We have enjoyed a most wonderful Christmas this year. Fortunately we dodged the flu bug that has been going around, or maybe we had it several weeks ago. The fall semester came to a close last Friday and we slid right in to the holidays.
THE HOBBIT. One thing we did last weekend in celebration of the holidays was all go out to see the latest Hobbit flick, The Desolation of Smaug. We went for a matinee and enjoyed eating out and some shopping afterwards. The movie was excellent, but given how far they got into the book with this installment we are all left wondering what’s left the show in the final part next year.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES. Vicki gets a lot of her shopping done early, and a good part of that is done online now, but she still enjoys doing some last minute shopping right before Christmas. One thing we noticed last Saturday—and which Vicki also commented on each time she went shopping—was the absence of people. Traffic has been light, parking easy, and stores somewhat empty. It has really left us wondering just how much of this is due to online sales. Whatever the cause, the way we shop is changing and our shopping experiences today may become stories my grandchildren have a hard time imagining, sort of like kids today imagining life without a cell phone.
HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES. I’ll begin reporting on our holiday activities with our church service last Sunday. Vicki and Jenna sang What Child Is This as a duet with Sharon Robinson accompanying on the harp just before the service began. I think they knocked it out of the part as did several other people who commented on their song after the service was over.
Monday evening found us at Kenny and Lori’s for their annual Christmas party where we ate more than we should have and got a chance to visit with friends.
We went to church Tuesday evening for the Christmas Eve service. Bro. Bill and Cindy hurried away after the service was over as his youngest son, Barrett, had taken his wife, Noel, to the hospital because she was in labor with their first child. They live near Atlanta, but Bro. Bill and Cindy arrived in plenty of time to see their latest grandson born the next morning.
Christmas morning we opened presents here at our house and went over to Mrs. Connie’s for her traditional brunch. That evening we went over to Mom’s and ate supper.
Thursday and Friday were quiet, but today we enjoyed the company of Grant and Robin Luton as they dropped by for lunch while visiting Middle Tennessee.
All in all it has been a very typical Christmas for us. We are, if nothing else, predictable. I’m not complaining.
SO, WHAT DID WE GET FOR CHRISTMAS? Christmas get’s smaller as the kids get older. The boys were content with gift cards to buy games for their Nexuses and Nintendo DSes. Jenna simply wanted money to fund her trip to Haiti. Given that and some plans we have for the upcoming year we were happy to keep it small. I think Nate gets the coolest toy award for the Perplexus that he received.
I repeated my gift idea from last year and gave Vicki, the kids, and Mom copies of the third and forth years of the Swann Family News in book form.
I think this will be the last time I attempt to write for the year, so, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope to catch you again before school resumes the week after next.
Joe
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Counting the Days!
The marker board on the fridge says seven days until Christmas. When I picked Jenna and Nate up from Mom’s this afternoon Jenna said, “Just another half day of school!” I think we’re all looking forward to the holidays.
SICKNESS. So the last time I wrote Vicki had been sick. This weekend it was me. At first I thought I had gotten some bad chicken. Five days in to this I’m thinking stomach virus. I know what I’m wanting for Christmas.
WILL SHE EVER LEARN? I guess Maggie is protecting us, but I'm not so sure it's worth it. The other day I said to her, "Maggie, I sure wish you would quit tangling with that skunk at night." She just looked up at me with her big eyes and wagged her tail (happy for the attention I’m sure). It has taken a week for the odor to go away.
GROWTH SPURT. I looked at Ben the other day and said, "Okay, boy, it's time to get the folding ruler back out." Sure enough, he's grown some in the last few weeks. At last measure he is over 5'10". I wonder how long it will be before he has me and Vicki beat. His voice is also starting to crack some so he's definitely leaving boyhood behind now. Poor Nate is being left behind, but I assure him that he’ll be making up the difference two or three years.
THE MISSING LINK. I've mentioned before that Jenna has an art class at school. I've been impressed with some of the things she has sketched in her art journal, but this latest assignment, a self portrait, was rather hideous. We teased her about looking like the missing link. She redid it and the second attempt looked a lot better.
Ben was looking at her journal the other night and asked, "Why are you taking art?"
"It's required," replied Jenna. "You have to take it to graduate."
"You mean I have to take art! I don't want to take art."
"Well, you don't have to take art. You can take drama instead."
"Good. I'll take drama." Then our clueless son asked, "What's drama? What do you have to do in drama?"
Jenna explained, "Well, there's some acting and you have to write some papers."
Immediately Ben hugged Jenna's art journal and said, "I love art!"
