Tag: Christmas
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.
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.
Christmas Fantasyland Lincoln Park 2021
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.
Power Loss and a Trip to Frankenmuth 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”
James 4.0 GPA First Semester at WCCC
James was dropped of for his last day of finals and when we picked him up, he felt he had done very well but due to a power failure at the school (high winds throughout the midwest caused many power failures) he would not know his actual score for several days. When he did get the results we found out he had a perfect 4.0 gpa for the semester.
James was rewarded with a trip to his favorite restaurant – Bubba’s – on Eureka road just around the block from his school. Mom and Dad had several gifts for him which you can see in the pictures (t shirts, pennants, Christmas bulbs, etc.)
Later that day James made up 5 Christmas bulbs, one for each A he got that semester and placed them on his Christmas tree for display.
Christmas Decorations Modified
There have been several changes with our Christmas decorations, some due to high winds, some due to props breaking, and some due to little Hoot swiping them from under our noses. Regardless we have been taking pictures and while the evolution of the decorations is subtle, we though it worthwhile to record just so we could keep up.
Our antique bicycle decoration broke after one day and we had to return it for credit, which broke our hearts since there were no more available anywhere in Michigan. We ended up getting some spiral trees to fill out the yard which gives it a nice look. Unfortunately all the snow is gone and we are hoping for a White Christmas as our outside display looks so much better with all the snowmen in the snow.
As far as inside, most of the decorations swiped by Hoot have been found, but she really has it in for signs in our little Christmas village.
Putting Up Christmas Decorations 2021
After a great meal and watching the Lions lose on Thanksgiving we began putting up the Christmas decorations. This year we had to do things differently due to “Hoot” getting into everything and we certainly did not want her to get hurt. We tried to make it so she could not get into the trees by putting items around it but it did not work, she still got into everything.
We use snowmen outside because they look great if it snows, and sure enough we got snow on Saturday during the Michigan Ohio State game.
A big surprise for us came Saturday as the Michigan Wolverines beat the Buckeyes soundly in a game that they were favored to lose. Michigan did not have any plays for a loss and did not run a third down play the whole second half. It was a very entertaining game but Michigan was clearly the better team on this day 42-27.
We are off to a good start for Christmas this year!
Christmas 2020
Christmas finally arrived and once again Santa delivered. Lots of thanks to all the friends and family who sent us cards and gifts this year. Lots of digital gifts too as most of the day after Christmas was spent hooking up printers, digital frames, ear pods, and many other items that required “work” to get them going. James got a chance to talk to both Aunt Criss and Grandma on Christmas eve which was about all the socializing we were allowed to do this year due to the pandemic.
After the gift opening we enjoyed binge watching the “God is not Dead” series of movies which were very good and inspiring especially during Christmas.
Christmas 2020 Season Begins
We got a very good start on the Christmas decorating partly due to the horrible Thanksgiving Day Lions loss, but we just about have it finished come Sunday. Once again we went with the snowman theme, that way if we get excessive snow in January and cannot bring in the decorations it does not look so bad since we can claim its just a bunch of snow men. We still have a few odds and ends but for the most part the decorating is done and we already got a couple slow drive by’s from cars going down our street. The forecast calls for snow this week and there really is nothing better than these snowmen decorations when their is snow on the ground so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
