Mahalo Texicana Christmas...

As part of our "ukulele Christmas" theme, we sent painted Mahalo ukuleles to Austin Tx to David & Jacci's kids (nephews/nieces Russ, Dominic, Tricia, Andrew, Celine).  

Tricia, Russ, Celine, Andrew, & Dominic...

Rush showing Dominic some chords...

Here is a video of them opening the presents...

I'll have a uke Christmas without you...

We celebrated Christmas with Paul's family in the Twin Cities the day after Brian & Vanessa's New Years Day wedding. Sammy had a fun time with the family.

The theme for this year's Christmas turned out to be ukuleles. After Michele bought Paul a ukulele, we thought about it and figured it would be a fun gift for other family members. We found a maker of affordable ukuleles which has them painted in various colors (Mahalo). The strings which come with them are pretty bad, so you need to replace them with better strings.

Some of the painted ukuleles available...

Chris has a friend in Woody...

We video-conferenced-in Anne's grandson Tommy...
Grant, Chris, and Brian provided necessary technical support...

Opening their ukuleles...
Chris (orange ukulele) and Molly (light powder blue ukulele)...

Vanessa with her pink ukulele...

Brian with his yellow ukulele...

Wearing an orange shirt...
...Chris entertains us with his orange ukulele...

Sammy helps with clean up...

Sammy...

Chris shows Sammy how to set up and topple dominoes...

A holiday visit from Shannon...

A few days after Christmas, Sammy's friend Shannon came over for a visit to play the "Honey Bee Tree" game. For those of us older folks, think of Kerplunk.

Even Veto the cat wanted to play the "Honey Bee Tree" game...

Sammy (holding Veggie Larry) and Shannon (holding Veggie Bob)...
...watching the LarryBoy Veggie Tales vidoes...

Nothing says I love you...

Nothing says I love you like finely tailored clothing.

Diane's boyfriend Grant is a swell guy. Very nice personality, very friendly, down to earth, bright, etc. He really makes Diane happy...which makes us happy. And he gets along really well with our family. So we figured this was the year to give him a present which tells him just how much the rest of the family really likes him.

But what to give? The time and purpose called for finely tailored clothing. But with the economy in bad shape, it also seemed like bad timing. Until we decided to make him something...but out of materials readily available and affordable.

But what to make? We wanted to make him something stylish, avant-garde without being garish...using bleeding edge materials and construction/tailoring techniques..and something to keep him warm during the winter. Then it hit us one day while shopping at Hy-Vee...

We found these "pizza" bags at Hy-Vee...
...which would keep items warm/cold for up to 3 hours...
...we figured we could use these as the material..

Then we searched high and low for a stylish design pattern...
...note Sammy's trains rumbling by...

We chose a colored-matching adhesive material...
...we opted for the "Professional" quality as the label states...

We cut-apart the 6 bags we purchased...

Then we removed the clear covering...
...(which had the labeling printed on it)...

A single bag handled one section of the jacket...

Cutting out the pattern...

Michele sewed portions together...
...then on the inside, we sealed the seams with Duck tape...
...to prevent cold wind from getting through...

The almost finished product...
...we later added a silver bow to the same spot to identify our craftsmanship...
...similar to the Ralph Lauren galloping pony...

When presenting the gift...
...Paul explained all the fine tailoring and detailing which went into this work...
...note our signature silver bow...

Grant modeling his high fashion winter coat...
...it's ultra light, thin, windproof, waterproof...
...and according to the product labeling, recycle-able...

How Williams-Sonoma saved our lives...

Well, sort of...

We had purchased Diane's Christmas present this past Friday from Williams-Sonoma at the Mall of America (for when we celebrated Christmas with our family up in the Twin Cities). Somehow we managed to accidentally leave the bag at Ritz Camera store there. We called them this morning and they did have the bag there.

On our way home, we had to make a detour to the Mall of America to pick up the lost bag. Which delayed our return by a little bit. Later, when we past to Cannon Falls, there was a sudden freezing rain which froze the road. We noticed a few cars in the ditch, but we progressed very carefully.

When we reached Zumbrota, Michele pulled to the shoulder of the road. The highway was solid ice. We were about a quarter of a mile from an on/off ramp. While deliberating what to do, we saw a dump truck pull onto the southbound lane and start salting the road. We waited a few minutes, then slowly pulled into traffic again.

A few miles later, we literally saw 10 cars in the ditch in a tenth of a mile stretch...and another 7 in the next mile. We slowly drove through it all on the newly salted lanes. Eventually we made it safe to Rochester.

One wonders, what might have happened if we had gotten there before the salt truck got on the highway?

Christmas 2008 - End of Day

Sammy finished off Christmas day by snuggling with his Aunt Annie and watching Ratatouille streamed over the Internet from NetFlix.

Note that Anne's eyes are closed...
...and the wine glass on the table is empty...
(so is the bottle!)

Christmas trains and lights...

