Christmas 2006
What a Christmas season we have had!
It all begins each year the minute Thanksgiving Dinner is in our bellys. Dave likes to brave the frosty air and the 5am crowds to hit the sales the day after Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Cyber-Jule ponders the same deals online.
This year, Dave met up with his best friend Jamal for the estimated 18th year in a row to play tennis on Thanksgiving Day. This has been an annual tradition since the early days of high school - all started on a whim of course. I recall Jamal just calling me one Thanksgiving (I think we were either Freshmen or Sophomores) and saying "Do you want to go play tennis?"
Play tennis on Thanksgiving? Well surely I had to... uh.. had to help.... well I guess I was just watching football. So sure, we went to play tennis. We were high school tennis team partners and enjoyed challenging each other. Back then, the matches were fierce and back and forth. Jamal was always a tough opponent because mentally, he would never allow himself to give up. No easy points.
18 some odd years later, our annual meeting is more of an exercise in getting the ball over the net on consecutive hits - and with both of us having young families, the time to play gets harder each year (plus we live across town from each other). Still, we manage to find a place and play.
The weekend following Thanksgiving means Christmas tree time! This year we feared that we did not have as much time to drive to our favorite place up in the Sierra Nevada, so we tried a local tree farm and were very disappointed. So we ended up driving up I-80 anyhow and found a new place with plenty of good choices. Red Feather Tree Farm was the name, I think. Anyhow, we found a dandy of a tree, but the only bad part was having to haul it pretty far and then wait for a pickup to get back up to the top of the ravine. We got the tree home and put it in the established location in the living room and the Christmas decorating season was officially underway. Dave put the lights up outside the house (he has quite the display started including a ginger bread train) while Jule and Alyssa set up our annual Christmas village and other indoor decor. Out came ornaments including many traditional and older ornaments mixed with newer gems from recent years and travels. Dave has received so many Star Wars or sports ornaments throughout the years that he finally bought himself a cheap $7 fake pre-lit tree to place in the upstairs game room and cover with all of the pop culture ornaments. He also has established a fine collection of 2 singing Elvis ornaments. Alyssa seems to really enjoy those ("I'll be Home for Christmas" and "Blue Christmas").
The rest of the holiday season seemed to pass without too much excitement. Work kept both Dave and Jule busy, and then an odd stomach ailment took out the entire family over the course of almost 2 weeks. Before we knew it, only a week was remaining before Christmas as we were finally recovering from some unpleasant stomach aches.
So last minute sales and lunchtime excursions to finish up Christmas shopping took priority. Jule and Alyssa did sneak away for one Kings game while Dave stayed home and made cookies. They were even edible!
So Christmas weekend was here! Saturday we kept Alyssa busy, taking advantage of the clear day to go play at her favorite park and hit an early "After Christmas" sale at Mervyns to buy new towels. Christmas eve day, the excitement was overtaking Alyssa and she nearly couldn't resist the urge to go rip open "pressies". Dave mostly caught up on rest and Jule literally "wrapped" up what presents had not been wrapped. By evening time, we were off to Mass with Dave's parents at St. Johns (where Jule and Dave were married over 6 years ago!). Alyssa was a doll at Church and enjoyed the time with her cousins Jake and Simone. From there, the entire family drove over to Uncle Gene and Aunt JoAnn's for our annual gathering. This is always a highlight with such fun, great food, and good times. Alyssa and her cousins, including Bianca, ran all around the house and had a blast. They all wore each other out, and just after the last gift was opened, it was time to go "night night" and make our way back home. Alyssa was asleep 5 minutes into the car ride home. When we got home, Santa still had work to do getting the presents out under the tree, eating some cookies and drinking some milk, an finally, building Alyssa's slide (her big Christmas gift from her Nonna and Pappa). When Dave and Jule Elf finally fangled that darned Chinese manufactured thing into shape, they also went to bed.
