Christmas Photo's part 2

It's Christmas Eve 2010 and we anxiously awaiting the arrival our the rest of our daughters. Colleen and Mark are already here and claimed the best guest room, Erin, Brad & Caden will arrive around noon and Allison will show up around six this evening. Meaghan & Sean will get here tomorrow around five and last but not least will be Henry (Allison's fiance) due to arrive noon of the 27th. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!! "The Madge" has been running around(sometimes four times the same day) stocking up on food and every time she goes out she comes back with another toy for the little guys. Her Christmas tree is still giving us problems but I have isolated the issue. She plugs it in around 5 in the afternoon and around eight it is totally dark. The following morning I fix the problem and await the tree lighting ceremony at 5, then at 8 it's black again. The problem is not from defective lights but from overloading the system. As previously advised "The Madge" has fourteen sets of lights ALL plugged into the same string therefore before the string of lights that is plugged into the wall completely melts down from the electrical load it is carrying, it blows a fuse. Rather than completely redoing the tree properly "The Madge" handed me 13 spare fuses and stated "These should get us through Christmas day". Well anyway on to part two of the Christmas card pictures.

The Madge, Cooper and "The" tree

Our Grandson Caden

"The Madge's" God daughter's twins, Morgan & Julien with their step brother Luc.

"The Madge's" grand nephew Matt and wife Sharnee's boys Malachy & Ennis from Hopewell Junction, NY

My Grand Nephews and Niece, Ryan, Casey and Taylor, children of Cathy & Kirk Pritchard from Montgomery, NY

Good Friends Pat & Matt Warren of Stratford, CT

Emilie, Ellinor & Carl Peder, children of our friends Bente and Peder from Oslo, Norway

My Godson Bryan Orsini's children Liam, Bridie and Fintan. Bryan and his wife Erin hail from Union. NJ

Friends Jason & Alicia Graziano's little girl Drea from Trumbull, CT

Long time friend Judy Colliver with Tabby of Anaheim CA.

Two old fools Dave Calonico and Joe Kennedy of Spring and Houston Texas. Is Dave grabbing himself or trying to hold on to the wild ride?

Friends Janelle and Gary Welchel of Baton Rouge from left to right son Chris, girl friend Jenny, Gary, Janelle, daughter Sarah, Sarah's husband Robby and Hannah the dog

Friends Stephanie & Scott Bridges' girls Ally and Maddy also of Baton Rouge, La

Here's a flash, Colleen has removed all the decorations from "The" tree and is properly redoing the lights. Yeah, I guess I can put the fire extinguisher back in the garage.

Christmas Photo's part 1

As promised these are some of the Christmas cards and photos we have received so far.

Our Grandson Sean

Lyn & Bob Stefans from Sugarland, TX with their grandchildren from Florida.

Nancy & Jim Eichman with their children Kelly & Kyle of Ridgefield,CT. in front of the ruins of either Italy or New York.

Sandy and Mark (Smitty) Smith from Sugarland, TX

Austin & Aidan, children of Suzanne (niece) & Earl Rush of Princeton, Kentucky

Ryan & Drew Neander, sons of Becky & Todd from Dallas, TX. Is it physically possible to fit any more happiness on Drew's face?

Kristin & Michelle, daughters of Janet & Steve Pankey from Wichita, Kansas.

Donna & Steve Blinn of Malibu, CA. with their sons KC & Steve's families.

Brigitta, Bethany, Von, Charlotte, Kai, and Milo (not in order) all the Grandchildren of Myrna and Bill Hanff of Greenport, NY.

