Christmas Eve 2015

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Jenny and Jay's again this year. It is nice to have traditions and it is nice that Jenny and Jay are great hosts and willing to do that at this busy time.

We started out the festivities with mass at St. Cletus. We worshiped in the gym with our favorite vocalists and got to sit in the front row. It was beyond special that I got to hold Ellie during mass, even when she pooped near the end of mass and we weren't quite sure if the diaper was going to contain it! Jack and I said that this time last year we had no idea that we would be grandparents this Christmas and we could not be more thankful for our sweet Elliebel. We were blessed to be at mass with Wayne, Julie, Matt, Sally and Ellie. Very special.

front row at mass

laughing with Grandpa Jack

We had a great time at Jenny and Jay's. It was different this year because Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina were on vacation in Florida and also because Karen did not come. Thank God our numbers were beefed up with the addition of Charley (Kjell and Lisa's daughter, born in March) and Ellie (born in August). We miss our family members who are no longer here to celebrate with us, but we are confident that they are all rejoicing in heaven.

Kjell, Lisa and Charley (9 months old)

Charley with the bear that Wayne and Julie gave her

Mo, Jay and Jenny

After Jenny and Jay's, we came home and opened our presents to each other. We only stayed up until 1am because we knew we had a fun Christmas day ahead of us.

Julie and Wayne 

Christmas Eve Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve Eve with our traditional party with Chuck and Teri and crew. It was extra special because everyone was able to attend. Brittany and Chase were in from Nashville with their dog Turner...and they are expecting a baby in May, so it was fun to see the baby bump. It was Chase's first GHeide and he brought his grandmother's egg nog (spiced and not spiced) which was delicious (even for non egg nog folks). Chas and Julie were there and theirs is the next wedding we will be celebrating. Henry (Caylen and Joe's son who is 7 months old) and Ellie had their own photo shoot. And best of all, my goddaughter Grace was home from Napa where she is studying at the Culinary Institute of America. Grace made some amazing food for us and was very gracious about it, even though it meant that she was slaving in the kitchen. Her arugula salad with lemon was out of this world great and then there were the huge beef tenderloin roasts coated with rosemary and other herbs and cooked to perfection. Wow. What I loved most about this meal is that this crowd gave my Cheesy Potato casserole and baby hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls the same level of appreciation. We just love this special night every year. Time spent with a family who has meant so much to us and with whom we have shared so much through the years... relationships are all that really matter at the end of the day.

the adults

the babies

selfie 

Jack and Chuck checking out the keys 

Teri closed out the night with a customized version of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Loved it!

Christmas Break and another anniversary

Christmas Break has begun. Our last day was Friday and it was a pretty low key day. No complaints, no restraints (not at least while I was present).

We celebrated the beginning of break with dinner at Ken's with Bucky. Have I mentioned how thrilled we are that he is home for Christmas?

me with two  handsome men

Jack and I spent Saturday cleaning the house, not a fun task but very necessary. We did some Christmas shopping, though we were striking out pretty much everywhere we went. 

On Sunday, we went to mass with Bucky, then had a great lunch at Jenny's Steakhouse, whose owners are cousins or something with Ken's owners. We went to the cemetery and visited Marie and Mike's final resting spots. As we got out of the car, I was struck by the bit of a rainbow in the sky. It was so subtle. In my family, rainbows are such a comfort. In the Bible, rainbows are a covenant or promise from God. My parents often told the story of the rainbow that appeared in the cold December sky the morning after my sister Marcia died in the early 1950s. Friends from miles around called to tell them about the beautiful rainbow, such an unusual sight in winter. And we were blessed with another winter rainbow, albeit a little one. It gave me such assurance.

the lit girder on the building points to the bit of rainbow

Today was my first real day of break, meaning it was a day that I didn't have to go to work. I hosted a birthday breakfast for Mary at Egg Harbor. It was a super fun way to start break. Mary is such a wonderful person, kind, caring and so incredibly generous. 

celebrating Mary

Today was also the fourth anniversary of Marmar's homegoing. Wow. I thought about putting something on facebook  to mark this day (Marmar LOVED facebook!), but I didn't want to be dramatic or attention-seeking. God bless my mom. She loved her family like no other. 

a beautiful sunset

With rainbows in winter, a beautiful sunset and a loving family, God's majesty is ever present. 

Happy Birthday, Bucky!

We were thankful to have Bucky home to celebrate his 87th birthday with us.

We started with a family dinner on Sunday at Bucky's house. We had Thanksgiving dinner, take 2. Bucky missed Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year and we knew we needed to make it up to him. It was a great night. We are a fun group, if I do say so myself. 

selfie stick pic; notice my bossy face

these three were not in the selfie stick pic so they got their own shot

Bucky's actual birthday was Tuesday, December 15th. Jack, Sally and Ellie had lunch with Bucky at Coopers Hawk. I wasn't too jealous. Not much anyway.

