Merry Christmas, everyone! This is the first Christmas for our new puppy and seeing our little black & white dogs stare at the Christmas tree, sniff all the pretty packages or flit around in the snow is almost as fun as spending a Christmas one more time with a six-year-old. It is a magical time that makes this holiday so special for our family. Thankfully, it was a short work / school week for us. Ann and the kids were off after Tuesday. At my work, Dennis was visiting from the corporate office, so we enjoyed catching up and getting some of my EoC stuff in-line for the end of the year. I finished with a bang on Wednesday, leaving at 6 in the morning and getting home after 9 that night; but I was able to get everything done for the rest of the year, so its all good. 🙂 The kids made lots of goodies with Mom on Wednesday. They made up their third batch of the season of Chex Mix, baked several dozens of different cookies (including a batch of sugar-free cookies that were “puffy” in the middle), chocolate covered marshmallows and chocolate fudge! Yum Ann and the kids had ordered pizzas that night. When I got home, Matt and I went to the playroom and had plenty of munchies as we stayed up late and watched a few movies wed wanted to check out for a while Zombieland, 2010 & The Fourth Kind. I have to admit that Zombieland just might be my favorite movie of all 2009. Although most likely classified as a horror movie, this one truly had everything to make it enjoyable for all different kinds of people. 2010 was pretty good as wellactually, I like anything with Woody Harrelson in it I want to thank Aunt Sharon for sending pictures of the Smith grandchildren this week and for all the wonderful Christmas cards we received this week. I have included my favorites below. I have also included my favorite art projects that the kids brought home this week… Earlier, on Wednesday, Luke had received a very special phone call from the big guy, up at the North Pole! A special thanks??? goes to Sandy for pulling off the audio from our voice mail thanks, Gigi!! 😛 You shouldve seen his face! It was really cool to see his reaction! You can hear the audio only by clicking HERE. You can also see??? it here:
On Thursday, I snuck over to Mom & Gigis house to put together Lukes Green Machine. I enjoyed snacking on Chili’s chips & salsa and talking with the two of themit was actually quiet and nice. Usually, there are 4 kids, 6 dogs and a delicately controlled chaos when I meet up with those two. I finally finished my work and made my way back home. It was forecasted to snow that day, but the temps were way too high and we could only enjoy the gray rain and brown mud puddles. All day long, we followed Santas progress on a really cool website HERE on the Santa Tracker. 🙂 The kids also emailed Santa to be sure the elves knew exactly what they wanted. The elves only had to get two last-minute things that afternoon After the kids finally got up from their naps, we grabbed showers and headed to church, where Sandy was broadcasting the sermon. Afterwards, we went to Mom & Gigis for dinner (Maryann made chili and Ann made a couple of family favorites: olive dip and a zesty, cheesy corn dip), and our annual family traditional Christmas Eve festivities. The gift exchange was huge as always. Gigi always makes things fun. This year, she had all the presents upstairs in the Magical Present Room.??? She then had us draw names to see who could go up and get their presents. Luke was funny, as he was likened to a Tasmanian devil, ripping through his packages in record time! Abby & Gracie played well and disappeared upstairs with their American Girl dolls shortly afterwards. Matt was quietly entertained by all his electronic gadgets. We let the kids run crazy and doing the pickle dance with Gigi for a little while before calling it quits and loading up the car (Dad B. wouldve sure been proud to see how in the world I got all that loot and the 5 of us in that Pacifica!). 😉 We ran through the rest of our Christmas Eve traditions once we returned home. We had the kids get on their Christmas jammies and spread their reindeer dust out front, like weve done each year since Matt was little. We then read Twas the Night before Christmas and took our annual family portrait in the playroom. That was followed by setting out milk & cookies (as well as cheese and a Santa bottle Coke thanks to Bu many years ago) for Santa. This year, Luke and Abby both wrote letters to Santa. They were so cute and were very lucky to receive a reply from Santa himself!! Santa came a little earlier than normal, making it right around 2 am. Ann and I really missed not being able to take a picture of Mom & Dad sleeping this yearsomething that had become a staple in our routine the past decade. I know; dont askit always seems much funnier at 2 in the morning
On Christmas morning, the kids only had to be told to go back to bed a couple times before we got up with them around 7. They mustve been pretty good this year, judging by all the booty that Santa left for them. When I asked what everybodys favorite presents were this year, here is what they said…Abby: clothes, chair & DSi; Matt: Xbox, phone & PSP; Luke: Star Wars guys, Legos, Green Machine, tractor, robot, remote control truck & Nerf gun; Ann: gift certificate for a hour at a professional masseuse in Columbus & popcorn; Tom: Hot Wheels, Husqvarna leaf blower & a tree trimmer. Ann & I thought we were pretty clever when we got Matt a “Deputy Dad” badge (in lieu of a Jr. Parent badge)…that way when he gets bossy and tries to control the little ones, we tell him he has to put on his badge before he can say things like that. 🙂 Later we went over to Mom & Gigis house for lunch, where Maryann took good care of us – as usual. She had turkey & ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, noodles & yams, Anns green bean casserole & yeast rolls, pumpkin & pecan pies, lots of cookies, cheese ball & crackers and more that I cant even remember! 😛 Again, Gigi made it fun. This time, she took a CD of pictures I made for her (all the old ones that wed found in their basement a week or so ago) and made a montage of seasonal songs and combined them in to a power point slide show. It was pretty cool and we all got a huge laugh at all the old picturesyou shouldve heard the conversations and nostalgia it created perfect for a Christmas Day afternoon When we came home, the whole family took naps and then we watched a couple Christmas movies. We started off with our traditional viewing of the perennial favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas. With the new Xbox, we are able to use it to get online through our Netflix account and watch streaming movies for free. Matt requested that we watch another one of our favorites, Christmas Story. Since I didnt have that one readily available (it is on VHS somewhere out in the garage), we quickly and easily watched it via this medium. I was impressed with the quality. I could not tell that we werent watching a DVD. Ive seen how videos usually look and sound when they are streaming over the internet and this was impressive; not even one hesitation. Its fair to say that well use this medium again in the future.
