My Big Four Legged Baby

On our Christmas morning, Buddy wanted attention. It was a nice treat. We knew he missed us while we were in Cincinnati. Normally, he is not allowed to climb up, but it was our Christmas morning!

Fortunately, he welcomed his ball and was content on his bed gnawing away.

The festive wear was removed immediately after opening presents. He does not like having that on at all!

The Forever View of Home

The Ohio River will always have a special place in my heart. I grew up in Cincinnati, but have not lived there in a long time. It doesn't matter. When I see it, it brings me right back home.

On Christmas Eve, the Bengals played. We were able to catch a glimpse or two from our hotel room. I am not up on the NFL, but was happy the Bengals won.

Christmas Eve 2011

This year, we changed it up a bit. We stayed at the Embassy Suites on the Ohio instead of at my mom's house. We stayed at that hotel on our wedding night. In honor of 20 years, we decide to go back.  It was wonderful.  The hotel was just okay, but the experience was wonderful. Pumpkin snapped the photo before we went to my brother's on Christmas Eve.

I snapped this one of my two boys.

We bugged out of our family celebration a bit early to make it to mass at the church we were married at. It is a tradition to head back there. It makes our visit to see the Pastor, Fr. Schappelle, who even married us. My niece came along too. It was a nice mass. We had to take a photo because they painted the church and changed the tabernacle. We had to document it to compare it to our other pictures.

After mass, we headed back to the hotel. We watched the Pope's midnight mass. I think more than one of us was dreaming about what it would like to be there.

After any trip, I ask what was best, what was worst, etc...kind of like an even better if analysis. It touched my heart that the boys said the liked watching the Pope's mass. In admidst all the commercialization, there are moments that they really get. Could not ask for more.

John Angotti Concert

We went to John Angotti's concert on Sunday night at the beautiful Cannon Center. He is an amazing Christian singer from the Memphis area. We've even had the luxury to have him sing at mass. What a treat! We all enjoyed the music. It was festive, moving, and a nice evening out. We need to do it more often. Pumpkin was moved by Angotti's singing. Peanut was affected by the electric guitarist. The next day he was googling guitars. This is from a boy that has not played a single musical instrument. I may need to run with it, but am wondering if Guitar Hero will fit the bill. Here are a few shots from the night -

I wanted a picture of my scarf to share with my friend in Hong Kong. Thank you, Justine! Peanut is not the most talented photographer. He snapped about ten pictures. You can't really see the scarf. I loved wearing it and was cozy when we walked out into the night air.

I am slightly near-sighted. About a year ago, I got glasses to wear when I need to see the crisp details from far away. Peanut snapped this photo before I got them off.

These next few days are action-packed. I'll relax after we entertain the Big Guy's team. I enjoy hosting, but dread this time before when it seems like the list is long and the visions in my head don't seem to materialize. I keep reminding myself that folks won't scrutinize. They will just be grateful for the time together.

Sill Alice

A friend recently read the book, Still Alice, by Lisa Genova.

My mother in law is battling the awful disease of dementia. I was intrigued by my friend's review of the book and promptly ordered the book as a gift for the Big Guy's sisters.

A little voice inside my head was nagging me to read the book myself. How could I give it as a gift and not read it? Sure enough. It was in at our library.

So, instead of knitting, decorating, list making, or cleaning, I spent my free time yesterday reading this book. It is a good book. I know it is fiction, but it opened my eyes to what my MIL might be going through. It is a deep book. Now. I am anxious for my gift recipients to read it. I am making the Big Guy read it too. It will open the door for more discussion.

If you know of someone dealing with dementia or want to understand a bit more about it, give this book a read. Image snapped from http://www.powells.com/biblio/7-9781439102817-1#.

On the topic of aging, we watched Water for Elephants. It got approval from the entire family. The boys weren't too sure about it at the beginning, but were quickly sucked in. I had read the book and was pleased with the interpretation of it.

Holiday Update

Outside decorations - check
Tree up (minus ornaments) - check
Some presents bought - check
Seasonal cold passed around family ending with me - check
Procrastinating by reading blogs - check

Enjoyable high school chorale concert last night - check

LOTS, LOTS, LOTS, more to do!

Carols at the Peabody

The high school chamber and mixed choirs sang at the Peabody today. As always, it was lovely.

My seat was not the best. As a result, I was forced to savor the music.

Pumpkin is down on floor level off in the distance. The hotel is gorgeous. The wonderful voices just add to it.

I was able to snag a picture right after he sang. I keep having to pinch myself. Where is my baby boy? The Big Guy holds his left hand just like that.

We used the reverse photo feature on the iphone. My hair looks so bad. The inches and inches of rain did nothing for it! But, it was fun trying to snap a good photo.

Listened to lots of Josh Groban today on the drive to/fro. Beautiful, beautiful voice.

St Jude Memphis Grizzlies 5K

We live close to St. Jude. What an amazing place. For the past ten years, they have held a half and full marathon in Memphis. They have a 5K too. All of that occurred yesterday. This is the first time we participated. You have to register pretty far in advance or they sell out. Peanut wanted to do the half, but I think he is too young to run that far. Peanut and the Big Guy settled on doing the 5K.

The start time was 7:15am. We were up bright and early. I was very lucky and found a free parking space. I met back up with them fairly quickly.

They got a great spot at the start. Look just below the FedEx Forum banner.

The Memphis police were out in full force to escort the runners.

I caught the Big Guy, but missed Peanut whizzing by...

If I remember correctly, there were 16,000 runners. There were runners everywhere. It was amazing.

Peanut took 3rd in his age group (13-15) with a time of 21:09! He had a bet with the Big Guy if he ran sub 20, then he'd get an Ipad 2. Whew! I am excited for him, but glad we did not have to go to the Apple store. The Big Guy ran at just 24. We aren't sure what place he came in in his age group (45-49). If he'd been a few months younger, he would have placed in that age group. Oh! Well! It was all for a great cause.

I am not sure I can hold 'em back from running the half next year!

This post was edited to include the pictures my runners took with Elvis. The pictures were taken by MarathonFOTO. We aren't planning on buying them. Even so, I wanted to share. The Big Guy planned accordingly. The orange proof fades into his fleece.

Tree Lighting on Collierville Square

On Tuesday night, we braved the cold to head down to the town square for the tree lighting.

Three elementary school choirs sang and then the high school choirs sang. Man! The high school sounded wonderful. I can't wait for their concert on the 12th. They only sang two songs - didn't want to give too much away!

Here they are filing on to the bleachers.

A zoomed in shot of Pumpkin. I love that he is wearing the hat I made him:)

They have funny glasses on because the town employees were handing them out. When you look at the twinkling lights, you see snowmen.

Peanut is going to use his for the Christmas parade tonight. It won't be as cold, but cold enough to enjoy hot chocolate & cookies back at the house with a group of teenage boys.