Look at them. 4 generations. That is a miracle right there. 

We are so blessed! 

Four Generations

Today we had four generations together. It was a profound experience.

Jack's dad, aka Bucky, returned from Florida on Friday. It is wonderful to have Bucky home for the holidays. 

We told Bucky that we wanted to go to mass with him today. When Sally and Matt heard that, they said they wanted to go as well. Jack and I picked up Bucky and met Sally, Matt and Ellie at church. 

It was beyond touching, meaningful.

Ellie met her great grandfather at the church where Bucky and Grandma had been members for 62 years. So much history there.

Bucky, Jack and Ellie sat in the same pew where Jack's folks have worshiped for all of these years. Matt, Sally and I sat directly behind them.

I am not sure what the highlight of mass was. There were so many, beginning with Bucky meeting Ellie in person (they had already met via Facetime, of course!)

The new pastor at the parish was amazing. The mass was incredibly kid-friendly, including St. Nicholas and chocolate gold coins for everyone. The homily was all about peace and being a peacemaker while acknowledging the fear of what is happening in the world including ISIS. 

It was touching to worship with our granddaughter for the first time.

It was sweet to watch Matt sing Salve Regina to Ellie and to see her smiley reaction. I could not believe that Matt knew all of the lyrics to Salve Regina. That made me cry. 

It was truly the best advent worship experience ever.
Advent is truly the season of hope. 

love

front row seats

singing hymns with dad

Thanksgiving 2015

I am recovering from another fun Thanksgiving.
I was not feeling quite as organized this year. By the time I got home from work around 7 on Tuesday night (a long day of meetings and parent-teacher conferences), I was too tired to do any cooking or cleaning.
Also my hip was killing me. I am just going to say that I am getting older (in the twilight of my years, in the fourth quarter, playing the back nine...that was for you, Sally!). I am going to need a hip replacement sooner rather than later, but that is a story for another day.
On Wednesday, Jack and I did our traditional final Thanksgiving grocery shopping at Kramer's. We love the tradition. We always run into friends and neighbors and it is a festive event.

 

Christy and me by the dairy!

After running errands, I had lunch at Houlihan's with Jenny, Sally, Ellie, Beth, Abbie and Nina. Susie, Jenny and I had just started a new tradition of WBTL (Wednesday before Thanksgiving Lunch) after Marmar died, but it only lasted two years...then Susie died. We couldn't face doing it last year, but decided to try and resurrect it this year. I am glad we did. There is just nothing like being with family.

sweet girlies

I came home from lunch and cooked the rest of the day, into the night. We hit the ground running yesterday and accomplished most of what we wanted to.


On balance, it was a very good day. Sally and Ellie stopped by in the morning to put the turkeys out, answering my question from the end of the last post. We facetimed with Wayne and Julie in Ohio.

Sally watching Macy's parade

It was a blessing to spend time with Lauren, Brendan, Downtown Sue, Jenny, Kjell. Lisa, Jake and Charley and then a bit later, Matt, Sally, Ellie and Otto and Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina as well.

that's us

Charley (8 months old) and Kjell

Downtown Sue meets Ellie

cuties

Thank God for family.

me and Jen

Thanksgiving Week

I love Thanksgiving week. It's one of my favorite weeks of the year. I say that every year. It's true. It's got a different rhythm and feel to it and it's all holidayish.
My work week is shorter. I have my regular schedule of classes tomorrow and on Tuesday I have parent teacher conferences from noon to 7pm. I had to squeeze in another meeting on Tuesday, so I am actually going to start at 10:30.
Once I get home from work on Tuesday night, it'll officially be Thanksgiving.
It will be different this year. I am adjusting to that.
It'll be a smaller group for dinner this year. I think it's only 9 of us. Lauren and Brendan are planning on stopping in on the early end. Paul (Jack's brother) and Bucky will be in Florida, Wayne and Julie are going to her folks in Cleveland, Sally, Matt and Ellie are going to his family's for dinner but are coming over later, Arne, Beth, Abbie and Nina are going to her family's, and the rest of the folks? Well, they are dead. There is no tone of voice in the printed word so I hope you know that I say this with the utmost respect and love and resignation.
At Thanksgiving 2011, four people were here at our house who are no longer on this earth. Mike, Marmar, Marie and Susie.
We are still kinda adjusting to that. Probably always will be as we are still rationalizing Pawp, Dane and Tom's absences.
In terms of Wayne and Sally celebrating with their new families, I really do not have a problem with that. I am thrilled that they both have wonderful in-laws and are creating new traditions with their spouses. That's what it is all about. Both my parents and Jack's parents gave us the freedom to do that and I have never taken that for granted.
We are extremely blessed to have such wonderful people in our family. We feel their love and presence whether they are here in our living room drinking Chandon or whether they are somewhere else on this Earth or in Heaven.
The only question is: who is going to put the chocolate turkeys on the table???