Tis The Season To Be Jolly

Our garages are packed to their ceilings with boxes of Christmas decorations. "The Madge" enjoys transforming our house into a winter wonderland and has over the years accumulated various wreaths, nutcrackers, statuary, lights, and tree decorations that could easily satisfy the wants of the Rockefeller Center decorating committee. Here we are with seven days before the first of our family arrives and our house is only "tastefully" decorated. I certainly didn't want to criticize her for only making our house look beautiful but I can't help wonder what is she going to do with the full Christmas boxes that surround my car so that one can not get out from the passenger side or the fourteen wreaths that are still hanging on the wall in "The Madge's" garage.
Ding Dong, the Fedex man visited us late yesterday afternoon with two VERY large boxes. Hmmm, wonder what these are? "Hey Madge, what do you think these are and should we open them?" All she said was "Oh good they arrived". Yep, you guessed it. While she was up in Dallas last week offering help and support to Erin during her chemo the two of them hit various stores and "The Madge" shipped her new and fresh Christmas decorations back home. If Tiger could enroll in a sex rehab clinic there must be a clinic for excessive Christmas decorations. If anyone knows it's name please email me with the details.
Below are the finalists for the Struck Christmas card. Caden is certainly all boy. Later this week I will post some of the Christmas photos we received from our family and friends.

The Joy Of Christmas

I was wrong about the leaves falling, they are still on the trees. Typical Houston, temperatures were in the low 30's for two nights and High 70's during the day. Here it is thirteen days until Christmas and yesterday some golfers were wearing shorts and polo shirts. No complaints here though. "The Madge" just got back from Dallas where she hung out with Caden, Erin and Brad. Erin had chemo on December 9th, so until the effects REALLY hit, the women got in some shopping, lunch and dinner. Yesterday and today should be Erin's tired days, then a few more mending days and by next Friday she should be back to normal. One of the best Christmas gifts we all are getting is knowing that Erin's last treatment is December 29th, then it's a few weeks of rest until radiation starts.
So "The Madge" gets home yesterday and tries to catch up with some missed TV shows, then as the sun is setting she plugs in the Christmas tree. The next thing I hear is "Jim, can you take a look at this tree? Most of the lights are not working." She was right, about 85% of the lights were out and in light numbers about 650 were dead. "The Madge" loves a well lit tree. I mumbled a few things about throwing the all lights out and buying fresh ones each year or getting a smaller tree with a fewer lights.
As I mentally prepared myself to jump into this mess I remembered that "The Madge" recently bought a gadget called Light Keeper Pro that claims it will fix any and all the problems associated with Christmas tree lights. Here's the weird thing, after watching the "How to" video on the internet I went over to the tree and removed a bulb, put the socket in the gun, pulled the trigger and ALL the lights went on. This thing actually works. I don't know how but who cares? We were happy for about ten minutes.

Darkness fell upon us. Oh crap. I tried zapping it with this miracle tool a few more times but nothing. Back to the original idea of removing all the lights, throwing them away and replacing them with some brand new sets. As I started to remove them from the top I discovered something very interesting. "The Madge" had strung the tree with fourteen individual sets of lights and rather than run the light strings in a continuous string she decided to plug them into one area totally independent of each other. A giant common plug receptacle.


I wouldn't have noticed a problem but the plug connection was "warm" to the touch. The lights were actually doing their job by shutting down before the tree caught fire. We made a few changes, plugged in the tree and sang "O Tannenbaum".

Decem-brrrrrrr

Well the cold weather has finally hit Spring, Texas. The leaves are beginning to change color and will probably be on the ground or in the pool by Saturday, so much for a colorful Autumn. This is the time of year that my daughters are looking for things to get me for Christmas, so I will publish a list of my suggestions.
From Colleen, who thinks she knows her wines - Either a bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 or a refill for the pen she got me two years ago.
From Erin - Either a bark collar for her dog or a pack of printer paper.
From Meaghan - Either return the Coach luggage that belongs to "The Madge" or a battery for my watch.
From Allison - Either remove me from paying for her New York EZ Pass, it's only been 3.5 years now or a small box of SPICED ribbon candy.
Now if they really feel generous they could pool their assets and get me - Either a Sebring MX or a Hooyman 10' folding tree saw.
On a serious note, all I want for Christmas is for them and their families to arrive here safely. Just having them all here is the best Christmas gift I could get.

It Must Be In Our Genes & Jeans

My cousin, Paul McAllister, from Maryland sent me preview of his family Christmas Card. Six daughters & husbands, fourteen grandchildren with another on the way, Ginger, his wife, and one new puppy. Can you picture Christmas day at the McAllister's? I don't think they open one gift at a time.