Short PS

Even with all the food eaten (Gail baked about five dozen cookies) I only gained three pounds. Back on the healthy diet as of tomorrow.

Christmas, New Years, Etc.......

Happy New Year ! It hardly seems possible but it's 2009 already. Where does the time go ?

Christmas season was quite busy. We had one mini-Christamas on Christmas Eve with Greyson, Courtney and Chris. Greyson opened his presents and Courtney and Chris opened their birthday presents.

Courtney with "Monkey" and the stuffed version......
Getting into the process.....
Opening the B'day presents............
Christmas Eve ham..................
We decided to hold off opening the remaining "family" presents until Beth and James arrived.

Gail and I have a very quiet Christmas Day. We got up, opened presents, and then watched movies all day. We didn't even get dressed. Stayed in our PJ's all day. Pretty uneventful, but very relaxing. Gail finally let me open the new paddles we had ordered as our present to ourselves. She wouldn't even let me look at them until Christmas Day. Now I can't wait to try them out. It has been pretty cold lately, but we did have one record setting day, 76 degrees, but the water is freezing. Since we do quite a bit of open water kayaking, we also got international orange safety flags for the yaks. I guess they will make us a little more visible to the boaters.

I got two new books also. "Why We Suck" by Denis Leary and Robert Ludlum's "The Bourne Sanction". Needless to say, I've already finished both.

Beth and James arrived on Sunday, the 28th. Chris Courtney and Greyson came over, so we grilled filets, drank some beer and wine, and watched the Chargers dominate the Broncos.

Beth and J with Baby G.....(naturals)
Greyson eating James' Blackberry......
On Monday, we all went over to Chris and Courtney's for dinner and to open the remaining presents. Chris grilled chicken, fish, and tons of veggies.

Cookbooks anyone ??????
Greyson going for the chips.........
Gail got me a spare battery for my camera as a present. My battery died after a few pics and guess where the spare battery was. Yup, at home, so few pics of that night.

Tuesday, we accompanied James on his annual pilgrimage to Kelly's.

Wednesday was New Years Eve. Chris, Courney, Beth and James went out to dinner and met up with Brittany, et al, to celebrate Courtney's birthday and New Years. We babysat Greyson. Well, Gail babysat and I slept. Greyson wouldn't go to sleep before they left, so we got in some playtime. He finally crashed about 9:30, and I do mean crashed. He was one tired little monkey by that time. I'll let James post the results of their night out. I'll just say that their return home was entertaining.

The following morning, it was breakfast for all at our house. James suggested that I try sweet potato hash browns. Tasted pretty good, but the texture was lacking. I'll need to try some experimentation to perfect this dish. James and Beth headed out around 10:30. Back to Philly to catch a plane at 7:30 AM the next morning for home.

Unfortunately, I had to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I didn't get to spend that much time with Beth and James. But, the time we did spend together was great. I am still somewhat amazed at how well my son's have grown into the men they are. I don'ty know if was something we did, or was in spite of what we did. They both have chosen, or have been chosen by, fantastic women to share their lives. I hope their lives are as blessed as mine and Gail's have been.

Here' to a great 2009 for everyone.