Wedding bells

Mr. and Mrs.

This past Saturday, our family celebrated the marriage of Sue and Don. It was a lovely day. Sue was a beautiful bride and Don was a handsome groom and everything went well. It was extra special to spend time with lots of fun family and friends. We enjoyed seeing Sue's family. After all of those years of family parties for birthdays and sacraments etc, we don't get to see Mary, Diane, Danny, Tim, Julie and the others very often...just wakes and funerals, it seems. They are some really nice, good people and it was an awesome day. I certainly had a great time!

family

Halloween and All Saints Day

What a great weekend. It was a nice mix of productivity and fun, with some rest and a sacrament thrown in.

Friday was a low-key celebration of Halloween with my Friday Friends. Less is more when it comes to Halloween and kids with emotional/behavior issues. I ended my Friday workday trying to get up to speed with the whole process of billing for Medicaid. Yikes. 

 Jack and I had the most glamorous and fun date night on Friday. We went to Steak and Shake for dinner (yum!!!) and then went to Target and bought a new vacuum cleaner. I am always looking for the best deal and I had $50 in gift cards and some of the Sharks were on sale, so we got ourselves a new vacuum!!! Woo hoo! Pretty excited about it, not gonna lie. That meant that I spent most of Saturday morning vacuuming. It was about time. 

Halloween was fun. Jack, Sally, Ellie and I went over to Chuck and Teri's to carry on our trick or treat tradition, now in its second generation. Caylen and Joe were there with Henry (5 months old). It was bad weather, pouring rain and chilly, so we did not actually trick or treat. We sat around and visited and it was so so so much fun. Matt was not there because Otto had a grooming appointment, but he made it to our second stop at Mark and Cath's. So fun again. Another tradition. After Mark and Cathy's, we went back home so Ellie could eat. We had dinner also- some homemade pizza. We fully intended to make it back out to visit Christy and Steve and also to stop in at Mike and Jean's, but we never made it back out. Getting old, I guess.

another generation

grandmothers

grandfathers

Mark and Cath!

We had an extra hour on Sunday since we turned back the clocks and it was the perfect day to have that additional time. Sunday was as beautiful as Saturday was dismal. Jack and I were invited to the baptism of Jack (Christy and Steve's grandson, Matt and Jen's son) at 1pm at St. Isaac, so we went to noon mass there. It was All Saints Day and the homily was all about our personal "saints", not necessarily the canonized ones, but also our loved ones who are in Heaven. The priest talked about how we should be asking for their intercessions, much like we ask family and friends to put in a good word for us here on Earth. That put a smile on my face, thinking of how many saints we have pulling for us up in Heaven!
Jack's baptism was special, too. The new young (30 years old!) priest at St. Isaac was the presider for this sacrament and he did a lovely job. It was very meaningful to be there with this wonderful family.

Mrs. H and Patrick

special family

We ended our social Sunday with a late lunch/early dinner at Gibson's, courtesy of a birthday gift from Lynn. Perfect way to end the day! 

Such a great weekend!!

Look who is smiling!

sweet Elliebel

Fall birthdays

When Marmar was alive, we HAD to celebrate birthdays. Had to. She was all about birthdays, especially hers (I am saying that in a most respectful way!) We had to get together, even if it was just for cake and ice cream. We would roll our eyes, but we would make sure we got together.
Jenny and I, being the only ones left from the our family of origin (a term I learned from Jack's mom), have tried to keep up the tradition. It hasn't been easy, especially since Sue died. It's just hard. But God love Jenny, she took it upon herself this year to make sure our family acknowledged birthdays. Jen organized seasonal birthday get togethers. This past Sunday we celebrated the fall birthdays at a get together at Jenny and Jay's. So fun.

Jack, Matt, Ellie and Anthony

Ellie

Abbie, Nina, Arne, Beth with Ellie

Sleepover!!

Abbie and Nina came to our house for a sleepover on Friday. It was long overdue!  Arne and Beth dropped them off around 5 and stayed to visit for awhile. It was fun catching up with Arn and Beth, too. We haven't seen nearly enough of our families in the past few months.

Abbie is 9 and in fourth grade and Nina is 6 and in first grade. Jack and I couldn't believe how grown up they have gotten. It was such a chill evening. We didn't do much "entertaining". The girls love to cook so we spent lots of time in the kitchen. Abbie and Nina made their own pizza and a 1/2 batch of chocolate chip cookies. We had some deep discussions and everyone was asleep at a decent hour. 

