Christmas, etc.

This year we planned to stay in town to celebrate our first Christmas in our new house. David took X-mas Eve off, but ended up working from home for about 4 hours. Then we enjoyed a nice meal of Shrimp Alfredo with yummy garlic bread sticks. For what ever reason, after dinner David was craving something sweet, and decided to make a deep-dish apple pie, from scratch! Including the crust! It was really good! I showed him my mom's trick about dusting the top crust with cinnamon sugar; it just adds something special to it. I think my husband could honestly be a chef! Christmas Day was quiet and relaxing, and everyone pretty much hung out in their pj's most of the day. Amanda & I watched a marathon of Hallmark channel Christmas movies, it was fun. For dinner we made a scrumptious ham, cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole. We had apple pie and cheesecake for dessert.

The Tuesday before Christmas we received sad news that one of David's former army medic colleagues had passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. We made our way up to Duluth on Friday, as the funeral was Sat. morning. It was a touching service, it always brings tears to my eyes when the honor guard does the flag ceremony. It was very hard for all of the fellow medics to see a man so full of life pass away so suddenly. He was a mentor to so many of them. After the service we enjoyed visiting at the fellowship lunch, and then went down the road to the Sunset lounge. Evidently the boys had many-a Captain Morgan occasions with our friend during fishing trips in Babbitt, MN, so they had to toast to him with a shot. It was very nice to see our extended guard families, although during a difficult time.

We also managed to spend time with both of our families, which was very nice, especially for the girls. They enjoyed as did we, having some quality time with them.

"A Million Thanks"

Here is a way to thank U.S. service members for their service and sacrifice. It only takes a few minutes of your time and effort to lift someone's spirits.

http:amillionthanks.org/How_To_Mail.asp

Back from the stone ages...

This past Saturday our home modem decided to unexpectedly die. After many failed attempts of re-configuring it, our internet provider deemed it as faulty. Great... No replacement can be received until Tuesday, 4 WHOLE days away. Of course, this had to happen on a weekend, and while my computer guru (David) was out of town. I even tried having my dad help over the phone, with no luck. A few short years back this would have not been a problem; and goes to show how much we rely on the internet/e-mail, etc. UGH! Thankfully we live within a half mile of the local library, which has internet access and Wi-Fi available. So once a day, I would trek over there and try to remain "connected" to the world. Nothing earth shattering happened during our hiatis, luckily! I know it could have been a whole lot worse...