle, although he has no idea what he would do with a train set if he won.

The displays were spectacular again this year, lots of Grinch and community trees contributed to a great time being had by all visitors.

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