This morning started early, but with a false alarm. Alyssa was crying to get up at 6am, so we quickly jumped up and got into our "battle stations". I manned the video camera and regular camera while Jule went to get Alyssa out of bed. By the time she got down there, Alyssa had gone back to sleep.
So we took the "quiet time" to open a few gifts from each other and enjoy the tranquil morning together.
Finally, around 7:45, Alyssa woke up for good and came out to the family room to see her "Weeee!" (Alyssa for slide). Her eyes got very big and she completely forgot that she was hungry and ran over to the slide, dumping her bears and blanket in the process. She rode her slide over and over and over again before finally giving in to hunger.
We moved her on to opening presents from Grandpa and Grandma Humberstone, Uncles Mark and Ken, Aunties Sally, Vickie, Uncle Don, cousins Amanda and Kendall, Auntie Susan and Uncle Rick and Cousin April, not to mention Momma and Dadda.
The gift opening moved over to Auntie Rosie and Uncle Ken's (Dave's sister) to share with Pappa, cousins Jake and Simone, cousin Bianca and Uncle John and Aunt Teresa. Nonna couldn't be a part of this because she was taking care of Great Nonna Rosina who is sick (she is 90 years older than Alyssa). There, the gift opening finally zapped poor Alyssa's brain and she wanted a nap.
She got so many nice things from everyone including many close friends who we met with before Christmas and some we will see just after. Aunts and Uncles and cousins and Grandpa and Grandma and Nonna and Pappa and Mommy and Daddy got little Alyssa so many nice toys, books, CDs, clothes and other fun stuff. She is so happy today and so thankful (as are Jule and I) to be blessed with such a wonderful family and assortment of friends (who are very much our family too).
We are so blessed to have received warm holiday greetings from an even more extended group of friends near and far who took time for their busy lives to send up greetings and cheer.
This was the first Christmas for Alyssa to notice Santa Claus and all of the lights and Snowmen (fiber optic kind, no snow here in our area).
So many have touched her life with love and cheer - if you could see the smile on her face today, it would melt you hearts.
Merry Christmas to all!
have a blessed and safe 2007.
What a Christmas season we have had!
It all begins each year the minute Thanksgiving Dinner is in our bellys. Dave likes to brave the frosty air and the 5am crowds to hit the sales the day after Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Cyber-Jule ponders the same deals online.
This year, Dave met up with his best friend Jamal for the estimated 18th year in a row to play tennis on Thanksgiving Day. This has been an annual tradition since the early days of high school - all started on a whim of course. I recall Jamal just calling me one Thanksgiving (I think we were either Freshmen or Sophomores) and saying "Do you want to go play tennis?"
Play tennis on Thanksgiving? Well surely I had to... uh.. had to help.... well I guess I was just watching football. So sure, we went to play tennis. We were high school tennis team partners and enjoyed challenging each other. Back then, the matches were fierce and back and forth. Jamal was always a tough opponent because mentally, he would never allow himself to give up. No easy points.
18 some odd years later, our annual meeting is more of an exercise in getting the ball over the net on consecutive hits - and with both of us having young families, the time to play gets harder each year (plus we live across town from each other). Still, we manage to find a place and play.
The weekend following Thanksgiving means Christmas tree time! This year we feared that we did not have as much time to drive to our favorite place up in the Sierra Nevada, so we tried a local tree farm and were very disappointed. So we ended up driving up I-80 anyhow and found a new place with plenty of good choices. Red Feather Tree Farm was the name, I think. Anyhow, we found a dandy of a tree, but the only bad part was having to haul it pretty far and then wait for a pickup to get back up to the top of the ravine. We got the tree home and put it in the established location in the living room and the Christmas decorating season was officially underway. Dave put the lights up outside the house (he has quite the display started including a ginger bread train) while Jule and Alyssa set up our annual Christmas village and other indoor decor. Out came ornaments including many traditional and older ornaments mixed with newer gems from recent years and travels. Dave has received so many Star Wars or sports ornaments throughout the years that he finally bought himself a cheap $7 fake pre-lit tree to place in the upstairs game room and cover with all of the pop culture ornaments. He also has established a fine collection of 2 singing Elvis ornaments. Alyssa seems to really enjoy those ("I'll be Home for Christmas" and "Blue Christmas").
