My family recently said goodbye to the fourth member of the Harris family (my mother's family). We lost our Grandpa in 2002 and two baby cousins had passed on before that. At the end of 2010 we lost a much loved cousin, Neal.
Neal was about my age. He was so handsome, had a great big smile and a great big heart. He was just about as kind a person as you'll ever meet. But Neal's life took a very dark turn and he chose to end his life on December 28th.
The news of Neal's death was very hard to receive. Our family is very close and there are many who are mourning this great loss. It's in times of tragedy and suffering that you find out what you truly believe. Immediately after hearing about his death, I knew Neal was in heaven with my Grandpa. There was no question of that fact and it brought me great comfort. I know that Neal is no longer struggling against the dark demons he faced on earth. I know that God loves him and knows the goodness of his heart and He welcomed him back to Heaven with the loving embrace any Father would show.
Neal - you are so loved and so greatly missed! Give Grandpa a big hug for me!
If you'd like to know more about Heaven and life after death, check out the following website:
http://www.mormon.org/
1.09.2011
An Uneventful New Year's Eve
I've never really been into the New Year Holiday. The times that I did go out on the town, I really didn't enjoy myself and I ended up wishing I'd just stayed home. This year for New Year's Eve, Jeff and I cuddled up in our PJs, sat on the couch and watched The Green Mile. Once the movie ended we watched the count down (which gets worse every year!) and then slept in front of our Christmas tree. Deciding to stay in this year was made even easier due to the horrible cold that I had. But even if I'd been feeling well we probably would have stayed home. I've decided that staying in really is the way to do New Year's Eve since I'm not usually my nicest self after 10pm and I barely make it to 12am each year. Maybe one year I'll go out on a limb and throw a New Year's party - we could celebrate the New Year on East Coast time so I could go to bed earlier - but until then it's movies and PJs for me!
12.26.2010
Gingerbread Houses
Our favorite Christmas event in Seattle is the Gingerbread competition/display at the Sheraton hotel. Several architectural firms in the city volunteer to create magnificent gingerbread houses which are displayed in the hotel lobby. People come to see the displays and to donate money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. The theme for this year's contest was "Home for the Holidays". Last year's theme was "Hollywood". Here are a few pics of this year's and last's favorites:
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| Tree House |
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| Mr & Mrs Clause with Rudolph |
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| Futuristic Hometown |
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| Seattle's Troll |
Merry Christmas!!!
I just love Christmas! I've never been away from my parents at Christmas in my life, but this year Jeff and I really wanted to have Christmas at our own home. So, despite the low chances for a White Christmas, we made plans to stay in Seattle and Jeff's parents came to join us. We planned a bunch of fun things.
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| In the heart of Leavenworth |
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| Pie Night! |
The shopping seemed to last for ever this year, but we finally finished up on Wednesday. We ended the day on Wednesday with a Pie Party! We brought a pumpkin pie. There were about 10 pies there - our favorites were the Raspberry Cream pie, Apple Cranberry pie, and Marionberry/Blackberry pie.
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| Leavenworth |
Thursday we headed to Leavenworth, and adorable Bavarian village about 2 hours east of Seattle. I just love that place! We shopped and ate and enjoyed the snow and lights.
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| At the Gingerbread displays |
Christmas Eve we went to one of my favorite Seattle Christmas displays - the Gingerbread House Competition (see next blog post). We delivered treats to friends and then dug into an amazing (if I do say so myself) Mexican feast! We ended the night with some Luke 2 and Christmas stories (and some last minute wrapping).
Christmas morning we got spoiled rotten - partly by other people but mostly by ourselves! I guess next year we should stick to our budget! Oh well!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Happy New Year!!!
12.19.2010
Broken window panes
My all time favorite Christmas song is "The Christmas Waltz". If you don't know it by the title, it starts - Frosted window panes, candles gleaming inside, painted candy canes on the tree.. It's a wonderful, bright Christmas song that fills my little heart with joy everytime I hear it - but mostly when I hear Karen Carpenter sing it.
Anyway, that's not actually what this blog entry is about, that just explains the title. The week before Thanksgiving, Jeff and I painted our living room. We also wanted to paint the french doors in the living room since they had never been painted before - not sure why the previous owners never painted the gray steel door to match the rest of the room, but whatever!
In the house I grew up in, we would pull the panes off of the french doors to clean the windows all the time. I figured all french doors were made to have the panes removed periodically for cleaning since nobody should have to clean a full sized glass door one little square at a time. So Jeff and I took the inner panes off and washed the doors and windows. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to paint that night so we just left that task for the next day and headed to bed.
