Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve we had a little dinner party. John and I, Brenna, Josh, Mark, Paul and Tracy ate some of the wahoo John, Reid and Chandler caught the day before. We had some seared and John rolled us some sushi.

Haze came over to see us...Brenna sent this picture to Megan

              We all had plenty to eat and just enjoyed a little time together. Later John took a short nap while Brenna, Josh and I drove up to Satellite Beach to see the lights on Verbena Court.  When I got back I took a little break before John and I went to Holy Name for their midnight Mass.

Christmas morning Brenna and Josh came over to open gifts with us. Megan sent them a certificate for a 2hr kayak tour. Cool! Then we all headed down to Vero Beach for the the Christmas Buffet at Disney's Vero Beach resort.

This is the 4th year we've gone. It's a nice ride down to Vero...so far it's been great weather every year...and they have a nice buffet. We took Josh on a little "tour" of the place.

This year there were a lot of people

 heading to the pool and the beach. The smell of suntan lotion was in the air!

 We took a picture of the blue sky and sent it to the Weather Channel...don't know if they showed it. Brenna tweeted it....from her new account.

wispy clouds

Brenna and Josh

 

We walked around inside and then out around the pool and then up to the Green Cabin Room to see the view from the deck up there.

it was breezy!

After we walked around for a few minutes we went back in and stopped by for the customary shot with Goofy.

It was a nice drive home...we all relaxed; and while everyone else took a nap...I started getting things together for dinner later on that night. We had invited Mark, Paul, Tracy and David over for a light dinner. At one point we thought no one was going to make it...and I had  A LOT of food...so I was a little nervous...but as it turns out Paul and Tracy and her son Carl  came, so did Mark, Brenna and Josh...and we all managed to put a pretty good dent in the roast beef, roasted potatoes, sweet potato pudding, fruit, etc. Another relaxing day and night. Turned out to be a nice get together.....too bad the rest of the gang wasn't here too.

I wish you a Merry Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is here! I still remember as a kid being so excited on Christmas Eve...waiting for Santa to come. We lay in bed listening...sure we could hear noises on the roof. ( or hear my mom and dad in the living room with the lights off...setting up the gifts around the tree. My dad would be testing out thetrains, toys, talking dolls (remember Nancy Nurse?-  "uggh uggh...I have a cough" )(I remember waking up to that sound one year...then heard my mom tell my dad to be quiet...he was going to wake someone up. haha)

When we lived in Pittsburgh...(up until my 11th birthday)My mom usually made our big dinner on Christmas Eve...figuring Christmas Day we'd all be too busy with our new toys, etc. I still wonder how she managed...getting it all together. At that time there were seven of us 14 and under...................................
In our neighborhood we had a tradition where one of the neighborhood men would dress up as Santa and if you were interested...he'd pay a visit on Christmas Eve. Parents would leave a little bag of (in our case anyway) small gifts outside near the front door. "Santa" would come around and ring the doorbell...say Hello and distribute the gifts and tell us to be good and make sure to get to bed so he could come back later. At least...that's kind of how I remember it. It was fun!

you have to Believe!

The year we moved to Florida the day after Christmas (my poor mother...haha!) he brought us suntan lotion. We each got one gift to open that year...I got a two-piece bathing suit! I was thrilled!

    We left Pittsburgh in a snowstorm...arrived in Melbourne, Florida and we thought it was summer!
                              At least my mom had one thing to be happy about...hahah

No more snow! No need for the ice skates I got on my 10th birthday...

I love getting Christmas cards...and annual Christmas pictures!

The best thing about the holidays is getting out all the decorations...love the memories when you unpack all the old familiar ornaments and Nativity sets

like this one from Megan and Marcus's wedding in May!

It's been a good year for us. Some sad times...but lots of happy celebrations this year! That's all you                  can  ask  for.........Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Ugly Sweater Party

Our friends had their annual Christmas party tonight...also happened to be John's birthday. We went for a little while...but snuck out early because John & I both have to work tomorrow.

Just happened to have this garden flag on hand from last Christmas. Elizabeth sent it to me...I knew we'd use it sooner or later.

getting ready

we hope we didn't "scare" Josh with the fact that we actually owned most of these accessories and clothes...hahah

 when Brenna fashioned her teddy bear Christmas tree sweater into a dress...the sparklers the bears were holding ended up right on her chest...Niiiiiiice! I think that's why she added the scarf...haha

new scarf from Hallmark for John -it lights up and plays music

these two sweaters were still on hand from the last "ugly sweater" party at our house 6-7 yrs ago.

At the time Brenna hit the thrift store and bought an assortment of sweaters...that way no one could say "I don't have an ugly Christmas sweater"

...tasty too!

cute holiday snacks made by Gayle

Gayle M, Mary M and John

Mary designed her sweater...hahah it lit up too!