The rest of the holiday season seemed to pass without too much excitement. Work kept both Dave and Jule busy, and then an odd stomach ailment took out the entire family over the course of almost 2 weeks. Before we knew it, only a week was remaining before Christmas as we were finally recovering from some unpleasant stomach aches.
So last minute sales and lunchtime excursions to finish up Christmas shopping took priority. Jule and Alyssa did sneak away for one Kings game while Dave stayed home and made cookies. They were even edible!
So Christmas weekend was here! Saturday we kept Alyssa busy, taking advantage of the clear day to go play at her favorite park and hit an early "After Christmas" sale at Mervyns to buy new towels. Christmas eve day, the excitement was overtaking Alyssa and she nearly couldn't resist the urge to go rip open "pressies". Dave mostly caught up on rest and Jule literally "wrapped" up what presents had not been wrapped. By evening time, we were off to Mass with Dave's parents at St. Johns (where Jule and Dave were married over 6 years ago!). Alyssa was a doll at Church and enjoyed the time with her cousins Jake and Simone. From there, the entire family drove over to Uncle Gene and Aunt JoAnn's for our annual gathering. This is always a highlight with such fun, great food, and good times. Alyssa and her cousins, including Bianca, ran all around the house and had a blast. They all wore each other out, and just after the last gift was opened, it was time to go "night night" and make our way back home. Alyssa was asleep 5 minutes into the car ride home. When we got home, Santa still had work to do getting the presents out under the tree, eating some cookies and drinking some milk, an finally, building Alyssa's slide (her big Christmas gift from her Nonna and Pappa). When Dave and Jule Elf finally fangled that darned Chinese manufactured thing into shape, they also went to bed.
This morning started early, but with a false alarm. Alyssa was crying to get up at 6am, so we quickly jumped up and got into our "battle stations". I manned the video camera and regular camera while Jule went to get Alyssa out of bed. By the time she got down there, Alyssa had gone back to sleep.
So we took the "quiet time" to open a few gifts from each other and enjoy the tranquil morning together.
Finally, around 7:45, Alyssa woke up for good and came out to the family room to see her "Weeee!" (Alyssa for slide). Her eyes got very big and she completely forgot that she was hungry and ran over to the slide, dumping her bears and blanket in the process. She rode her slide over and over and over again before finally giving in to hunger.
We moved her on to opening presents from Grandpa and Grandma Humberstone, Uncles Mark and Ken, Aunties Sally, Vickie, Uncle Don, cousins Amanda and Kendall, Auntie Susan and Uncle Rick and Cousin April, not to mention Momma and Dadda.
The gift opening moved over to Auntie Rosie and Uncle Ken's (Dave's sister) to share with Pappa, cousins Jake and Simone, cousin Bianca and Uncle John and Aunt Teresa. Nonna couldn't be a part of this because she was taking care of Great Nonna Rosina who is sick (she is 90 years older than Alyssa). There, the gift opening finally zapped poor Alyssa's brain and she wanted a nap.
She got so many nice things from everyone including many close friends who we met with before Christmas and some we will see just after. Aunts and Uncles and cousins and Grandpa and Grandma and Nonna and Pappa and Mommy and Daddy got little Alyssa so many nice toys, books, CDs, clothes and other fun stuff. She is so happy today and so thankful (as are Jule and I) to be blessed with such a wonderful family and assortment of friends (who are very much our family too).
We are so blessed to have received warm holiday greetings from an even more extended group of friends near and far who took time for their busy lives to send up greetings and cheer.
This was the first Christmas for Alyssa to notice Santa Claus and all of the lights and Snowmen (fiber optic kind, no snow here in our area).
So many have touched her life with love and cheer - if you could see the smile on her face today, it would melt you hearts.
Merry Christmas to all!
have a blessed and safe 2007.
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