In the wee hours of the morning we were abruptly awoken by a loud crashing noise. I, of course, stayed in bed and sent Jeff to check it out. He reported back saying, "I told you we shouldn't have taken the panes off the doors!". Sure enough (and luckily on just one of the doors) the entirely glass section had fallen out of the door and was laying on our back deck. To make matters worse, it was freezing and raining that night. Luckily, the glass hadn't broken (still not sure how that happened). So we picked up the glass section and put it back in the door but couldn't quite get it lined up perfectly. Since it was 3 in the morning, we decided to secure it just enough so that it wouldn't fall out again and finish the job at a more reasonable hour.
After work that day we went to finish our task. One of the screws hit the glass just right as we were screwing it in a shattered the entire window. Awesome! Long story, not so short, we just got the door fixed last week and we will never remove the panes from a door again! And no, we still haven't painted the door.
Anyway, that's not actually what this blog entry is about, that just explains the title. The week before Thanksgiving, Jeff and I painted our living room. We also wanted to paint the french doors in the living room since they had never been painted before - not sure why the previous owners never painted the gray steel door to match the rest of the room, but whatever!
In the house I grew up in, we would pull the panes off of the french doors to clean the windows all the time. I figured all french doors were made to have the panes removed periodically for cleaning since nobody should have to clean a full sized glass door one little square at a time. So Jeff and I took the inner panes off and washed the doors and windows. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to paint that night so we just left that task for the next day and headed to bed.
In the wee hours of the morning we were abruptly awoken by a loud crashing noise. I, of course, stayed in bed and sent Jeff to check it out. He reported back saying, "I told you we shouldn't have taken the panes off the doors!". Sure enough (and luckily on just one of the doors) the entirely glass section had fallen out of the door and was laying on our back deck. To make matters worse, it was freezing and raining that night. Luckily, the glass hadn't broken (still not sure how that happened). So we picked up the glass section and put it back in the door but couldn't quite get it lined up perfectly. Since it was 3 in the morning, we decided to secure it just enough so that it wouldn't fall out again and finish the job at a more reasonable hour.
After work that day we went to finish our task. One of the screws hit the glass just right as we were screwing it in a shattered the entire window. Awesome! Long story, not so short, we just got the door fixed last week and we will never remove the panes from a door again! And no, we still haven't painted the door.
12 Days of Christmas
Aside for being the cutest man alive, Jeff also happens to be the sweetest man alive. Each year Jeff does the 12 Days of Christmas for me. The first year he did it, we were dating and he would drop gifts off on my porch early in the morning. Most of the gifts that year were edible. The next year was the first year we were married and he purchased most of the 12 gifts. Last year, the gifts were more personal, like getting up to exercise with me and giving me massages with just a few edible treats mixed in.
So far this year, the gifts have been very personal, but most aren't too personal to share. He has had some really good story ideas for a while now that I always bug him about writing down and submitting for publishing so he's given me written copies of those stories. He gave me a 30 minute massage today. He also fixed the glass in the back door (which broke right before we left for Thanksgiving!).
Isn't he wonderful!!! It's always a good Christmas with Jeffy around! Yes, I call him Jeffy.
So far this year, the gifts have been very personal, but most aren't too personal to share. He has had some really good story ideas for a while now that I always bug him about writing down and submitting for publishing so he's given me written copies of those stories. He gave me a 30 minute massage today. He also fixed the glass in the back door (which broke right before we left for Thanksgiving!).
Isn't he wonderful!!! It's always a good Christmas with Jeffy around! Yes, I call him Jeffy.
The Best Christmas Program Ever!
We have a wonderful choir director at church, Eileen, who always does such a great job with our musical numbers. She had a very cute baby boy in November which left us choir director-less right before Christmas. So, out of the kindness of my heart and thinking "how hard could it be to put together 5 musical numbers in 5 weeks", I stupidly volunteered with another friend to organize the christmas program and direct the choir!
It was way more work than I anticipated! Some of the difficulties were getting people to actually show up for choir practice, coordinating schedules for music practice, and not having a pianist until after Thanksgiving. Yikes! It didn't help that I've been really busy at work this month and had to plan the work Christmas party. But enough complaining...
Today the program went off without a hitch and the choir performed beautifully! I think the whole congregation really enjoyed it. I'm just glad I can sit back and enjoy the Christmas season now! Looking back, I'm not sure why I let it get me so stressed out anyway...I guess I need to lighten up!
It was way more work than I anticipated! Some of the difficulties were getting people to actually show up for choir practice, coordinating schedules for music practice, and not having a pianist until after Thanksgiving. Yikes! It didn't help that I've been really busy at work this month and had to plan the work Christmas party. But enough complaining...
Today the program went off without a hitch and the choir performed beautifully! I think the whole congregation really enjoyed it. I'm just glad I can sit back and enjoy the Christmas season now! Looking back, I'm not sure why I let it get me so stressed out anyway...I guess I need to lighten up!
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