Charlie wore some holiday scrubs

no t-shirt...no problem this guy's mom fashioned his outfit from a holiday gift bag

Looks like Santa's checking out Brenna's sparklers on her sweater turned into a dress

the host got hot...removed his sweater and figure his blinking necklace was good enough

the hostess

...check out my red loafers!

Gayle was" Grinch ed" out;  it's hard to see them...but she's got Grinch slippers on

People had some very clever outfits. Gift bags turned into shirts,a felt Christmas ornament place mat sewn onto a tee shirt, assorted head gear...lots of flashing lights...earring, necklaces, John's scarf. Duane got some Christmasy baggies just the other day as a joke from a friend...he never thought he'd wear them...but they were perfect for the party. Mary got her neighbor a really awful top...with sequins and "pearls" dangling from the design...people were telling her how pretty she looked...YIKES. She was about ready to lose her sweater too...it  had  a lingering perfume odor from it's original owner. One guy had a t-shirt with a big dog face on it...he pinned a Santa hat on to make it look like the dog was wearing it. The best worst sweaters, sweatshirts and vest were on the younger guys. They really had fun with the idea...wearing tacky vests, sweatshirts, etc...I'm talking really bad...haha You could just imagine the little old ladies who originally owned them...never knowing they end up at an ugly sweater party on a 20 year old guy...haha

On to the next park...

We left Animal Kingdom and caught the bus over to the Ticket and Transportation Center. There we hopped on a monorail and headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was late afternoon...perfect time to arrive and see all the lights coming on.

 We wanted to check out Fantasyland...to see the new updates. They have done a lot since I was last there. We went on a couple short fairly quick rides and looked around a bit. The new Snow White and the Seven dwarfs ride...looks like it will be fun!

 We did check out the Little Mermaid Under the Sea adventure..(or whatever they call it) It has a pretty fast moving line...because it has cars like in  the Haunted Mansion...always moving along...one right after the other. On this ride...they were "clam shells".

                                      all the main characters from the movie were included... it was a cute ride.

can't you just hear her laughing

Happily ever After

Our next stop was Tommorrowland...Buzz Light year of course and the ALWAYS...Always...The People Mover. Best ride ever...always moving no wait...and a relaxing couple of minutes while it takes you around Tomorrowland. When the girls were little we always went on this ride...more often than not...several times.
Linda really wanted to go in the Carousel Of Progress. She went to see it originally at the World's Fair when she was a little girl. She wanted to hear the song...I just laughed be cause almost every time I've been on the ride...it stalls out...but we went. Hardly anyone was in there and it was really corny...but old Walt had a vision. I figure eventually they will replace that ride with a newer more exciting one. It is so corny I start laughing and couldn't stop...got the people behind us laughing too. Sad but true...it's just old. even Linda commented..".it's not like I remembered it". Back at the World's Fair...it must've been so cool...the seats revolving around the stage...but it just can't compete with new technology.

a peek at the new Snow White ride

we stopped by my favorite little fountain

once all the lights came on it really was beautiful. That was exactly why I wanted to go there i the first place...to enjoy all the decorations and lights

there was a Very Merry Christmas party going on that night...so we started heading out...on to our next stop EPCOT. It was very crowded on Main Street...I was glad I was with Linda...not John. John would have been freaking out in that mob. Between crowds coming in...and crowds going out...and people lined up for the parade...it was not easy to get out of the park! But...look at the view! Who cared! and...because of the special event...they were making "snow". I t was like little flurries of snow falling all around us.

I was glad to be getting out of the crowd though. Realistically from the time we started to leave until we finally got on a monorail...it was an hour! Took the nice ride on the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center...then hopped on a monorail to Epcot. always relaxing. At EPCOT we headed to The LAND...because Linda had never been on" Soarin."..and if you are at EPCOT...you HAVE to ride that ride!  There is usually a wait...but it's worth every minute! We ate a little something (good Pumpkin Squash soup with toasted pumpkin seeds...yum!) and headed over to the ride. The wait was not as bad as we expected...and Linda loved it.  When we came out...there was NO LINE at all...we started walking quickly back up before we were told to STOP!  We hadn't  realized the extra magic hours were at EPCOT that night...and because we were staying at a Disney resort...we got to stay and enjoy the rides for extra time. Once they knew we were eligible we got to walk right up and get on the ride again. By the time we got off...all the other people with extra time had worked their way over and the wait was back up to 1hr! otherwise we would have gone again!...hahah After that we slowly walked around the World showcase area...looked in the shops...but a few small things.; and just enjoyed walking around the almost empty park. It was great.