... Gingerbread Battle 2026

 

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book work, school and taekwondo, Christmas Dragons, Jugbands, 

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kidpak, finished tree, Hawkeye, Star in the Night, nap, Thanksgiving meal at lunch, nice weather, updates coming soon...

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No Mercy, baby birthday, Christmas movie marathon, fourth tree almost there, LEGO booklet work, beautiful day... 

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Wisdom Club Luncheon

 

Here Mom and I are at the holiday Wisdom Club Luncheon, a tradition we don't miss!  It's odd being one to sit down and be served, rather than the other way around.  But here we are enjoying the Thanksgiving-style food, the music, and a great message from Dr. Rich.

And Pam was with us.  A word about Pam here - she was somewhat of a matchmaker for us many, many years ago.  I remember her telling me it might be a good idea to take Zena out for her birthday, and of course that was the date that changed everything.  Pam was our Maid of Honor at the wedding, and she's been a good friend for many years.  This year, she's battled cancer - and won.  It's been a challenging year though.  That's why it was extra special to sit beside her today.

Dr. Rich even acknowledged in front of the entire room that Pam got to "ring the bell" at the cancer clinic recently, something that has deeply affected his own family.  But beyond that, it's just a really pleasant time there, something everyone enjoys quite a bit that goes beyond just good food.  

I got a post card from the virtual "Nightmare Before Christmas" walk, and I'm moving right along there with this one.  Still watching this play-through of "Oogie's Revenge" as I walk.  It'll be a while, as the video is like six hours long.

I spent a good bit of time working on the living room tree today, but it'll be this weekend when it gets completed.  It's a lot of ornaments!  

Maddie had school, of course, and lab - and then after that taekwondo.  She's got very busy Fridays.  I was working on our January series, and Mom was getting even more decorations organized and put out. 

We watched a few episodes of "Hawkeye" tonight, as that is pretty much a Christmas season tradition now.  After that, more reading from "Hogfather," and then prayers.  Time for some sleep - still not sleeping great, but hopefully tonight will be better.

Grand

 

Mom got me this book for my birthday, and it is a lot of fun!  It's so much fun that tonight we watched an old Wallace and Gromit short, "A Grand Day Out," as this book is talking about that right now.  The book is basically an autobiography of Gromit, although Wallace was supposed to have written something.  Gromit, as usual, is doing a bit more legwork here.  In any event, the book is super fun, a real page turner.  To celebrate tonight, Mom and I watched the short while having crackers and cheese - the cheese was just brought back from New Hampshire by Nana and Ye-Ye, who gifted us with some really nice syrups and cheeses from the New England region.  

So here's our Mad Hatter peppers.  Not terribly big, but certainly interesting in appearance.  They've reddened in the sun here.  It's a brilliant red in fact, almost neon in color.  

Ah, and here's one of our new ornaments for the year.  This is the Disney Wish chandelier in the Grand Hall, or at least an ornament resembling it.  The ornament lights up with a twist - we had this gift waiting for us in the cabin when we first got on the boat.  It's a nice souvenir!  And here below is another new ornament!

This is of Truist Park - the ornament lights up on the inside and looks really cool.  Mom got me two of these for my birthday, somewhat of a commemoration of the "year of baseball" we had.  Goodness - we were more into baseball this year than any previous, easily.

So yeah, the tree in the living room is going up.  the big thing was getting it out of the basement and then getting lights on.  Then came the newer ornaments, like the two above.  It'll take a few days to get this all set up, but I'll share pictures when it's all said and done.  This is the biggest tree of the group, one that we got back in 2002, making this tree twenty-four years old by this point.  We certainly got our money's worth out of this one!

The weather is beautiful out there, an answer to the gloom of before.  I was back at work, and the wi-fi at our house is much, much better.  I've been working on the new LEGO message booklet for January at KidPak, and Maddie's been working on her school assignments and studies.  Although tonight she had her Bible study again, something she's been enjoying greatly.  Mom planted the amaryllis in the glass bowl we got a few years ago, so that's getting started and will hopefully bloom a bit earlier than last year - the idea is that it is blooming in time for Christmas.  She also got stockings up, and found our Gävle Goat!

Our feature movie tonight was "A Christmas Story - the Musical."  Mom and I love this one.  The "Major Award" number is super fun, as is "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out."  We're really getting into the Christmas movies now!  We read "Hogfather" tonight, and said our prayers, and then it was time for some sleep.  Goodnight!