Scheu Family Blog

‘Tis the season…of darkness! We were hoping for a white Christmas…but instead we got rain again in 2023. As the days got shorter and shorter all December-long, we drove with our headlights on in the dark on the way to work as well as during the way back home also. Although it limited the amount of time I could golf after work, it did make for some lovely sunrises and sunsets during our commutes! Thankfully, the weather stayed warm enough to play disc golf just about every day. We did have a spell in the middle of the month where temps dipped down below freezing and even into the teens but only lasted a few days. We enjoyed having fires out back on the weekends and attending Christmas parties. We got to see the Scheumann family, including Big Tom – who is doing great. Barb wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed home. In fact, several missed this year’s get-together, held at Kimmy’s house again. Aunt June made it for the first time in a few years and said that she would hold next year’s party. It was great to catch up with Dad and my cousins. We went to Columbus one night for Ann’s Xmas party, which had an amazing spread of food! My work’s Christmas party was a good one, but we ended up cancelling the one for the management team, unfortunately. Mexico was still firmly on our minds as we went through the month, for sure. I really enjoyed going through this batch of pictures. We had over two thousand pictures this time! We narrowed it down to just over a thousand with nearly 900 photos from our south-of-the-boarder trip! The Purdue men’s basketball team made it back to the #1 ranking in the nation and the Cowboys made the playoffs. Heck, even the Colts have a chance to win their division as I write this entry. And sadly, we lost a racing icon when Cale Yarborough passed away on the last day of the year. Hello again and welcome to the latest installation of the Scheu Family Blog. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.

Maddy & Tay seemed to be doing well as they continued to figure out their complex adult lives. Mads continued working in the insurance field as well as being the wrestling coach at Z West again this year. They did not make it home this month until Christmas Eve, opting to stay up in Carmel with their three kitties.
Despite working out of town at Sly Fox still, Abby made time to be the Pirateers coach at GCHS with Kuyhlia. She stayed each night at Seth’s house with Tilly all month for the first time. She came over to visit a few times with Seth, which was cool. Ann & I enjoyed dog-watching Tilly for a few days here and there. We encouraged them to bring her over more to keep her socialized with other dogs. Ann & I took Samantha to watch the dance squad at a couple home basketball games this month. Our favorite, by far, was the Christmas routine that had the girls performing to a Xmas medley along with the Grinch and Santa – Santa Bu, that is! She looked great and it wasn’t just me that thought so… I believe this was the first time she danced since she graduated from high school. The team, in general, has been a big success this year – thanks in part to the coaches – for bringing back both the fun and the fundamentals. It also helps that they have a good core base of dancers with several years of experience at Dixon Dance Studios. She made it to the final in our Fantasy Football league but came up short to Jamie, unfortunately. She & Tilly came over on Xmas Eve Eve to bake cookies and Chex Mix with Momma Scheu – a tradition that Luke & I highly encouraged! Sam was supposed to help, but she wasn’t feeling particularly well and slept-in until she & Luke had to leave for another one of her family’s Xmas parties. They seem to have as many as we used to back in the day. Seth moved to dayshift at Honda, which has been a big plus for their relationship.
Unfortunately, Luke did not make the GFD squad…again. This was his third attempt at going through the process and he didn’t even make it as far as he had the two precious tries. He may be done with Greensburg and is now considering other cities’ departments. He is also looking at changing fields altogether and hasn’t ruled out anything at this point. He moved his focus instead to his business – S&D – but Alex has less time now that he got on to the Rushville fire department. Thankfully, Luke has been picking up temp jobs with Bryan. Sam stayed with Luke & us a few days each week as she continued to attend college classes and work. Luke and I enjoyed some long talks, out around the Solo Stove fires – bringing us closer than we’ve ever been. I love that he’s living with us as he figures out his life and pleased that he seems to be enjoying it as well. We have lots of social media pictures to share this month.