DRAMATICS. Speaking of drama, Nate is participating in a children's drama group at church called "Drama at the Cross" or DATC. They've performed twice, their first time back in the fall and again this past Sunday, and have done very well. Everything they've done so far has been signing and creative movement to songs. I'm hoping they will start doing some short sketches as well. Nate thoroughly enjoys it and does a great job.
BASKETBALL. Ben’s regular basketball season ended Monday night. The JV team, on which Ben is a starter, played their hearts out but never won a game. The middle school varsity boys did pull off a win Monday night to end the season with a 1-9 record. It was a well played game and could have gone either way. Ben is bummed that we didn’t sign him up for Upward Ball because all that is left for his team is a tournament in January. Meanwhile, Nate’s team has begun to practice and his season will start up next month.
Joe
SICKNESS. So the last time I wrote Vicki had been sick. This weekend it was me. At first I thought I had gotten some bad chicken. Five days in to this I’m thinking stomach virus. I know what I’m wanting for Christmas.
WILL SHE EVER LEARN? I guess Maggie is protecting us, but I'm not so sure it's worth it. The other day I said to her, "Maggie, I sure wish you would quit tangling with that skunk at night." She just looked up at me with her big eyes and wagged her tail (happy for the attention I’m sure). It has taken a week for the odor to go away.
GROWTH SPURT. I looked at Ben the other day and said, "Okay, boy, it's time to get the folding ruler back out." Sure enough, he's grown some in the last few weeks. At last measure he is over 5'10". I wonder how long it will be before he has me and Vicki beat. His voice is also starting to crack some so he's definitely leaving boyhood behind now. Poor Nate is being left behind, but I assure him that he’ll be making up the difference two or three years.
THE MISSING LINK. I've mentioned before that Jenna has an art class at school. I've been impressed with some of the things she has sketched in her art journal, but this latest assignment, a self portrait, was rather hideous. We teased her about looking like the missing link. She redid it and the second attempt looked a lot better.
Ben was looking at her journal the other night and asked, "Why are you taking art?"
"It's required," replied Jenna. "You have to take it to graduate."
"You mean I have to take art! I don't want to take art."
"Well, you don't have to take art. You can take drama instead."
"Good. I'll take drama." Then our clueless son asked, "What's drama? What do you have to do in drama?"
Jenna explained, "Well, there's some acting and you have to write some papers."
Immediately Ben hugged Jenna's art journal and said, "I love art!"
DRAMATICS. Speaking of drama, Nate is participating in a children's drama group at church called "Drama at the Cross" or DATC. They've performed twice, their first time back in the fall and again this past Sunday, and have done very well. Everything they've done so far has been signing and creative movement to songs. I'm hoping they will start doing some short sketches as well. Nate thoroughly enjoys it and does a great job.
BASKETBALL. Ben’s regular basketball season ended Monday night. The JV team, on which Ben is a starter, played their hearts out but never won a game. The middle school varsity boys did pull off a win Monday night to end the season with a 1-9 record. It was a well played game and could have gone either way. Ben is bummed that we didn’t sign him up for Upward Ball because all that is left for his team is a tournament in January. Meanwhile, Nate’s team has begun to practice and his season will start up next month.
Joe
Friday, December 6, 2013
Woman Down
We have enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures in the last week, but the weather system that moved through yesterday brought things back to normal. Fortunately we dodged the bullet on an ice storm. Schools were closed today in anticipation of the ice we didn’t get.
REMEMBERING ICE STORMS OF THE PAST. All this talk about ice storms made the boys ask about how serious an ice storm can really be. They’ve never lived through a bad one. I’d rather have two feet of snow.
The most recent major ice storm we had here was in 1994. I was in Knoxville for that one and the temperature there didn’t drop as low as it did here so all I saw was a lot of rain. Vicki, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky since that was her first year to teach in Springfield. I had planned to come home that weekend but the weather prevented that. The power was out around here for several days. I remember calling Vicki one time and her telling me the only light she had left was a book light and that she was so cold her eyeballs hurt. When I finally got to come home I was astounded to see all the piles of tree limbs scattered around Aunt Mar’s yard and we have Mom on video recounting how she and Aunt Mar sat in a dark house the first night of the storm watching all the explosions as the ice weighed down and snapped the power lines or the overhanging tree limbs as well as shorting out transformers.
The ice storm that left a big impression on me happened back in 1974. As I recall it was shortly after the first of the year. We lost power for several days in this storm as well. (It seems like the power was off for at least a week but I hesitate to trust the forty year old memory of a then seven year old boy.) However long it was off I remember the only heat we had was from the gas logs in the den and a kerosene heater so Mom, Aunt Mar, and I all slept in the pull out couch. We warmed our food as best we could atop the kerosene heater. And someone came by with a generator connected to the PTO of their tractor and provided power for our freezer to keep the food from thawing out. One night all the neighbors came over to sled down our hill. This was great fun until an ice laden tree limb fell a few feet away from one of the sleds putting an end to the adventure.
