Happy New Year

New Year, New Look. All the same info but this year instead of using quotes to express myself I am going to take pictures. I am going to take a picture every day of something that I am thankful for, or something that is beautiful, or something that I just find interesting. My resolution for 2009 therefore is to find something in everyday that is worth recording into a picture.

Happy New Year to everyone and may all your resolutions be achieved in 2009.

My December 31st picture to start my new year is of course my family.

Sunday night

Just following the flight tracker for Jessica's plane. She is on her way bacK to LA. We had a great time. It was a good Christmas. Life does go on and yet we still miss John. We will always miss John. But we will enjoy each other and we will continue to live the life we have. We are blessed to have many friends and family that continue to surround us with love and support. We hope that when we say "enjoy your family" as we have often this holiday season, you remember...they are what should be important in your life. Think about what you would want if those people weren't here next year. Hug your babies, love your parents, kiss your spouse. Life may be short, don't have any regrets.

A Day to Remember

We had a good Christmas. Keeping busy is a wonderful remedy to thinking. Jesi and AJ came over on Tuesday for Christmas celebration. Jesi wanted she and AJ not to have to make the multiple stops on Christmas day this year so we all got more time together even if it wasn't on Christmas day. On Christmas eve we went to Steve's sister Janet's after mass at the cathedral. Jan out did himself on a fabulous dinner. Judy and Chris came over with their whole family for dessert. It was fun to enjoy all of the families together. Having our Jessica home has been a blessing. She is so full of life and so much fun. She and Mike have insured that we followed some of the longstanding traditions and they lived with the changes that I made. That isn't to say there haven't been a few tears but we expected that.

And today is John's birthday. He would be 28. He should be 28. I still hate melanoma. I didn't know what to write today so I went back into the archives of this blog to read what I wrote last year. I read all of the posts from December. We lived in the moment last year and I guess that is what we still need to do this year. We have to live our lives through the good times and the bad times. We have to enjoy what we have have and not long for what we don't have. We have to believe that John is with us and he knows a greater joy. And that his wish for us would be to live a good life....and enjoy Ohio State football! So we will!

Enjoy some of the pictures from our Christmas and know that we have felt the love and support of our family and friends this year. Merry Christmas. Happy Birthday John.

Global Warming...not in Ohio!

I am having a hard time understanding global warming when it is 5 degrees at 3PM on December 21. Of course this is officially the first day of winter but the average low temperature is 27 for this date and the average low temperature in January is only 22. Checking the weather history I was surprised to see that many of the record low temperatures for Toledo have been set in the last 25 years. Maybe this global warming is regionally challenged but as for me I am all for global warming starting today! Thats my bah humbug for today! Now we are off to a party which means we have to go out in this weather.

Wow is Christmas coming fast

Well you will all be glad to know that neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow can keep a mother from her daughter. Yesterday morning at 6:30 AM Jessica's plane arrived from LA. The pilot had to abort their initial landing because they closed the runway due to snow. That made them about 30 minutes late. Of course that didn't matter because when Jessica called to say she had landed, Steve and Linda weren't even to Monroe Michigan yet. (about half way between Detroit and Perrysburg) The weather conditions were terrible. The sleet started about 3:30 AM and had changed to snow about 4:30. The snow plows hadn't started and the usual 55 minute drive from Perrysburg to Detroit Metro took nearly 2 hours. But the drive back was a tiny bit better conditions and since Jessica was with us I was happy. We basically hunkered down for the rest of the day and just enjoyed each others company. Today we are beginning the final countdown to getting the details of Christmas figured out. What gets done will get done and what doesn't isn't going to matter. We are together. Life is good.

Belmont Children's Christmas Party

The Belmont Children's Christmas Party was today. We started with a brunch and then a visit with Santa followed by a project. Build a Bear brought in almost ready to go Christmas Moose for the kids (or Grandparents and Moms)to finish. AJ was great the whole day. He made a new friend while we enjoyed exploring the club while Jesi and Steve chatted. The Christmas decorations are beautiful and AJ pointed out all of of the Christmas colors by name.I was impressed by his counting skills as we navigated the stairs several times.

AJ was not too comfortable on Santa's lap but as he got to spend a little more time around him I think he was finally warming up. Actually he was fine with Santa as long as they didn't make any eye contact. We had a great visit with Jesi too and look forward to spending more time together over the holiday.

Just a quote to remember

"The very best thing we can do for a loved one who is lost, is to live a great life in their memory, not to suffer the rest of our days."

Something fun to share

This is the best Christmas video light display I have seen. It was first sent to me as a you tube video, (thank you Robin). I read some disbelievers comments on you tube and ran a search of the Holdman Christmas display and can comfirm that it is real.This is the link to this years light display.

http://www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp

There are other years video on you tube and it is interesting to see how the scale has increased each year. There is even a video showing how he made the leaping aches.

This really put a smile on my face for some reason so I am sharing and hope it brightens your day.

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." ~Mark Twain

Last years repost

Sunday, December 2, 2007
Happy Birthday Jessica



December 2, 1982 was a very special day for us. Our daughter Jessica came into our lives. She is a very special young lady and we hope she is having a wonderful day in California. We will celebrate her 26th year later this month when she comes home for Christmas.