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Merry Christmas
Maligayang
Pasko
Hyvää
Joulua
Joyeux
Noël
Frohe
Weihnachten
Καλά
Χριστούγεννα
Nollaig
Shona
Buon
Natale
メリークリスマス
메리 크리스마스
God
jul
Feliz
Natal
С
Рождеством
¡Feliz
Navidad
|
Friday, December 23, 2011
Merry Christmas Maligayang Pasko Hyvää Joulua Joyeux Noël Frohe Weihnachten Καλά Χριστούγεννα Nollaig Shona Buon Natale メリークリスマス 메리 크리스마스 God jul Feliz Natal С Рождеством ¡Feliz Navidad
2011 December 23
Last night
was my last time as Santa at Jolly Holiday Lights. That is by far one of the best things that I
volunteer for. I posed with babies and
grandparents on my lap I also had one photo with two rather large dogs. One little boy would not come up to see me
even when his two brothers and a sister where there. I offered him a candy cane and he was willing
to sit on my lap. A future union negotiator in the making.
Many people
that I’ve talked to about Jolly Holiday Lights tell me that they’ve been
waiting for it to snow, because it is so much prettier with the lights in the
snow. Well tonight is the last night for
the lights and still no snow. We had a steady
stream of people right up to the nine o’clock closing. I was surprised to find that a nine they shut
the door to ‘Santa’s Village’ even though there are still a lot of cars that
haven’t made it all the way through the light show. I would have thought that they’d keep the
‘village’ open until the last car was out of the gate.
Ella works
some extra hours today at the clubhouse because the office is closed. Someone has to be in attendance whenever the
building is open to members. Normally
she works five to eight on Fridays.
Today she works two to eight. She
does not work either Saturday or Sunday (Christmas Eve and Christmas) but does
work on Monday from two to six.
It was only
fifteen degrees this morning but the sun came up nice and bright and is
supposed to be cloudless all day … soaking up that passive solar heat.
Several months
ago I went to Veterans’ Hospital because I wanted to get my prescriptions
through them. I was told that I had to
have a copy of my discharge papers as proof of service. I looked through my safe deposit box and all
the papers that I could find at home to no avail. Considering the number of times I’ve moved
since I was discharged and then downsizing to live in the RV, I’m not surprised
that they were AWOL. So, I went online
and filled out all the information to have a copy mailed to me. I was surprised that, after filling out all
the information and submitting it online, that I had to print it out and sign
the papers and then mail them. So,
really? What was the purpose of filling
out the forms and submitting them, if they had to be snail mailed anyway? Oh, yeah, I forgot, bureaucrats! Yesterday, the copy came in the mail. Of course now there are the holidays to get
through before any government employee will be working again. Even then I may wait a few extra days for
their ‘holiday fog’ to clear.
I may take a couple of days off from
writing the blogs. So, Merry Christmas
from Mr. and Mrs. Clause here at the Northpole.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
2011 December 22
I called and wished my sister, Maryann, a happy birthday. As a Jehovah's Witness, she doesn't believe in celebrating any day more than another. But I do. So, I call and wish her a happy birthday anyway. We had a nice long talk before she had to go.
I got a nice sunrise picture this morning. It is cold today. It's not supposed to be above freezing at all today. However, in the seven day forecast they're talking about being in the fifties. That ain't bad for late December in Iowa.
My son, Adam, posted a video on youtube of my four-year-old grandson, Tate, explaining about the pilgrims coming to America.
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| It almost looks like a face with a very dazzling smile. |
My son, Adam, posted a video on youtube of my four-year-old grandson, Tate, explaining about the pilgrims coming to America.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
2011 December 21
Yesterday
was my granddaughter Sofia Charlotte
What? I missed something? Oh yeah!
HIS! With everything else going
on it is sometimes easy to miss His birthday.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Men’s Bible
study this morning finished study on Adam Hamilton’s “Journey” series. Very informative about the background to the
birth story in the gospels.
Last
evening we were Mr. and Mrs. Claus at a daycare in Des Moines
As we were eating, a father with
four young children came in. They had
seen us sitting at the table and were staring with that look of
recognition. I knew that they knew I was
Santa even without the suit. So, I
greeted them with a Merry Christmas when they came through the door. The father silently mouthed, “Thank you” as
he shepherded the kids to the order counter.
Before we left, Ella went to the truck and brought in some candy
canes. I took them to their table and
gave them to the dad and told the kids that he would decide when they could
have them.
On the way home from Arby’s it
started misting. Very lightly. Almost like a fog settling in. Since it was already below freezing, I was
very careful on the drive home.
After arriving home I was going
through Facebook’s suggested friends and found several people that I knew. So I sent out friend requests. One of them replied that she saw I had
several gigs as Santa. She teaches girls
with emotional problems and wondered if I was available on short notice to
deliver gifts to the classroom tomorrow (now today). I replied that I did have a spot in the
schedule where I could do that. I just
needed to know where and when. Sadly, I
never heard back. I kept checking last
night and this morning but did not get a message back.
Late breaking news: I got a Facebook message this evening. Teri had not checked her Facebook to see that I had said I would be available.
We are going to get a visit from our youngest
great-granddaughter today. As a matter
of fact, they just pulled into the drive.
So, gotta go for now.
- - - -
Okay, great-granddaughter has been here. Climbed all over me. Told great-gran’ma Ella to stop taking
pictures. I, however, managed to catch
one shot that shows her face. She is
much quicker than the digital camera shutter.
She has gone home again and the dust has settled once more. (grin)
We made a
run to Sam’s club to pick up cookies for church. Ella needed some more rice for a recipe that
she is making. We had our choices at
Sam’s. We could buy rice in 12 pound or
25 pound bags. Really? Okay, I know that they cater to small
restaurants etc. Apparently Ella really
wanted rice, ‘cause we now have 12 pounds of it. Guess what’s for supper? And breakfast? And lunch?
I have a
little time before I need to be at church for the Worship Committee
meeting. We are going to put together
plates of goodies to deliver to businesses around our church that are open on
Christmas morning. We’re doing it as a
way of showing that we appreciate the service they provide throughout the year. We are calling it a Shepherds' Run after the story in Luke where the shepherds, after visiting the manger, go through the town spreading the good news.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
2011 December 20
The
furnace is fixed. Thanks to Travis who
replace the old ignition board with a new one.
It lights, it runs, it heats and then it shuts down until the
temperature drops enough for it to repeat the cycle.
Yeah!
Here are some pics of me and my niece and family. Interestingly, for some reason I don't have pictures of the little kids on my lap. Hopefully Krista will send some to me.
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| Russ ... in a couple years he might be able to fill in for Santa |
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| Morgan |
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| Krista |
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| Stevie |
Yesterday,
Mrs. Claus and I did a bit of running taking care of getting things ready for
some visits from Santa. We picked up
some gifts to be given out tonight at “Round the Clock Daycare”.
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| Derik and I |
We
also picked up some gifts that we delivered last night to Daniel and Derik. I had mentioned Daniel the other day as a
single dad raising his son on his own. I’m
not sure who was happier to see the Clauses at their door, Daniel or Derick.
Monday, December 19, 2011
2011 December 19
Since I didn't post a sunrise pick for Saturday, I took this sunset pic.
Sunday was a great day. Sunday school and church in the morning.
Then I quickly came home and put on the red suit and went over to Cutty's clubhouse. The dining area of the clubhouse had been rented to a family for a Christmas party. When I came in, the kids all came to sit on my lap and tell me what they wanted for Christmas while Mom and Dad took pictures.
We had just finished up with them when my niece Krista and her husband Russ came with her daughters and grandkids. We got the pictures taken and the Christmas wishes heard and then got to have cookies and visit for a little bit. They couldn't stay long because Stevie works nights and had to get home and to bed.
Later yesterday, Ella got a call from a friend who has a son that is a single father. He is having a rough time of it at the moment and a group has donated gifts for his son. Ella's friend wanted to know if we could deliver the gifts as Mr. and Mrs. Claus. We will go into town today and get the gifts and then deliver them tonight. He knows that we are coming to see his son. He does not know about the gifts that we'll be bringing. This should be real fun.
On another note: we have called Travis this morning to let him know that our furnace still is not working. Hopefully that will get taken care of today. Our electric heater and fireplace are doing the job of keeping us warm. However, I want to have the furnace fixed and running in case we were to have a power outage.
That about brings you up to speed on what's happening here at the North Pole for now.
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