Empty Nesting: Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

There's nothing like Winter Break to get me in a good mood! My last day of work was Friday and I have this whole week to finish my Christmas preparations. I can't believe that I don't even have to think about lesson plans for tomorrow! The first four days of my vacation have been fun and social!

We started off the weekend with a Progressive Dinner with the Birthday Club and husbands. We had appetizers at Chuck and Teri's, then walked over to Mary and Bob's for the main course, and finished up at Mary and Ed's for dessert. It was really a fun night and no one couple had to do too much work as we all contributed. One of the highlights of the evening was Jack leading everyone in the singing of Hard Rock, Cocoa and Joe. I will put a short video after this post. Everyone was in good spirits. We were thinking of two couples who couldn't be there who were dealing with real life issues; Carol's mom was in final stages of dying and did pass away on Sunday morning. And Trish did not come; her husband Pat died this fall after a long battle with ALS. My gosh, Pat was an awesome guy. Overall it has been a tough year for many folks in the Birthday Club, but we were all ready to enjoy each other's company.

Jean and me. Festive hats from the party poppers

Jean, Christy, Mary, Jerry and Pam getting the entree ready

On Saturday night, we were thrilled to be invited to Caylen and Joe's engagement party. Wayne was not able to come because he had already accepted an invitation for a Christmas party downtown, but Sally and Matt came. We are all so excited for Caylen and Joe. He proposed two weeks ago while they were vacationing in Spain. They are looking at dates in November.We are so looking forward to that wedding! We have known and loved Caylen her whole life...even before she was born as Jack likes to tell her.