We’ve had another quick week as we gear up for Christmas. The kids were busy taking tests and playing sports. The weather was cold and we even got a little snow. Monday started off cool and only got colder. Matt enjoyed his vacation by sleeping in but did attend wrestling practice. Luke had basketball practice and Abby had Pirateers and then jazz class at Dixon Studios.
Abby had to be in early on Tuesday morning for Student Council. We took the Pacifica in to the shop and got it back later that night…we needed some good news with that thing for once! Abby had a performance with the Pirateers that night as the girls faced Oldenburg Academy. It was a cool little dance. We had a bit of a wintery mix on the ride home.
Hump day was noticeably colder. The precipitation from the night before froze but the r/ads were in great condition but we had to let the car warm-up for quite a while. We were saddened to hear that the author of Clifford the Big Red Dog (Norman Bridwell) had passed away. It was a favorite of Ann & I as well as all three of our kids. It was soup night with the Homework Club even though only Britney showed up for dinner and books.
The temps dropped through the day on Thursday and it even snowed a little. Luke had basketball practice that evening and Abby had Pirateers before heading over to Dixon with Ann for a late night jazz dance class at Dixon. It was sadly the final broadcast of the Colbert Report.
It never got out of the 20s on Friday. It was the day for Christmas parties as Ann had one and I had two. I nibbled all day and didn’t even want dinner! Matt worked out and came home and promptly went to bed…until his friends came over and go his butt going. We were thrilled to see that one of his buddies was Blake, who was on leave from the Marines boot camp. And I am proud to say that I got my ever-widening ass on the treadmill for the fifth straight day. Matt came home really late that night. We enjoyed getting more Christmas cards this week, including ones from Jack & Lynz, Keith & Rosie and Katie & Jake. Ann has been doing the Elf on a Shelf for Abby, who has dubbed her, “Sparkle Twinke-Toes.??? Luke and Abby both had some new artwork to share with us this week. Luke fell in love with this ’82/’83 Cobra that was parked across from Ann’s office, downtown.
Aunt Sue celebrated her 72nd birthday on Saturday. I was awakened early, before dawn, to help with a minor crisis at work. I was able to coordinate things from home, thankfully. Ann went out shopping with Amy all day. Luke had basketball practice. We did our weekly household chores while watching movies, college football bowl games and the Sci-Fi 3-day mini-series called Ascension which starred the lovely Tricia Helfer. Matt went to Columbus to watch the wrestling team complete in the annual tourney at East High School. Abby performed with the Pirateers that night at the boys’ basketball game vs. Franklin County. They had two dances that evening. They did a great rendition of their competitive routine before the game and then did a special holiday routine at halftime that was plagued with audio issues as you can see below in our video section. Although a couple of the inexperienced gals started to panic, Abby and a few others were professionals and held it together until they got them mostly worked out. The audio was very poor even once it did go, but the gals did a great job with it. Ann & Amy got there just as the gals were walking out on to the floor. Luke ran around with Drew and tried to avoid the girls who constantly pursue them at events like these. We have lots of new social media pix to share this week, including: Bu & Momma; Barn, Lynz & Kimmy @ Colts game; Gracie; Ann & Stacy w/ friends at FC; Columbian Park slide – I remember this one well and had loads of fun as well as the putt-putt course w/ the Big Dipper in the background; Clifford the Big Red Dog; Colbert said goodbye; more Barney & family; Sally’s grandkids; Jake, Kate & kids; and more Colbert.
We were up early again on Sunday to head north to Lafayette for the Scheu family Christmas party/family reunion. First, we made our annual pilgrimage to Dad & Barb’s log cabin for the first time in a couple years. It was good to be back up there. They had added a new edition to their home. It is a cool room done in antiques. The cabin was really cool again this Christmas and she had a bunch of her old decorations up. We enjoyed Barbie’s egg casserole and fruit. Matt & Abby went out and walked on the trails and Luke, Dad & I walked to the ravine to see the Little Sugar Creek. The kids loved playing with Tater as well. Next we headed across town to Uncle John & Aunt June’s beautiful home to see everyone. This year we had another great turnout, including Vicki & Faddi, Daniel & Kels, and Seth & Hannah; Chuck & Cindy and Cathy & Tom; Dad & Barb and Matt, Abby, Luke & I; John & June, Barney & Steph, Haley, Ryan, Parker & Lila, Nick & Conner and Ryan & Emmitt; Kimmy, Braden & Gavin, and Lindsay & Jack; Sally & Scottie; Chris, Trish, Jack & Joey and Jason & Erica with Tyson, Kyleigh, Kyle & Ryleigh; and a couple of Haley’s good friends who took a nice family picture of us all. After we said goodbye to everyone, we went out to the St Boniface Cemetary to wish Mom a Merry Christmas. We cleaned up the area as well as Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s area. Meanwhile Ann went with Mom, Sandy & Amy to the Palladium in Carmel for a Christmas symphony show. We came home and Abby studied for her finals in the playroom, Luke went to bed not feeling well, Matt had the boys over (Andy, Jake & Devin) to play euchre in the kitchen and Ann & I watched SNF on the couch. And Tony Romo passed Troy Aikman on the all-time Cowboys passing list as they clinched the NFC east and punched their ticket for the playoffs this year as they obliterated the Colts, 42-7!
Next we have our Waybac section which includes five more pictures of Mom. W are nearly out of pictures from this batch. We have one more lot that we will feature next week and then I’ll need to find some more goodies to throw on the scanner for us. After these are done next week, I will be breaking open my own box of old goodies which will feature things like yearbooks, sports clippings and who know what else we’ll find when we un-tape that box. I’ll get to work on that during vacation these next couple weeks. Until then, lets get on with it. We lead off this time in January of 1979: Grandpaw Bob with his mom, Mary Brown in her home in Rossville; Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown’s home on Elmwood Ave in Lafayette; Grandpaw w/ Aunt Midge & Hi at their home just up the street from Elmwood; Grandmaw & Aunt Lou’s visit out to Cali in March/April of 1979: Zeke & I when I was 10; me, Mom, Dad, Grandmaw Connie & Aunt Lou in our backyard in Temple City and Grandmaw at a Spanish place on Olivera St in L.A.; Grandpaw’s new siding on the garage in April ’79; Dad with his buddies at Steve Heier’s home in April 1980; Rob & I while visiting Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s house in August 1981; Uncle Dan, Aunt Sharon, Nathan, Katie & Robby out front of our Rockwood St home in August 1981; Grandmaw Connie’s funeral in Lafayette in September 1988; Paul, Tommy Jobe, Terry Ratliff and I in Franklin in 1991; and Christmas Eve at Mom & Sandy’s house in 2002.
Finally we have our video section which features one new family movie and several others from around the internet.
And that does it for this week’s episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you again next time. Until then, have a good one. Our family would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. We miss ya, Mom…
Later, Scheu