Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Whew!! I have been decorating 3'high Christmas trees all week and think I am finally done. Nine trees in all and then the 2 in the house. I am finished at last. Saturday is the Holiday Fantasy which is the big fund raiser for the Orange Republican Women. My job was to decorate the trees that businesses bought and didn't want to decorate. My other job was to get the entertainment. That was easy I just went to Chapman and got the Jazz Band to come and do "jazzy" Christmas Carols. The theme this year was 'A Jazzy Little Christmas'. Sooooo now all I need to do is go Saturday and help set everything up. We have 380 reservations so there will be a good group and the trees should bring in quite a bit. The Doubletree in Orange has been very good about helping set it up etc. We'll see how it is and hopefully we do well. I will show you pictures of my trees after Saturday. They really turned out pretty this year. Grampy and I stayed home for Thanksgiving and I cooked a turkey. We thought Bob would be here but due to circumstances beyond his control he couldn't come. It was quiet and I worked on the trees and Grampy watched football. It was a nice day. Would have been more fun with family but that isn't always possible and I am just glad that everyone had happy day. Love the pictures and blogs. Love you all Grammy

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

These pictures were taken long time ago but David's blog and Dan's blog had me looking for them. David, Bob and Dan were fishing in the river where we were camping in the Redwoods. I don't remember if they caught anything????? In the other picture David, Dan and Wayne Smith ( the little boy that we babysat with) are all at Grandma Potter's house in the yard. David has a blue cast on his arm. They were all such cute little boys. David told the story about naptime. That was scarry - didn't have any idea where he was and he wouldn't come when I called him over and over. I was sooooo glad to have him come home all I could do was love him. He didn't do it again! Danny talked about the Christmas trees we had when he was little. This is a picture of one. We made cookies, large ones, and painted them with a paint brushand used different colors of frosting. Then we would put them our for Santa to find when he brought the tree to decorate. He hung all of the cookies on the tree and even the popcorn that we all strung. It really was a surprise to wake up on Christmas morning and find a tree all decorated with presents under it. I don't know who had the most fun-Bill and I or the 3 boys. Dan you have a great Thanksgiving in Belgium and give Heather and Aaron my love and hug Chelsey and Ella for me. David you have a great time in Indiana with everyone and give them all my love too. I miss you all and someday we can all get together. (I hope) Bob is coming tomorrow and I will cook a turkey and we sill have a relaxing day. Breanne is going to her sister in laws here in Orange so she may stop by before they head back to Lakewood. Hope so - know Bob would love to see them. Don't know if Milo will come by or not. He is always welcome whenever he want to come over.

Tuesday- a celebration!

Today is a special day because it a day to celebrate Leslie and Neal. Congratulations!!!!!

Early memories

Leslie you tagged me and I really had to think!. That was a LONG time ago. When I was 2 years old something very special happened and I still do remember it. I had been at my Grandma Smith's and when I went home there was a new baby in the bedroom. My dad kept saying "shshsh". I just remember that part but the baby was my sister, Betty and she had been born at home. There are many early memories and Leslie has my story. Maybe we should share early Christmas memories as that is this time of year. It is fun to read what my children and grandchildren remember. I often wonder. Matthew I tag you and Chelsey and Dan for early memories.

Hooray!!!!!

Hurrah- Its working! Now I can post again. Have been busy with a lot of different things going on. Time to decorate trees again and spent 1 day at Shinodas picking out decorations for 6 different theme trees. Will start doing them on Sat. Dan called yesterday and Heather had called her Mom. Apparently she had a some aches and pains in her adomen and started to bleed. She was very freightned and afraid that she was miscarrying but the doctor said that the baby was fine and that she had a placentia abrasion?????? Don't know what that is . They kept her in the hospital for a day or two just to make sure. Dawn has been at Sean and Amy's helping them move from Montana to Wa. and she came home last night and is heading to Belgium today. Needless to say she has been busy. Just want Heather and the baby to be okay. Think good thoughts and prayers for her. Have some pictures that I will post tomorrow. Love you all!

Deee fense-

We had such a good time last night. Katy and Matt brought the kids over and we all went to the Chapman football game. (check Matt's blog page) Annie loved watching the cheerleaders. Both Annie and Jack were a little leary of the Panther mascot. I admit he would look pretty frightening to a little one. Max just sat there with his eyes wide open and looking all around at all that went on. Proud Grammy got to show off some of her favorite kids. It was a great night!!!!!

What great news today! Julianne was accepted to graduate school at Oxford. Of course it was not really a surprise because she is so awesome - how could they not accept her. Congratulations Jooj.
Yesterday was election day and I worked the polls from 6:00 am -9:30 pm. It was a long day. Our voting machines decided not to work about 30 minutes into the voting time and we had a line outside waiting to vote, so now what. We called the office and requested emergency help and did not want to turn these people away as many were on their way to work. We had 25 paper ballots so we gave them out to them so that they could vote. When we were out of those we had Spanish, Chinese, and Korean ballots. Guess what???? They were just the same-same order etc. as the English ones so some of the voted on those even though they could read them. Names were the same and the propositions were in the same order as the sample ballots so it worked. Anyway one lady was not real happy (only one) and called the tv station and complained so pretty soon KTLA pulled up and interviewed us and filmed us. I haven't seen it but had people calling this morning saying that they saw me interviewed. So now I can say I have been on TV! Big Deal?????
This afternoon I am babysitting with Emri. Only one problem. Breanne brought her at nap time and so she wll probably sleep the whole time and I want to play with her. Maybe they will stay later.
Tomorrow will be fun I am going to the Old Getty Museum on PCH. They have remolded it and put in some new exhibits so it will be a good trip. Will try to get some pictures.
Love and Hugs

Sunday-HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIANNE

Hope your day is full of Love and Joy. I think I thought that yesterday was the 5th-that shows where my head is. It has been a bit busy and hopefully this week things will slow down. Anyway today is special and Julianne, enjoy your day.
Matt and Katy and the babies are coming over this afternoon after church.
Wish you could join us.

Saturday

Last evening we saw the most phenomenalshow at Chapman. It was their annual American Celebration and their biggest fund raiser of the year. The show consisted of 120 students performing dance and song. Wow! they were really great. Tonight is the gala night and tickets start at 1,000 each. Of course we aren't going to this performance. Last night was opening night for community and parents and tickets were only 45.00 each. That we could do. It was a sell out and the auditorium was full. After the show there was a dessert in the big tent outside and the cast all came in and mingled with the crowd. One of the alumni was John Nunzo. He graduated in '91 and sings all over the world with different orchestras and has sung many times at the Metropolitan Opera. The first number was "God Bless America", and John sang the solo and the choir sang some of the verses. It brought tears to everyones eyes. Needless to say it was a great show!!!!
Flu shots today and football game tonight. Tomorrow is a special day for someone in our family. Do you know who? I do.