On Saturday, we braved the public arena by taking the kids to Wal-Mart to spend some of their Christmas money. As you might expect, it was crazy in there. We just took our time (actually, we were gone for 2 hours total!) and enjoyed itwell, as much as you can enjoy a trip to Wal-Mart. Its amazing the people you see out at this time of the year. Ann likens it to another annual occurrence in this town the only time you see people like this is out at the county fair. 😛 Luke found even more Star Wars figures, Abby bought a rug for her room and Matt got a bunch of gum. I found a few new Hot Wheels, including my first two Trea$ure Hunts my first in almost 3 years!! 🙂 When we came home, the rain finally stopped long enough to get Lukey outside and let him ride his Green Machine for a while. I ultimately had to get on it (yes, it actually held me!) and show Lukey & Bu how it was done. ;-P That night, we took it easy and played with our new toys and the kids went to bed early
On Sunday, we bummed around the house in the morning before heading back to Maryann & Sandys house to celebrate Deannas birthday. We had to hassle Deanna when Mom O. had the candles arranged incorrectly, indicating that Dee Dee was turning 46! 😉 We enjoyed cake and ice cream, played bingo (Although both Ann & I won two games, Lukey was the big winner!) and had popcorn (via Grandma’s new popcorn popper that we got her) with which to watch the Colts game. Ann took Abby out to her friend Megans house for the afternoonthen they ended up coming back to our house hours later to stay the night much to Matts chagrin. 🙁 While we were at Grandmas house, it started snowing really snowing! When we got home, there was about 2 inches on the ground; easily the most weve had this year. The boys and I went out to play during halftime of the Colts game. I got to break in my new snow shovel and Luke attempted to ride his Green Machinebut he wasnt very successful. It was much colder; even the dogs (who love the snow) didnt stay out too long. It was the good kind of snow, toothe wet, packing kind! Were hoping to go sledding tomorrow!! Thanks to Gigi for the great photo she gave us of our family after Matt’s Christmas band program, out at the high school a week or so ago. We were disappointed to see the Colts give up in the second half and put in the scrubs, thus blowing any chance of going undefeated this year (snapping their 23-game, regular-season winning streak); but were still hoping for a Colts vs. Cowboys Super Bowl this year!! Speaking of the Cowboys; they looked great on Sunday Night Football clinching a spot in the playoffs!
Here are a couple video montages from our busy week. The first one has stuff through Christmas Eve. The second is Christmas Day on…
OK; real quick, lets check out some more Christmas Waybac pictures (I don’t want to use them all, but I have plenty, so here are a bunch for you to enjoy). We’ll go by decades, to make it quick and easy:
First up are the fifties; Heres Maryann with what appears to be a stuffed animal for Christmas.
Next are the sixties. These two are of Uncle Keith. The first one is with Grandma & Grandpa Morrison on “Lightning” in 1967. All three of our kids have ridden that horse and we still have him. I think hes hanging from our garage ceiling right now The second one is with Dean in the local newspaper in 1969how sweet.
We have one from the seventies as well. Here is the Owens gang under the tree on Christmas in 1975.
Next up are the eighties. Leading off, we have three from our first Christmas in LaPorte, during the Bryan Christmas in 1980. I love the beard on Grandpa and youre welcome, Aunt Sharon!! Notice Rob under the last real??? tree before we went with an artificial. I remember Mom sweeping up needles three times a day this winter. The next one is Ann with her family, eating lunch on Christmas Day, 1984. Then theres Rob in his room on Rockwood, Christmas Eve, 1985. After that is Grandpa & Lou (perhaps Grandma is taking the picture??) for Christmas Day lunch in what I believe is 1986. Next up is Grandma & Grandpa Townsend in Sandys house, circa 1988 (remember that wallpaper, Mom?). Then the final two of this decade are of Uncle Rob on Christmas morning, 1989 at our home in LaPortealong with some long-haired dudenice mullet. 😛
Finally, we have the nineties. The first one is Rob with his new shirt, featuring the world champion Reds in 1990. And bringing up the caboose is Deanna & Maryann in what Ann thinks is her apartment at Rose Hulman, circa 1992.
Well thats it for this episode of the Scheu Family Blog. I hope everyone reading this had as wonderful of a Christmas holiday as we experienced this year. The Scheu family would also like to wish each of you a safe, happy and prosperous new year! Thanks as always for keeping up with the Scheu family in 2009. Well catch up with you in 2010! Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu