Last holiday celebration is OVER. December 26th, we were out in Hood River, with my father-in-law. I wish I'd had my camera with me, and a chance to take pictures of the Columbia River Gorge, because the scenery was absolutely beautiful. There was no snow falling, but plenty on the side of the road in Hood River.

I had a chance to throw snowballs with the kids at the park across the street. That was fun. I guess that qualifies as our white Christmas. Kids had a lot of fun with their various holiday gifts. I know Mary Lou and I did as well.

Now, it's time to look towards New Year's Eve, and the hockey game against Seattle. This year will be the 11th straight New Year's Eve game that we've gone to together, counting the first in December of 2001, before we got married.

Cheers to you, my loyal readers!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas... however you choose to express it...

I am thrilled to be able to post my holiday wishes to all my loyal readers. Thanks for following me to this point, and I look forward to continuing the posts into the new year.

It's the afternoon of the 25th, and would you believe that I've already been through three holiday celebrations? One at home, one with my family across town, and one with our close friends as well. We have one more, and it may prove the most challenging, since weather may very easily cause problems. It's only about an hour drive on a good day, but the Columbia River Gorge can be very tricky in the snow, so we shall see what happens.

We are all relaxing for the rest of the day, having done our three holidays in under 24 hours. Nothing like flying through everything... that's for sure.

Be safe out there in the weather, and have a happy holiday.

Merry Christmas!

First, let me state that I am deeply saddened by the tragedies of the last week. The Connecticut shooting is something that just makes me shake my head, because I can't imagine it, ever. The senseless violence is too much for me some days, and it makes me not want to even go outside, or let the boys go outside. My step-sons are 19 and 17, and until about a week ago, I didn't worry too much about what they were doing. Now I'm much more concerned.

As for the mall shooting in Oregon, it hit too close to home... literally. I live across the street from Clackamas Town Center, and am over there about once a week or so. I heard the sirens initially, and helicopters for hours as the media hovered over the scene.
I was in the mall about 20 minutes after it re-opened on Friday, and was pleased to see that I was able to move around without feeling overly anxious.

Readers, don't let a day go by without telling your friends, family and loved ones how you feel. Tell them you miss them, say that you love them. Let them know you are thinking of them always.


On a somewhat lighter note, today, the 18th, we had our first significant snowfall in the Portland area. Not much of it was actually sticking, but boy did the morning commute look ugly on the news. I'm just happy I didn't have to join in with the other cars, slip sliding away.

Last weekend was the Teddy Bear Toss hockey game. My family and friends managed to bring 462 critters to the game, and had a blast throwing them onto the ice. Our friends had a lot of fun watching hockey with us, as they always do.

With Christmas coming up, I would guess that posts will not come frequently, but I'll be sure to keep, at a minimum, about a post a week going. It's going to get busy, starting tonight.

Cheers!

OK, 8 days is a little over a week, but since I've been fighting the early stages of bronchitis, I figure that's a good reason to go that long between posts. I should be over it soon enough, though.

Celebrated my birthday, along with Mary Lou's, with my dad today. We typically celebrate ours together, since there are already 3 to deal with from mid-November to mid-December. It certainly makes things easier for planning purposes.

It's definitely colder around these parts; the weather is holding in the mid-40s many days, and the rain comes and goes whenever it likes. But at least we're not getting a lot of snow like other parts of the country. Typically, Portland won't run the risk of snow until January, so there's still time to see what happens.

More doctor appointments for most of us later this week, so we shall see what we see.

Cheers!

WOW!!!  It's been a whole week since I last posted anything. Sorry about the delays...

I completed my Thanksgiving holiday obligations with flying colors. I had a wonderful time with each and every group that I celebrated with, and thanks to everyone for the holiday treats.

I also celebrated a milestone birthday: 40 years old now. I've been told that I'm older than dirt, but I prefer to think that dirt still has a few years on me... we shall see.

I had won tickets to the hockey game a couple nights ago, and the team beat Seattle... always fun to beat up on Seattle. If you follow the Winterhawks, you probably know by now about the sanctions on them by the WHL. No doubt you can find more information elsewhere, so I'm not going to get into that here. If you e-mail me, using the provided link, I can probably point you in the right direction of a site or two... 

Mary Lou's dad has been in and back out of the hospital for a minor procedure, and he's back in town soon for another one. It's pretty much a day thing, and we're all treating it as "not a huge deal" but, as always, we're keeping an eye on things.

Cheers for now, I'll try not to go a week between posts.  :o)