Christmas musings

It was a beautiful, quiet, peaceful Christmas. The new roof was done in time for the snow and sleet. No more dripping skylights. Charles flew into town in the wee hours of Christmas eve, after spending considerable time grounded in Phoenix.
For Christmas eve we had red chili posole and green chili stew accompanied by our traditional sauerkraut. We finished off dinner with chocolate cheesecake and then went to celebrate Christ's birth in worship at Calvary church. After service we took in a movie, "National Treasure". It was a very fun and wholesome movie.
Charles, Stephanie, and Cara spent Christmas day with their dad. I took myself to another movie, "Juno". This is certainly one of the best of this year's films. It is smart, funny, sweet, and heartwarming.
The girls, Charles and I have enjoyed our time together this week, cooking, feasting, playing, talking, and bundling up to stay warm. Of course, we've had to make sure Charles go his fill of green chile-spiked meals. It has been very cold here, below freezing all day and in the teens at night. Brrrr. My pellet stove has developed a glitch and is not working as well as it should. I've had the repair man out twice. The poor gas furnace is working overtime trying to keep the house warm.
I've so enjoyed reading family and friends' cards and letters and marveling how my friends' kids are growing. As for my family, Charles is training for his first marathon, even braving the bitter cold here to run his daily miles. Stephanie is certainly enjoying her break from lectures and studying| and writing papers. She'll go back to school on the 22nd of January. Cara is continuing to work on her blogging, her writing, and reading teen novels. Aaron and his family stayed home this year enjoying the warm California sun. And Nicholas and his family are spending the holidays in Washington with Danielle's parents.All in all, it has been a very full year and I have much to be thankful for: my family, my friends, and God's unfailing presence in my life. I pray for a wonder filled 2008 for all of us.

Christmas 2007

The roofers are here today tearing off the old roof with lots of banging and clanging and stomping above our heads. So we decided to play with our new makeup. This stuff works wonders to hide blemishes and bags and boo-boos and discoloration. Too bad it does nothing for the wrinkles and saggy skin. I think that now that we're all glamorous, we'll head out to the library for a few hours, with the smile pose upon our faces.

Sunday musings

Well, I went into the attic last night and pulled out all the boxes of Christmas stuff. I got the chili lights strung on the spiral staircase and the little table-top tree situated. Today Cara will carefully decorate the tree, choosing her favorite ornaments. One of the local radio stations plays Christmas music all day and both of us enjoy that. The lights and ornaments inside make up for the extra hours of winter darkness.
This morning I had the pleasure of web-camming with my grandbabies. I'm so grateful for this new technology that lets us see each other as we talk. Lili is growing so sweet and Calvin is such a content and happy little guy. Lili "read" me her Mr. Frumble book. Calvin tried his best to grab hold of the book to taste it.
We'll now head out for late morning worship and service. The rain has stopped and the sun is coming out again. There is a dusting of snow on the Sandias. All is well in Albuquerque.

Thanksgiving in San Francisco, 2007

Memories made Thanksgiving 2007

Cara, Stephanie, and I had the blessing of sharing Thanksgiving with Charles and Quynh in San Francisco. The weather was incredibly beautiful, no rain, no fog, temperatures in the 60's for all 4 days. We arrived on Thursday morning, settled into our lovely room on the 11th floor of the Sir Frances Drake on Powell Street in Union Square. This is one fine hotel, recently renovated yet maintaining its classic, historical charm. Then we went to Charles's home on S. Van Ness for dinner. Q and C prepared a bountiful traditional feast. Charles had brined the turkey and it turned out moist and tender. Q made a smooth butternut soup. They served sweet potatoes, white potatoes, french green beans, and a luscious cranberry sauce ( from Cooks Illustrated). We had blackberry and pumpkin pies with whipped cream for dessert.
Friday was crazy day on the streets. We did a walking tour of Chinatown, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, and a tiny fraction of the many, many upscale stores of Union square. In the evening, C and Q made another fine meal for us of salmon with mango salsa and all the great leftovers from Thanksgiving. Charles's college friend, Ted, and his wife, Robin, and baby Jack joined us for dinner, also. Charles honored me with a short piano recital. As always, his gift of music moved me to tears.
Saturday we drove north and hiked for awhile in the redwood forest Awesome sights, smell, and sounds. Then we drove further north into Sonoma County and explored a couple wineries. Q and C will be hosting their wedding reception at Trentadue Vineyards in Geyserville. It is so beautiful there. One of their unique wines is a smooth chocolate port. Very nice.
Sunday we explored the streets and neighborhoods again, did a little shopping and headed down to the wharf. We enjoyed the street entertainers, the sea lions, the gulls, the people. We enjoyed an Italian dinner at Pier 39 then walked over to Giradelli Square to share some hot fudge sundaes. Yum. We then enjoyed a movie, Enchanted, which is a parody of the disney fairytales. It was uncomplicated and fun.
C and Q were so gracious in accommodating us and showed us a splendid time. I'm very impressed with their driving and parking skills in the city of hills. We had to say goodbye on Monday after a luscious brunch in Burlingame. All of us Albuquerque girls would love to spend another week exploring fabulous San Francisco. Check out my slideshow above. You can click on the photo to slow it down.

Special Olympics 2007

Special Olympics 2007

Click on the picture to open the web album. Cara really enjoyed the weekend in Las Cruces for the Special Olympics State Championship games. This is the 3rd year she's participated in this extraordinary opportunity. We drove down on Friday, enjoyed opening ceremonies. Her team, sponsored by our church, Calvary, has only the four players so they compete in 3 on 3. They played 2 games and took the bronze medals. Then everyone enjoys closing ceremonies followed by a rip roaringly fun dance. The 1000 or so special athletes from all over New Mexico had so much fun. Smiles were everywhere. We're so thankful to our coaches and all the other volunteers who work to make this possible.