Jumpin' At The Woodside

I almost forgot to pass on the story of this fabled knife that actually occurred earlier this month. I can't let the holidays pass without sharing. There's not much to it, but here goes. When Lago and I brought home our Christmas tree, the tree's top branch hit our ceiling. We've always had to cut this top branch off the tree to allow for the star to rest on top. Ah, a saw or simply some scissors will do the trick. Sounds easy enough, right? With the move, finding what you're looking for takes a moment to figure out where that thing may now be, then looking for and finding said item. The hand saw... I think I saw the saw... oh, where was it now... ummm, I know I saw the saw somewhere. Scissors, of course, I know where they are. I just saw them. I go to the kitchen and grab Lago's shears that are actually for cutting meat. They look pretty strong and if they can cut raw meat, by golly they can certainly cut a simple tree branch, right? Wrong. The shears broke alm...

Tony say hello to the turf. Merry Christmas! EAGLES beat the Cowboys -- now that's a Christmas present! GO EAGLES!!!

Our new train, the North Pole Central. In case you're wondering, we've gotten into a tradition of not putting the presents under the tree until Christmas Eve. Buon Natale - Merry Christmas everyone! >> Santa's on his way (NORAD Tracks Santa)

This afternoon while installing a software update, I happened to look out the window, and what to my wondering eye should appear but three tiny deer. (click the image for a larger view) Yes, this is our back yard, and yes we live in the city. I figure they live down the street in the park and ventured down along the creek that runs through the middle of our neighborhood. They stayed for a short time eating leaves. The one in front seemed a little more brave than the other two in the background. I quietly went downstairs and pointed the deer out to Lago. We watched them for a brief moment and then the sound of a nearby train scattered them back down along the creek. I saw some of their larger kin last week when we had a couple foggy mornings. They stood and looked at me and I said hello, but was off to work. I was home early from work today and Lago wrapped presents. She works this weekend during the day, but she's off Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. I have presents to wrap mysel...

O' Tannenbaum 'Round the Christmas Tree Stockings were hung by the chimney with care... While we watched Christmas movies... ... in our Theater Room.

Holiday Greetings Christmas Dreams Christmas Friends Waiting for St. Nicholas Jolly Staircase

No snow here yet, but cold as a bastard! Our highs might be higher than those in Virginia or Pennsylvania, but our lows have been almost the same of late. Went to see “ Spamalot ” on Friday night. Lago and I have been to a number of Broadway shows, but this was our first touring show here in the Queen City. It was great! They took all the best parts from “The Holy Grail” movie and added some great musical numbers. I always thought “The Holy Grail” needed dancing girls. :~) Seriously though, the show was great and so was the cast. You would never know you weren’t seeing the show on Broadway, except the drive home was a lot quicker. Last night, we went to the symphony again, this time to see “ The Magic of Christmas .” Very similar to a Boston Pops holiday show, but again the commute was much better. :~) The first part of the show was more serious, although they had a sing-along just before intermission. The second part of the show was more of your standard Christmas caroles including a ...

Yesterday got the tree, two trees actually. Got a big one for the living room and a small one for the theater room. The two rooms are on the opposite ends of the house. We were disappointed not to be able to get a Concolor or White Fir tree that we've gotten the last couple years. They're not available here. We got a Fraser Fir , which are very prominent here. These are good looking and have soft needles, so we're really happy with these. We put all gears in motion yesterday. I put lights up outside, the full length of the house. Even pulled a "Griswold" and fell off the step-ladder -- too funny. My foot got caught and I just rolled over backwards in the grass. No biggy, pretty funny actually. While I did that, Lago hung real pine garland down the staircase. I also did lights on both trees and did a string of white lights around the staircase garland. We were pretty tuckered out after that and still have yet to trim the trees, besides stringing the lights. I'...