Holiday Season 2019 - Thanksgiving Day

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving! It was a lovely and wonderful day of rest, food, & family. 

Mom, the kids, and I turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning and had a fun time with that. 

The winds in New York City were probably the strongest they've ever been on the day of the parade. 

For this reason the balloons had to stay quite close to the ground. 

The ended up being a big advantage because it was easier to see them. 

During commercials I had some holiday magazines to look through. 

Eighties pop queen Debbie Gibson performed.

As did Billy Porter and, of course, many others. 

The kids love Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

And I'm a fan of Sponge Bob Squarepants. 

The kids were tickled to see Santa Claus.

So, I guess we can safely say the holiday season has begun!

Dinner was fantastic. Pete and Steph always do such a great job. 

The only thing that would have made the day better would have been to have Dale with us!

Pre-Holiday 2019 - Off to See Pete

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Mom and I are off to Virginia today to see Pete and his family. Dale is staying home due to exhaustion from work. He had us to the airport by about 6:45 a.m.

A big snowstorm pushed in yesterday evening causing to airlines to start waiving rescheduling fees.  Dale was pretty sure that most of the snow would fall overnight. Due to the airport not being busy during that time he predicted the snow would be well cleared by morning. He was right. The photo above was taken shortly before taken and, as you can see, it's pretty obvious that other travelers weren't so certain.  Dale told me that when he booked the flight for us it was full. 

The flight was about 2 hours and Mom and I had a nice time chatting and catching up. I ordered a Bloody Mary. It ended up feeling like a quick trip. 

We went out to BJ's for dinner. I ordered some divine baked ziti and Mom had some shrimp taco which she absolutely loved.

Abby was excited to show me that she had decorated Pete's bar as a tiki lounge. We decided to concoct a signature drink for the occasion so Stephanie took us to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients. I'll report later about what we come up with!

And it's always great to see Thora Peaches again. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019 - Signs of the Season

Sunday, November 29, 2019

Signs of the season are popping up around the neighborhood. 

However, some finishing touches are in still in order. 

Busy day today but I had some time to meet up with my friend Steve for a cigar at Anthony's Cigar Lounge. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019 - Farewell Gethsemane

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The church we've belonged to for the last 20 years is closing and held its last service today. 

We walked through the doors for mass on the 2nd Sunday of Advent in 1999.

Gethsemane has been a wonderful spiritual home for us. And we will miss the place immensely. 

It'll be the first time in all of these years we haven't had a church of our own to help guide us in our wandering through Advent and celebrate Christmas. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019 - Shopping with Noel

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Noel and I had lunch at W.A. Frost today. 

Their tree is set up.

The stores still aren't setting out anything too appealing However Missouri Mouse, a second hand shop, had their holiday open house today. They had a nice window display and had lots of fun retro Christmas items inside.

Next Chapter Books on Snelling Avenue had a couple of recent additions to a series of Ghost Story  for Christmas books I'm collecting. I've read The Old Nurse's Story before. It's one of my favorites. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019 - Transition from Fall to Winter

Friday, November 22, 2019

Setting up decorations for Thanksgiving...

I've thrown in some polar bears for good measure. 

Walking to school I'm noticing things trying to go back to the earth. 

Pumpkins still provide some color amidst the November gray. 

The gray can be intense. This is before sunrise and a wee bit earlier than when I usually walk to school. The air is holding a lot of moisture so it's much gloomier than usual. Beauty can be hard to spot but I notice it in the outline of bare trees against the sky. 

I think the world is trying to tell us to turn in for the season and rest. Above is a sunset captured just before I head home from work.

I'm hoping I can take the advice and rest. 

The ducks are ready to fly south. I won't be able to do that for a while. At least not until spring break. Time to settle in.


Here's to being mindful of the signs of the season. I'm ready to turn my thoughts inward and be more  aware of my body's need for rest. A time to be quiet, be still, and appreciate what I've got. As the Thanksgiving break approaches I'm ready to embrace and really appreciate some time to be with family. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019: Shopping with Noel - Sugar and Booze

Saturday, December 16, 2019

When Noel picked me up she was dying to have me hear Ana Gasteyer's new Christmas album. I had seen it advertised but hadn't heard any of it yet. Just sayin' it's fantastic and Dale likes this one. 

Pre-Holiday Season 2019: Shopping with Noel - Puppies Are Forever

Saturday, November 16, 2019

After Noel dropped me off at home I asked Dale to guess the first Xmas song I heard today. He couldn't. I started to play it for him and it didn't take long for him to figure it out. He knew what it was before the singing even started. It's funny that this is the first Christmas song I heard this year since Dale HATES it!

Then I played him Candy Cane Lane. He didn't mind as much. I even caught him tapping his toes. "Red and yellow and pink and green, auburn and purple and blue, Christmas is waiting for you..."

Pre-Holiday Season 2019: Shopping with Noel - A Rare Bird

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Our final stop at A Rare Bird was much more promising. 

The proprietor had the front room decorated and the back room semi-decorated. 

It seemed like she was at least trying to keep Christmas from looking like an afterthought.

The store looked very festive.

She had some unique and very small boxes that I rather fancied.

I ended up purchasing one of the boxes. Each one had a different Santa and I chose the one I liked best. 

I also bought some vintage Christmas cards. I remember ones just like these from back in the day.