Ann’s work was a little hectic this past month at times due to staff illnesses. The drama from work last month was finally settled and everything worked out just fine. Ann’s annual Xmas party was fun as always! She spent some time with friends this month but remained focused on Xmas shopping in her down time. Like last year, we (and when I say we, I obviously mean Ann) got an early jump on wrapping presents…and like last year, we misplaced a couple presents again. Thankfully, she found them both on Christmas Eve! She & Luke fought it out for last place in our division and Ms. Ann came out on top for bragging rights for the year. She took the last week of the year off with me again and enjoyed the holiday season at a slower pace with me.
As for myself, December was really crazy out at work. Despite having a wing closed due to the ongoing staffing shortage, my job responsibilities didn’t lessen any. On the contrary, this month may have been one of the busiest of the year – ending in a flurry due to us taking our third and final vacation of the year. I believe this was the first time in a very long time that we both had three vacations in the same year. Hell, Ann may have had four this year now that I stop to think about it… That meant that all of my responsibilities were compressed to just three weeks this month. But I got it done; it’s not my first rodeo… I enjoyed spending a little time with friends here and there – with Bryan and the gang at Poker Night and on the disc golf course, playing a couple rounds with Dennis. And then there was the year-end party with my work friends at Big Woods. We have done this for a few years now – where we all leave work early on the last day before we take Christmas break to go out for pizza and drinks. We had a great time again this year! I played golf as much as I could, though life did interfere a few times – as it does. Still, I managed to play 135 holes before the end of the year. My golf play time has slowed down since my year-end tourney win in Batesville on my birthday, as it does every year about this time. Christmas sort of snuck up on us. The month went by superfast and before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. This was the warmest I can remember it being since we lived in California in the ‘70s! It was sunny and warm. Luke & I went to the park and played the front nine on Christmas Eve. He did pretty good towards the end, but those first few holes were a little iffy…as he threw 3 discs in the pond. Thankfully, we were able to retrieve the first two – but that third one landed in the middle of the pond. It was a heck of a throw! Heck, we took off our sweatshirts after the 4th hold due to be so hot & sweaty. He & Sam went to her family’s Xmas party and Abby & Seth went to his Mom’s Christmas. Tilly came over to visit as did Maddy & Tay. We enjoyed catching up with them for a while and then we all met up over at Gma & Gigi’s house for the annual Owens family Xmas Eve that evening. Keith & Rosie made it back again but Megan chose to stay behind. Jamie, Dee, Gracie & her new boyfriend Alex were there, along with Jamie’s mom. After dinner, we played a new version of the White Elephant gift exchange by rolling dice. It was pretty fun but I think I could’ve gotten a better gift if we had played the original version…but that’s not what the game is about, right? We opened up gifts and laughed/chatted for a couple hours before heading home. Abby, Seth, Luke & Sam all came over to do our traditional Xmas Eve stuff at the house, though this year we didn’t do the milk, cookies, cheese & Santa Coke thing, but we did read The Night Before Christmas. The older kids went to Seth’s while the young ones retreated to the back. That meant it was time to help Santa wrap all the other presents. We weren’t quite as good as last year and didn’t get done until around 2. Sadly, we did not have a white Xmas this year; instead, we had a wet and dreary one. Early the next morning, Abby, Seth & Tilly returned and woke all of us up to start our favorite day of the year. We started with coffee and cinnamon rolls…and this year we had a new ingredient for our java – Trader Vic’s macadamia nut liqueur…(yum!) while we basked in the presence of the tree, presents and the Yule Log “burning” on the TV. Next was presents and mimosas, followed by Bloody Marys and playing with our new toys. Before we knew it, it was time to get cleaned up and head over to Mom & Sandy’s house for Christmas Day lunch. It was another huge meal with all the goodies we’ve gotten used to through the years. Honestly, though, all I really wanted was cold turkey sandwiches! Thankfully, that night, Luke & Sam ran over to get leftovers and brought home enough turkey for me to eat sandwiches all week! We tried something different this year. Instead of going home and taking naps after lunch, we turned left and went to Wolf Theaters to watch the new Willy Wonka movie. Luke, Abby & Seth joined us for the two-hour excursion. We spent most of the rest of that week on staycation – the annual time when Ann & I just do nothing for a week. I wound up working a few hours but it was no big deal. I managed to get out and play some disc golf that week. The highlight was playing with my buddy Dennis at Donner in the snow! 😊 Bu & Seth went to “Little” Nashville for the long New Years holiday weekend and brought Tilly over to stay with us. Delilah loved it! …Lola…not so much… LOL. We enjoyed a spontaneous Game Night on NYE-eve-eve when Seth, Abby & Jamie all came over to play a couple new games called Ransom Notes and Cross Clues. Then we played some euchre where Ann & I were again crowned house champs to nail down the honor for 2023. Luke got back from driving for Bryan and we went out back to have a fire and a stogie (and a cocktail for me). The dogs loved it, as it was snowing. Lola eventually got cold and went in but DJ was a trooper and stayed with us, around the fire – keeping warm and solving all the world’s problems until late into the night… This was probably one of the quietest New Years Eve that I can remember as Ann & I watched the ball drop with only the three dogs. I had actually fallen asleep and woke up just in time for the big countdown. Luke & Sammy and Brayden & his GF came over after midnight and talked/laughed with us until about 2 or 3 in the morning before we all called it a year. It was too cold to have a fire out back, unfortunately, as temps plummeted into the 20s. In fact, the week we took off from work got colder and colder each day we were off. Sure, we had some snow flurries during the week, but nothing stuck. And with that, we put a bow on the 2023 year and welcomed in 2024 – hoping that it will be a healthy and prosperous one for our family and yours…

And now onto what you came for…here are the pictures from our excursion to Mexico! …We’re ready to go back now, instead of returning to work in the morning…

Next up is our Waybac segment, which features some old family pictures from mostly late 2001 and early 2002 with a handful from last 2002. We start off with Matt & Abby Trick-or-Treating in front of our house in October 2001; in December 2001 we have Dad & Barb at the Parkside and then Matt & Bu in front of the Christmas tree in our front room in Ryle; next we have Matt & his snowman in the front yard in Jan 2002; Abby’s first haircut with Joann in March 2002; then we have a fun batch of an Easter photo shoot with Kevin with the kids in March of 2002; that’s followed by pix of Keith & Rosie welcoming Megan in March 2002; then a few pictures of Matt’s sixth birthday – also in March 2002; and we end with an odd batch of pictures from a goofed up photo in November 2002 of Bub & Bu that wasn’t developed properly…so I tried my best to pull the image out by using different spectrums of color…turned out sorta psychedelic…

We wrap up this month’s entry with our video segment, which features one new home movie this month as well as several from around the internet.

And that does it for the final installment of the Scheu Family Blog’s 2023 entries. 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 and stay safe out there. We miss ya, Mom. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Later, Scheu