In the morning, we made some pancakes (Lynn's recipe, of course). Another tradition, Jack measured the girls on the wall in the laundry room (the same wall that was used to measure Wayne, Sally, Arne, Dane and Kjell at various times in their lives). Jack, Abbie and Nina also walked over to the mini mart but got caught in a downpour. No worries! That's how easy going they all are. 

Such a perfect way to start a weekend! 

made this pizza themselves!

measuring

earned some $$

Beautiful Fall Weekend

It's been a beautiful fall weekend. The trees are gorgeous and the weather has been cool and crisp. This picture was taken this morning. Look at those colors, including that blue sky! 

Abbie posting!

My hero is patty why you may ask well. i think she brings joy to a lot of people and i want to do that when i am older. i think patty has the skill for everything and that is a good skill in life.

Fair Weekend

ready for the Fair!

Jack and I did a day trip to the Hillsdale County Fair today. The weather was cold (50 degrees) and rainy (not torrential), but that did not dampen our spirits. It is one of my favorite days of the year.
There were some deviations from the usual Fair experiences, but we were flexible and rolled with the punches. We all know how Jack likes his traditions!

Jack in front of his old dorm

This year, we stopped at the apple orchard on the way into town and stopped at Hillsdale College before going to the Fair. I know, really mixing things up. Jack's first dorm that he lived in at Hillsdale was gone, torn down. Thankfully, his Koon Hall was still there, although painted a bit differently. At the Fair, there was no funhouse ride and once again, no photo button booth (but we took our own picture). In another deviation from tradition, I had cheese on a stick instead of a corn dog. It looked exactly like a corn dog, but there was a mozzarella stick inside. Pretty delish.
We did not play any games this year, but did watch a video of a calf being born which was very fascinating.

There were also some differences at Schuler's Restaurant this year. One of our favorite things was taken off the menu. No peppermint ribbon pie! Deep breath. I am ok, Breathe. It was a shock, but we managed to force down a coconut snowball. Thank goodness the meatballs were still on the menu!!! We also deviated from our usual order in other ways. Schuler's has done a nice job of updating their menu over the years. This year, we had roasted brussel sprouts as an appetizer in addition to the meatballs. We skipped the Schuler's salad. I had a roasted root salad with chicken and Jack had trout. All good stuff.

a toast to traditions

no Peppermint Ribbon Pie!

all done!

We arrived home around 8 pm to find that the Landscaping Fairy had visited our house while we were gone today. Jenny and Jay very graciously and generously are redoing the landscaping in front of our house. It has been a bit of a mess since we had the main sewer line replaced 18 months ago.  When we came home tonight, there was a new tree planted and black dirt spread and bushes waiting to be planted. So exciting!! I can't believe they are doing that for us. So touching.
All in all, a pretty darn good fall Saturday so far.

A wonderful week

This past week, from Saturday September 26 til Thursday October 1st, Jack and I had the luxury of time with our daughter, granddaughter and granddog. Matt had to go on a business trip to Switzerland and we all decided it would be in everyone's best interests (especially mine and Jack's!) if Sally, Ellie and Otto moved in with us while he was gone. All I can say is that it was heavenly!!!!!
Last Saturday, Jack and I drove up to Green Bay Wisconsin for the funeral of a guy who Jack had always admired. John was the husband of Jack's mom's cousin (did you follow that?! I never do if someone tells me something like that), so not a close relative, but John was someone who Jack looked up to. In any case, it was a great day celebrating a wonderful guy and sharing fun stories. On the way home, we stopped at Matt and Sally's to help schlep all the stuff that a 5 week old baby needs for a five day stay. Believe me, there was lots of equipment! We ordered out sushi and settled in for the night. Later on in the night, Wayne and Julie stopped in to see Ellie and the rest of us, so we had the fam together except for Matt. Wayne and Julie are so good with Ellie and love her to pieces. Wayne has already started singing a song for Ellie that is totally catching on. It'll be a keeper. I will try to post a video of it on here at some point. Sweet.

Ellie, Julie and Wayne

lots of love 

Our Sunday flew by! I walked with Jean, we made pancakes and bacon, we had company, including Ellie's Grandpa Bob and Grandma Mary. Later in the day, Julie's sister and brother-in-law and their son Ty stopped by. It was such a fun day.

Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Jack

I had to work during the week, but Jack had some flexibility and was able to spend some time with the kids during the work week. Jack especially enjoyed holding Ellie while Sally napped a few times and he also loved taking Otto on long walks. Otto is such a good puppy.
It was so special to have this time with Sally, Ellie and Otto. I loved hearing Ellie's sweet little baby sounds in the morning and being able to change her diaper and cuddle with her. On some level, it is still sinking in that this precious little girl is MY granddaughter! I love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow. God is so good!

sleepy girl

Ellie visited with Christy and Mary