2017 Part 8 - December

When I left off in this saga, it was the end of November. The family was grazing on turkey leftovers, and we had just completed buttoning up the cottage for the winter months. It was time to return home for the holiday season.

December

The first order of business was to decorate our home. I used to dread this annual ritual as we had all of our decorations neatly and compactly stashed in an attic storage space only accessible through a smallish door in our upstairs hallway. Smallish, as in about three feet high and three feet wide. Except for the squareness of this knotty pine knee knocker, it looks a lot like a secret hollow at Bag End (for you hobbit admirers) where Bilbo could hide a keg or two of longbottom leaf. 

But alas, I'm no halfling. So in order to retrieve our Christmas treasures (my part in the decoration ordeal) I had to crawl in on my hands and (aging) knees and pull the various boxes and plastic bags in which the ornaments, beads, temperamental mini-lights, garlands, yard art and our artificial trees are stored. It took several trips into the breach to complete the job, each entry requiring me to go in a little further and drag out an item slightly heavier than the last. It was brutal.

Happily, one of my first retirement tasks a few years ago was to reorganize storage areas throughout the house in an effort to make life a little easier and, yes, to fit in even more stuff (see earlier post entitled The Purge). An early victory in this endeavor was repurposing one of the two closets in the main floor bedroom to house the Christmas decorations. Unexpectedly, this left the attic space available for what seems to be a growing inventory of grandbaby equipment and supplies (but of course no problem crawling in for those items; not if grandpa likes living here :-)

So fulfilling my primary function in the Christmas decorating festival is much easier now, as these items are all stored within a few feet of and on the same floor as where they do their business. Most of the decorating handiwork is performed by my bride, who has certain preferences on how things should look and where they should be displayed. Upon occasion, our daughter Christine likes to return to the nest and hang a personalized ornament or two. Here are a few shots of our cozy abode all dressed up for the merriment. 

First our new tree, pre-lit (another concession to retirement), pre-frosted, and full of a couple of generations of memorable ornaments. This year this beauty was located in our family room. 

The location of our tree has at times been a subject of controversy, some favoring this location with others favoring a more traditional placement in the living room picture window. The issue was finally resolved this year by placing a second smaller tree (also pre-lit) on the tea wagon in the living room under our picture window. Let peace and harmony reign.

Of course there were the usual fireplace adornments.

And some new outdoor trimmings, some of which required a septuagenarian with a fear of heights (and a checkered safety record) to hang off a step ladder to deploy. Fortunately, the operation was completed without incident. 

Here is a shot of this cheery display in full nocturnal glory.

The decorating done, Nancy and I had another opportunity to sit grandson Ian. This time in his own digs in Beverly Hills. Here's a shot of Nancy helping Ian learn the complicated mechanics of walking and operating a non-motorized vehicle. This was fascinating for me to watch as when I was Ian's age plastic hadn't been invented (although the wheel had).

Not to be outdone, I got in a little tutoring myself. Here I am sharing a few safety tips with Ian on how not to fall out of a comfy sofa. You know, things like make sure the coaster for your drink is within arm's length and pretend not to hear someone calling you from another room. Rising to one's feet quickly can be a hazard (at least that's what it said on my last Medicare pre-physical questionnaire). 

December continued to unfold with season-appropriate activities. Nancy finished an elaborate hand-stitched advent calendar that had been in progress for quite some time. It was awarded a prime spot for this and future holiday seasons on the living room wall next to the silver cabinets. Each of the dates is actually a pouch in which a little sewn Christmas icon is placed as the days pass.

Here is a shot of the little pieces that fit into the pouches.

The weather grew less enjoyable as this pic shows. Just enough snow to make it slippery to cross the deck. Our neon and potted palm trees looking abandoned and forlorn, as is our deck table with its winter shroud.

But then things perked up as it was time for our Music Night group Christmas party. This is always a festive occasion as it includes a fine menu of holiday cuisine as well as the usual musical offerings. The topic for the evening was "Fools", a lighthearted but somewhat risky topic for this politically and age diverse crowd. It was our 131st collection and it turned out great. Here is a shot of the cover of the resulting dual CD collection.

And for the curious, here are the songs that made the collection. These are images from the detail material provided with each collection. The initials in parentheses indicate the track selector.