However you look at it an ice storm has the ability to bring life to a halt in a way that the snows we get around here cannot match because snow has less of a potential to knock out the power. I remember it was a few years after that last storm that our electric cooperative went to work moving all their power lines to taller poles that are next to the roads.
ONE SICK VICKI. Whatever has been going around Vicki and I both got it this week, though she wins the contest for being the sickest. I have been dealing with a head cold since before Thanksgiving, but the bug really caught up with me by Monday making me leave work after lunch. I had rebounded by the next morning. By early Wednesday Vicki started experiencing aches, chills, etc. She got everything she could ready for Awana that night and has been on the couch practically the whole time since. I am glad to say she is on the mend, but it still may take a day or two yet before she begins to feel well.
RAISING MONEY FOR HAITI. Jenna is working hard to raise money to fund her own trip to Haiti. Last Saturday our church and Long Hollow Church sponsored a 5K run as a fund raiser. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and made sausage and biscuits and hot chocolate to sell at a booth she had there. Jenna also sold chocolate covered pecans. She wound up raising over $400 for herself and has probably gone over the $500 by now. If she keeps that up she'll be able to pay her own way!
DRAWING ON THE WALL. For years East Robertson Elementary has held a monthly drawing for students who have had good behavior to paint one of the concrete blocks in the hall by the library. Each of our kids has gotten this honor and Nate has now painted a second block. This time he simply printed the text of Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me—along with a cross, his name, and the date. His other brick drawn in 2010 features green aliens, flying saucers, and a race car with flames coming out the back.
Joe
REMEMBERING ICE STORMS OF THE PAST. All this talk about ice storms made the boys ask about how serious an ice storm can really be. They’ve never lived through a bad one. I’d rather have two feet of snow.
The most recent major ice storm we had here was in 1994. I was in Knoxville for that one and the temperature there didn’t drop as low as it did here so all I saw was a lot of rain. Vicki, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky since that was her first year to teach in Springfield. I had planned to come home that weekend but the weather prevented that. The power was out around here for several days. I remember calling Vicki one time and her telling me the only light she had left was a book light and that she was so cold her eyeballs hurt. When I finally got to come home I was astounded to see all the piles of tree limbs scattered around Aunt Mar’s yard and we have Mom on video recounting how she and Aunt Mar sat in a dark house the first night of the storm watching all the explosions as the ice weighed down and snapped the power lines or the overhanging tree limbs as well as shorting out transformers.
The ice storm that left a big impression on me happened back in 1974. As I recall it was shortly after the first of the year. We lost power for several days in this storm as well. (It seems like the power was off for at least a week but I hesitate to trust the forty year old memory of a then seven year old boy.) However long it was off I remember the only heat we had was from the gas logs in the den and a kerosene heater so Mom, Aunt Mar, and I all slept in the pull out couch. We warmed our food as best we could atop the kerosene heater. And someone came by with a generator connected to the PTO of their tractor and provided power for our freezer to keep the food from thawing out. One night all the neighbors came over to sled down our hill. This was great fun until an ice laden tree limb fell a few feet away from one of the sleds putting an end to the adventure.
However you look at it an ice storm has the ability to bring life to a halt in a way that the snows we get around here cannot match because snow has less of a potential to knock out the power. I remember it was a few years after that last storm that our electric cooperative went to work moving all their power lines to taller poles that are next to the roads.
ONE SICK VICKI. Whatever has been going around Vicki and I both got it this week, though she wins the contest for being the sickest. I have been dealing with a head cold since before Thanksgiving, but the bug really caught up with me by Monday making me leave work after lunch. I had rebounded by the next morning. By early Wednesday Vicki started experiencing aches, chills, etc. She got everything she could ready for Awana that night and has been on the couch practically the whole time since. I am glad to say she is on the mend, but it still may take a day or two yet before she begins to feel well.
RAISING MONEY FOR HAITI. Jenna is working hard to raise money to fund her own trip to Haiti. Last Saturday our church and Long Hollow Church sponsored a 5K run as a fund raiser. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and made sausage and biscuits and hot chocolate to sell at a booth she had there. Jenna also sold chocolate covered pecans. She wound up raising over $400 for herself and has probably gone over the $500 by now. If she keeps that up she'll be able to pay her own way!
DRAWING ON THE WALL. For years East Robertson Elementary has held a monthly drawing for students who have had good behavior to paint one of the concrete blocks in the hall by the library. Each of our kids has gotten this honor and Nate has now painted a second block. This time he simply printed the text of Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me—along with a cross, his name, and the date. His other brick drawn in 2010 features green aliens, flying saucers, and a race car with flames coming out the back.
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)