Michele had to work Christmas day, so Sammy insisted we swing by the hospital to say "Hi" to her. While we were there, Michele demonstrated the little "train" that they use to send drugs from place to place within the hospital. Sammy seemed as if he got some good ideas for his Thomas wooden trains at home. Then, Aunt Annie drove us around town to look at the lit up homes.

Sammy learns the ins-and-outs of pharmaceutical rail transportation...

A Griswold-esque decorated home...

The only restaurant we saw with the "Open" sign lit...
...though we did not see anyone in there...

Christmas 2008 With Sammy...

Twas the night before Christmas...Sammy woke us up promptly at 5:30am.

Luckily we were able to coax him back to sleep until 8am. By that time, Sammy had a renewed urgency to go downstairs and see what Santa had left him. Sammy was really excited about the white horse he had been expecting from the merry old elf.

The loot just before Sammy came down stairs...
...if you look very closely...
...you can find King Tut in the nativity scene on the mantle...

Sammy and Michele at the top of the stairs...
...it's a family tradition for the kids to come down the stairs as we photograph them...
...notice Aunt Annie's reluctance to be photographed...

Sammy was all excited...

Sammy with his white horse...
...Michele and Veto...

Aunt Annie helping Sammy with his white horse and cowboy...

Who's idea was it to give Sammy a noise making...er...musical instrument?

Veto the cat in a sea of wrapping paper...

Sammy and Michele, inspecting the snowman on the front steps...

Santa was here...

Shh...Sammy is still asleep...

Santa was here...
...Sammy's "big" present is in the bag with all the snowmen on it...
...as Sammy's trains rumble by...

Patiently Waiting...

Earlier today, Veto set up vigil by the fireplace waiting for Santa Claus to arrive later tonight.

The table Veto is on is roughly 22" wide...
...note that our lovable--if somewhat non-genius cat--is pointed the wrong way...

Merry Christmas!

It's that time of year...

Just taking a quick moment to wish everyone Merry Christmas. Best wishes for health, happiness, and prosperity (yes, prosperity) in the New Year.

A Uke Christmas...

For some of us, Christmas comes early...

A couple of years before Sammy was born, Paul saw a ukulele for sale at Wal-Mart. It was a cheap, $20 toy/instrument, but he bought it anyway. He occasionally tinkered with it but never made much progress learning it. When Sammy came along, our little boy used the ukulele as his guitar--so we purchased a couple more to have around the house. Through our blog there have been occasional postings related to the ukulele. Earlier this year, Paul started trying to play the ukulele (a bit more earnestly) and Michele decided to buy him a decent quality instrument for this Christmas.

Michele did some research and decided to buy Paul a Ko'olau Pono PSO (soprano) ukulele. She told him before she bought it to make sure it would be one he'd like (hence Christmas coming early). We eagerly awaited its arrival this past Tuesday. It's a very nice instrument and you can tell the difference immediately between that and a cheap ukulele. Thanks Michele!

As it turns out, the ukulele is experiencing a bit of a resurgence in the last couple of years. It turns out, the New York Times is good for more than just telling you how to think politically. Take a look here. The ukulele is fun because it's small, easy to learn (2/3 the number of strings to worry about versus the guitar), and has an uplifting sound to it.

Paul's Ko'olau Pono PSO (soprano) ukulele...
...as Sammy's trains rumble by...

Sammy and Santa 2008

Christmas is near and thus it became time for Sammy's yearly photo-op with Santa. This is the third year he's been photographed with the same Santa (there is only one Santa, isn't there?). Click here to see Sammy with Santa in 2006 and here to see him in 2007. Click here to see all the Sammy/Santa photos on one page. Note that in all the photos Santa has the same socks on ...let's hope Mrs. Claus is washing them between years.

Christmas Train...

Tonight we took Sammy to see the "Christmas Train." It was a DM&E train decorated for Christmas with Santa and live music over by the Hy-Vee at Barlow Plaza. It was exceptionally cold, but Sammy braved the elements like a trooper. Afterward, we had hot chocolate (though Sammy opted for "cold chocolate milk").

The Christmas train...

Parking was an Arctic zoo...
...luckily we found a great spot nearby...

Michele and Sammy wait for Paul to catch up...

Sammy donates some canned goods for the less fortunate...

Sammy pulled his hat way down to keep warm...

Michele and Sammy...

Quick as quick can be...

Today we went to the "Festival of Trees" at the Mayo Civic Center. It is a yearly fundraiser for Hiawatha Homes. Sammy enjoyed seeing the trees, though the Gingerbread Man scared the living daylights out of him.

Some of the trees...

Sammy solidly shaking Santa's shaker...

The Gingerbread Man who scared Sammy...

A local baker was finishing a large Gingerbread Men...

That's a big cookie cutter...

Rochester is a little city of big things...
...medical clinics...
...corn-cob water towers...
...and now World Record Gingerbread Men...

The Rochester Accordion Club playing Silent Night...

Sammy with Mrs. Claus...

Sammy making his own Gingerbread Man...

Paying attention to detail...

The finished work of culinary art...

Quick as quick can be you'll never catch me...I'm the Gingerbread Man!