Ah, life is good. Good music, good food and great friends, once again. Here are shots of a few of the merry makers. As you can see, the official color for the evening was red. First up our host for the evening Pat Rouan, in a private moment of reflection (he thought) wondering how this happened to him again.

Here Laura Forest, Nancy and Jim Wyatt (our master CD creator) are commenting on what a swell song selection I have just made.

In this shot Deandra Reinhart is providing my daughter Christine (data entry specialist for the Music Night database) with the necessary information about her next selection. The database drives a number of reports that support the elaborate Music Night technical operation.

Here hostess Linda Mathews is gently explaining to my daughter Cathy and Robyn Mullinger that they are sort of, well, out of uniform. It being the holidays, no fines were levied.

 

In this shot I am demonstrating for Jim and Joe Villeneuve the proper technique for plopping ice into a Manhattan glass to get just the right clinkling sound. Takes years of practice. They were appreciative.

Of course, I can't forget Quinton Anderson, official event photographer and leader of our CD packaging team. Here he is hard at it. Not sure what I'm looking at in the background. Maybe I was hearing hooves on the roof.

Another family tradition for the last several years has been attending the Christmas concert of the Grosse Pointe Community Chorus, of which daughter Christine is a member.  This year the concert was again held at the First English Lutheran Church just down the street from our house. Christine is the one in black.

A tradition to which Ian was introduced this year is shown below - the pre-Christmas chat with Santa. Ian's Grandma Kit arranged the visit at the Laurel Park Mall. To quote Richard Blaine as he walked off the tarmac at the end of the movie Casablanca, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

At last the big day was nigh. With the family now having three households within just a few miles, we spread our celebration across a couple of venues. Christmas Eve unfolded at Christine's condo. I dressed for the occasion in my Mickey Santa sweatshirt and my new Tigers Christmas hat. Judging from my expression, the holiday libations were well underway.

Cathy, Matt and Ian were there. Here Ian is in his new Christmas outfit enjoying a bedtime story with mom and dad (at Ian's age and growth rate, new outfits are a regular thing).  Hostess Christine, still very much young at heart, seems very engrossed in the story as well.

For Christmas morning, the family headed over to Cathy and Matt's. Here is a pic of the exciting calm before the storm.

The usual festival ensued of family members hurriedly opening gifts and emptying stockings while exclaiming surprise and appreciation amidst a growing sea of cardboard, snipped plastic and crinkled wrapping paper. It was grand. The highlight of course was watching Ian trying to figure out just what was going on but realizing very clearly that it was fun. Here he is with his new towing sled. His expression seems to say, "I'm pretty sure this is mine and it's cool, but what the heck is it?" I have that feeling all the time, usually in a thrift store.

The pace of the morning eventually slowed down (mainly after Ian had opened all of his gifts). Of course Ian picked up right away that he could continue the merriment of ripping wrapping paper off boxes (which seemed to be the most fun for him) by "assisting" others. Here he is giving dad Matt a hand with a few items.

Later in the day, the Ann Arbor LeRoys made it over to join in the fun and have Christmas dinner.  From left to right around the table we have Nancy, Nancy's brother David, his bride Barbara, our daughter Christine, yours truly, host Matt, cousin Brian, Ian, hostess Cathy and cousin Matt. Dinner was grand, as was the company.

After dinner, we lounged in the semi-organized rubble of gifts, wrapping materials, Ian toys and people. We caught up on the goings on of the various factions of the family, and enjoyed an early nightcap or two. These holiday gatherings of the family have been going on for decades in much the same fashion. But, like with most families I would assume, they never get old. It's always fun, a bit enlightening and very satisfying to be in touch and up to date with those with whom you share so much history.

As is our way, the day after Christmas Nancy and I loaded up the car and headed to Florida to visit my mother and take a little R&R. We closed out 2017, a year of mixed emotions and significant family events, with a quiet New Years Eve in Zephyrhills and a few toasts to a hopefully bright 2018.
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This ends my review of our family's adventures in 2017. A little behind the desired schedule but much better than my review of 2016, which I didn't finish until last December. So now on to new blog topics and perhaps some visits to the families deep past in upcoming posts. I'm finally getting around to scanning our over 8000 slides, some of which date back to the 40s. Should be fun.