I am closing out 2012 with the 400th edition of the Swann Family News, but more on that below.
SHOOTING STARS. Before I get started recounting our Christmas I want to share a story I forgot to write up last time.
The Geminid Meteor Shower peaked back on the 13th and that evening as the boys and I were returning from Ben’s basketball practice we parked in the field behind the shop and watched until we got cold (which didn’t take too long). We got quite a show, seeing two to three meteors per minute. Some were very impressive. It was one of those special moments I will treasure, not so much because my sons were asking me questions (and no, I don’t know all the answers), but because the three of us were simply enjoying the beauty of the night sky as made by our Creator.
There are so many details in this world that we miss because we are too busy to stop and look at the handiwork of God.
DON’T FLUSH! I am happy to report that we have had a great Christmas, though the unexpected challenge for us was that we were without water most of the day. It turned out that there was a major water main leak just down Henry Road from Highway 25 which affected quite a number of customers in the area. I became aware of this before everyone else got up when I heard a sucking air noise in the washing machine. I felt sorry for the crew out there having to fix the problem on a cold, damp, Christmas morning.
We were able to carry on with all of our Christmas activities. Mrs. Connie said, “We’re pioneers,” so breakfast was still on. I helped Vicki wash her hair over the kitchen sink with bottled water. Judging from the way she squawked I’d say the water felt pretty cold even though it was at room temperature.
At any rate, there are far worse problems to have on any given morning, much less Christmas. Better to be without water for a while than electricity on a cold day. Our water service was restored around 2:00.
A MOST WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS. To begin this tale I need to start by saying I do quite a bit of the gift wrapping at our house. This year I threw the kids for a loop because when I wrapped the presents I put numbers on the labels rather than names (I kept a key to the numbers in a notebook). The boys were so funny because they’d come up to me and say, “I don’t understand. What does number eight mean?”
We decided to put a little adventure into Christmas this year by staging a scavenger hunt for most of the gifts around the house, so Christmas Eve night found us writing clues and hiding gifts. The kids were totally oblivious to our sneaking around because they were watching something on TV. The next morning we presented them with eight clues that sent them looking all over. One clue had them going to their own closets and when I read it aloud and the kids figured out where to go Ben stopped with this most incredulous look on his face and exclaimed, “How did you get by me? I was awake almost the whole night!” He marveled again at our prowess because their final gifts were hidden right under their beds.
The major gift for the boys was a pair of Google Nexus 7 tablets. Ben knew immediately what it was and practically jumped out of his skin. Nate wasn’t quite up to speed, but quickly figured out that he had something really good. Jenna got a lot of smaller gifts that she wanted and a good haul of cash. I netted several books that are on my reading list.
CLASSIC TV. Two things we as a family got for Christmas were complete DVD sets of I Love Lucy and Gilligan’s Island. Nate is in hog heaven in that we no longer have to wait for the next disc to come from Netflix in order for him to get his Lucy fix, and we’ve enjoyed introducing them to the antics of those poor castaways of the S. S. Minnow.
KENNY IS STUMPED. For those of you who keep up with the Kenny Swann/Kim Hendley exchange on Facebook -- which has offered years of entertainment for many -- you’ll be glad to know someone finally has Kenny stumped.
For several years now Jenna and Kenny have exchanged gag gifts. Jenna usually picks on his lack of hair and Kenny tries to dream up anything he can to get her goat. They’ve both come up with some good gifts. Kenny’s crash helmet after Jenna’s bike wreck was a classic.
Alas, the gift giving is over. Jenna gave Kenny a baseball cap that reads, “Wish you were hair.” and Kenny had nothing in return. He said he had thought and thought and thought and couldn’t come up with an idea that wasn’t lame so he conceded and called a truce. When I heard him say that I thought, “Well, that’s what you get for messing with Mary Poppins in training.” I think they decided that Jenna would be Santa’s Helper next year.
I think Kim needs to team up with Jenna.
THE 400TH EDITION. I know I have said this sort of thing before, but I am really quite amazed to see “Number 400” in the header above (even more so that my software is reporting that I’ve typed over 318,000 words). I remember first dreaming up the concept for the Swann Family News when I was mowing the part of Aunt Mar’s yard we call the “strawberry patch.” I knew then that I wanted to keep a running journal of our family’s life, but that the only way I’d stay at it would be to make it into an email newsletter so I’d be accountable to more than just me. Even at that I never dreamed I’d still be at it 400 issues later.
This brings me to the birthday and Christmas presents I gave Vicki this year. I took the first two years of the Swann Family News, added pictures from our digital archives, and had them bound into book (I used the same service I used for The Wit & Wisdom of Aunt Mar). Vicki got volume 1 for her birthday and volume 2 for Christmas. Mom and the kids each got their own copies for Christmas as well.
The nice thing is that I don’t have to think up new gift ideas for a while, I just have to make another book in time for the next occasion. This edition, for example, will be in volume 10 if I get that far making books. Hopefully they will be something my family treasures for years to come.
Joe
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Merry Christmas!
Just hours after I wrote last we have a cold front blow in and cool things off quite a bit. Things eventually warmed up, but then another front came through packing a lot of wind and cooling things off once again. Now there’s a possibility of snow in the forecast.
MIDDLE-EARTH. Last weekend we went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was good, but boy, was it long. I’m going to reserve some judgement until I see the next two movies, but I left wondering if it was a mistake to stretch the tale into a trilogy. (The original plan was to make a two-part film.) I also left wondering how much artistic license they took and how much extra material they pulled from the appendices to The Lord of the Rings. Long as it was we had a good time together which is what matters.
OUR STOCKINGS ARE ALL HUNG UP BY THE CHIMNEY WITH CARE and we are hoping Saint Nick will soon be here. This is not to say we are completely ready for Christmas, we aren’t. We haven’t sent out a single Christmas card. We’ve decided that’s going to have to be one of those post-holiday projects.
COUNT DOWN TO THE HOLIDAY. Our last day of school was Wednesday and the kids were counting it down. Jenna got out a little earlier since her exams were over. At one point Nate wanted me to figure it to the exact minute, and while I understand his excitement I told him to stick to counting the days. The kids are really fortunate this year that they have two and a half weeks off. Several of the other school systems around aren’t quite so generous.
It’s always hard as a parent to find a balance between playtime, chores, and other uses of time when your kids are on their break. You want them to have a good balance of all. The boys would say we didn’t find that balance at first because we tackled cleaning the house to get things in order for Christmas.
CHRISTMAS PARTIES. The big reason everyone got pulled into cleaning the house was that we hosted a Christmas party for my Sunday School class Saturday night. Ten folks were able to come and we enjoyed eating, visiting, and a quick game of Dirty Santa.
Yesterday after church we invited Mom and Jimmie and Susanne Pitt to come over for lunch. We eat leftovers from the party and a chance to just visit.
Last night saw us at the annual party over at Kenny and Lori’s. It’s always fun to stop and catch up with your neighbors there and I enjoyed it. What we thought was funny was that Wil told all the kids to bring their Nerf guns because he was stocking up on plenty of Nerf ammo. Our boys were all over that and came home from church excited about the upcoming battle that evening. They even told Vicki not to be alarmed if she heard unusual noises from upstairs because they would be “in training.” Sure enough, upon arriving at the party the boys headed downstairs where I suspect a good time was had by all.
MARRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! It is not my habit to write this in the morning, but since it is Christmas Eve I thought this morning was as good a time as any. I am about to get ready for the day so I can make boiled custard for tomorrow and do some last minute gift wrapping. Vicki is going to look through her purchases and make a last minute shopping run if needed. Then there’s the Christmas Eve service at church tonight.
Whatever your day looks like, we wish you a very Merry Christmas -- and to all a good night...
Joe
MIDDLE-EARTH. Last weekend we went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was good, but boy, was it long. I’m going to reserve some judgement until I see the next two movies, but I left wondering if it was a mistake to stretch the tale into a trilogy. (The original plan was to make a two-part film.) I also left wondering how much artistic license they took and how much extra material they pulled from the appendices to The Lord of the Rings. Long as it was we had a good time together which is what matters.
OUR STOCKINGS ARE ALL HUNG UP BY THE CHIMNEY WITH CARE and we are hoping Saint Nick will soon be here. This is not to say we are completely ready for Christmas, we aren’t. We haven’t sent out a single Christmas card. We’ve decided that’s going to have to be one of those post-holiday projects.
COUNT DOWN TO THE HOLIDAY. Our last day of school was Wednesday and the kids were counting it down. Jenna got out a little earlier since her exams were over. At one point Nate wanted me to figure it to the exact minute, and while I understand his excitement I told him to stick to counting the days. The kids are really fortunate this year that they have two and a half weeks off. Several of the other school systems around aren’t quite so generous.
It’s always hard as a parent to find a balance between playtime, chores, and other uses of time when your kids are on their break. You want them to have a good balance of all. The boys would say we didn’t find that balance at first because we tackled cleaning the house to get things in order for Christmas.
CHRISTMAS PARTIES. The big reason everyone got pulled into cleaning the house was that we hosted a Christmas party for my Sunday School class Saturday night. Ten folks were able to come and we enjoyed eating, visiting, and a quick game of Dirty Santa.
Yesterday after church we invited Mom and Jimmie and Susanne Pitt to come over for lunch. We eat leftovers from the party and a chance to just visit.
Last night saw us at the annual party over at Kenny and Lori’s. It’s always fun to stop and catch up with your neighbors there and I enjoyed it. What we thought was funny was that Wil told all the kids to bring their Nerf guns because he was stocking up on plenty of Nerf ammo. Our boys were all over that and came home from church excited about the upcoming battle that evening. They even told Vicki not to be alarmed if she heard unusual noises from upstairs because they would be “in training.” Sure enough, upon arriving at the party the boys headed downstairs where I suspect a good time was had by all.
MARRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! It is not my habit to write this in the morning, but since it is Christmas Eve I thought this morning was as good a time as any. I am about to get ready for the day so I can make boiled custard for tomorrow and do some last minute gift wrapping. Vicki is going to look through her purchases and make a last minute shopping run if needed. Then there’s the Christmas Eve service at church tonight.
Whatever your day looks like, we wish you a very Merry Christmas -- and to all a good night...
Joe
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Spring in December
The kids, Nate especially, are counting down the days until Christmas Break. Just 7½ days to go!
It’s hard to believe this is December. Not so much because time flies by, but because it’s so warm. Most days all you need is a light jacket, if that. Today, for instance, has brought rain. To look out the window you’d think it’s cold and gray, but step outside and it’s about 60°. Makes it sort of hard to dream of a white Christmas.
CHRISTMAS PARADE. Cross Plains held it’s annual Christmas Parade a week ago yesterday (the 1st). Our current weather trend made this most pleasant.
There were a couple of neat changes this year. First, they reversed the course of the parade route making the wait for it to get to the four-way stop shorter. And then they decided to have the parade at night this year. This allowed for a lot of neat expressions of lighting creativity. I certainly enjoyed it.
SICK NATE. Nate woke up early Wednesday morning sick at his stomach. He didn’t make it to school that day. He really didn’t make it too far from his bucket.
Nate really is one of the most pleasant kids to be around, even when he’s sick. After the kids and I left Vicki thought she heard noise coming from the living room. When she went in there to check it out she found Nate humming Christmas carols to himself. He wanted to keep himself in the holiday spirit.
The stomach bug has been going around, but fortunately the rest of us didn’t catch it.
BASKETBALL PRACTICE. Upward Basketball practice has started. Ben practices on Thursday evenings and Nate on Fridays (they are in two age divisions and thus on two different teams). Jenna has aged out of Upward ball.
I really like both boys’ coaches. I’ve seen Ben’s coach around for years and thought he would be a good coach to play for. We also know Nate’s coaches (a husband and wife) as their daughter and Jenna played on the same team last year.
VICKI’S BIRTHDAY. Vicki’s birthday is actually tomorrow, but she and I celebrated Friday. I had an eye appointment at Vanderbilt and an extra vacation day so we made a day of it. We headed out about 10:00, did some Christmas shopping, ate at the Korea House restaurant (a favorite of ours), got my eyes checked, and did some more shopping before heading home. It’s always nice to enjoy a day with Vicki.
We also went out to eat as a family to the Catfish House in Springfield last night.
Joe
It’s hard to believe this is December. Not so much because time flies by, but because it’s so warm. Most days all you need is a light jacket, if that. Today, for instance, has brought rain. To look out the window you’d think it’s cold and gray, but step outside and it’s about 60°. Makes it sort of hard to dream of a white Christmas.
CHRISTMAS PARADE. Cross Plains held it’s annual Christmas Parade a week ago yesterday (the 1st). Our current weather trend made this most pleasant.
There were a couple of neat changes this year. First, they reversed the course of the parade route making the wait for it to get to the four-way stop shorter. And then they decided to have the parade at night this year. This allowed for a lot of neat expressions of lighting creativity. I certainly enjoyed it.
SICK NATE. Nate woke up early Wednesday morning sick at his stomach. He didn’t make it to school that day. He really didn’t make it too far from his bucket.
Nate really is one of the most pleasant kids to be around, even when he’s sick. After the kids and I left Vicki thought she heard noise coming from the living room. When she went in there to check it out she found Nate humming Christmas carols to himself. He wanted to keep himself in the holiday spirit.
The stomach bug has been going around, but fortunately the rest of us didn’t catch it.
BASKETBALL PRACTICE. Upward Basketball practice has started. Ben practices on Thursday evenings and Nate on Fridays (they are in two age divisions and thus on two different teams). Jenna has aged out of Upward ball.
I really like both boys’ coaches. I’ve seen Ben’s coach around for years and thought he would be a good coach to play for. We also know Nate’s coaches (a husband and wife) as their daughter and Jenna played on the same team last year.
VICKI’S BIRTHDAY. Vicki’s birthday is actually tomorrow, but she and I celebrated Friday. I had an eye appointment at Vanderbilt and an extra vacation day so we made a day of it. We headed out about 10:00, did some Christmas shopping, ate at the Korea House restaurant (a favorite of ours), got my eyes checked, and did some more shopping before heading home. It’s always nice to enjoy a day with Vicki.
We also went out to eat as a family to the Catfish House in Springfield last night.
Joe
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