Videos Are Working!

Sorry about that. I thought I had the videos set to go, and since I could get them to run just fine from my machine, I thought they were all done. Evidently I was the only one who could see them! They should all work now, so go ahead and enjoy the kids and Chris in the two postings directly below.

Chris Kostos - Rock On!

I tried and tried to upload this last night, but I think it was too long. Here's an abbreviated version of Randy's brother-in-law, Chris, and his back-up band singing "Dead or Alive." Watch out, Bon Jovi!!

Willett Christmas Gathering

We had our family Christmas with the Willett side of the family today. Randy's sister Tammi and her family live outside of Chicago, and they came into town yesterday. We got together at Randy's other sister's (Kim's) house in St. Johns, where we ate too much good food and had a lot of fun together. Even the dog, Cocoa, got into opening presents.

Since we're all scrapbookers, of course we all took our turn posing in front of the tree!

The kids performed for us - so cute!!!








Then we broke out the Rock Band game and went to town. It was so much fun! We all took turns playing the different instruments and/or singing. I think we're ready to go on tour. Yes, we're THAT good.

A Very Merry Christmas Day

Mr. Love suggested that this year we each make presents for each other for Christmas. I figured he would be expecting a scrapbook or something like that, so I wanted to do something different for him. I have a keyboard that I've had for many, many years, but I haven't really played piano or anything since 1981. To say I was rusty is a gross understatement.

Mr. Love has wanted me to play a song for him for as long as I've known him. I decided that his Christmas present would be that I would play a few Christmas carols for him. I started practicing about a month ago, but it was hard since he had to be out of the house for me to practice.

Christmas morning came, and there was a present for me under the tree but nothing for Mr. Love. It was driving him crazy. I'll let you in on a secret ...... he's one of those people who can't stand it if there's a present for him. He will drive himself crazy about it and will be tempted every day to secretly unwrap it just to see what it is. So, to not even have a present was REALLY bugging him.

I made him sit upstairs, and I set up in the basement. I called him down, and he was so confused. He couldn't figure out how I had his present in the basement but he'd never noticed it. I had the fireplace going and a comfy chair set up for him. I played four songs. I sounded like a 4th grader at her first recital, but I made it through all right. He loved it. It was so sweet. He was so genuinely touched that I did that for him.




Then we headed upstairs for me to open my present. He took a bunch of our beach pictures from cruises and other vacations and made them into a really cool screen saver. The water in each picture actually moves, there are water sound effects, and he even added Jimmy Buffett music! It was such a thoughtful, fun gift! I had him load it on my lap top right away so I could see it. My Mr. Love sure is talented!






Then we got started with our day, and he made sweet potato casserole to take to my family's dinner.

We went to my sister and brother-in-law's house in Linden, and I have to say, it was a fantastic Christmas day together. Of course we had a ton of food and ate way too much, and then we broke out a Bingo game and played some cut throat Bingo. Check out the cute caller..... what a looker!

We ended the day by taking a million family pictures.

After we left my sister's house, we stopped by my parent's house for a little, and then we were on the road again. We finished our day by stopping in at our friends Doug and Cara's house, and our other friends Cindy and Laura were also there. I don't know what it is about that house, but every single time we go there, we end up laughing until we can't even breath. Christmas night was no exception. Mr. Love was in rare form, and it seemed like everything he said came out funny. We were all about sick from laughing by the time we left.

We got home a little after 10:00, and Cloe was ready to kill us because she hadn't had supper yet. He unloaded the car and fed the dogs, and then we decided to hunker in and watch a little TV together. He came into the TV room where I was sitting, and he took my face in his hands. He kissed me and then said, "Thank you for the best Christmas Day I've ever had, Mrs. Love."

What a perfect ending to a great day. I'm one lucky lady, for sure.

Merry, Merry Christmas

To all of you, Mr. Love and I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas! We are just back from my mom and dad's house where we had our annual Christmas Eve dinner of tacos. We were trying to figure out how long we've been doing the taco dinner, and we think it's more than 30 years now. WOW.

We're headed to our church's Christmas Eve service at 11:00 tonight, and then we're at my sister's house tomorrow.

We hope you all enjoy your holidays, wherever you are. Have safe travels!

Jingle bells....jingle bells....jingle all the way.....come on, everybody sing....oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh......HEY....

A Step Back in Time for Mr. Love

If you know Mr. Love, you know that his dream is to live in Mayberry in 1960. Well, I can't really make that happen, but I can post a few things that remind us of Christmas's gone by. Do you remember these?????

John Pinette

I had never heard of John Pinette before today. He was on "The View" today. I laughed so hard! This isn't his "View" material, but it gives you a taste of him. I like him because he doesn't swear or be mean. He's just funny.

A Thoughtfully Designed Christmas Present

This is pretty cool.

Shaking Poodle Syndrome

Yesterday I had to take Jack in to get his hair cut. He loves to go in the car, and no matter where we end up, he's excited. For some reason, though, when we got there, he started shaking like he was either freezing to death or scared to death. I held him for a while, and he still didn't stop. I put him down, he peed on the rug, and then he was fine. Oh, little white poodle.

So he got his hair cut, and he looks adorable. When we got home last night, I asked Randy to help me get Jack to sit under the Christmas tree so I could get a picture. Well, immediately Jack thought he was in trouble and started that shaking again. He sat with Randy on the couch for a while. He was so cute, I took his picture. Now we're calling these his mug shots.

After he calmed down, we tried again. Jack was having no part of it. Randy tried to bribe him with a treat. He grabbed it and made a run for it. I caught him showing exactly what he thought of us.

Finally we decided to give it one last shot. I know this looks like he's doing his outside business in the house, but really this is just his final pose.

He gave up, and so did we.

So much for a pretty poodle Christmas picture.

Before our big poodle production, we spent the evening in St. Johns attending a 3rd grade school play for our niece, Rebecca. She was Clara in the Nutcracker. She did such a great job! We were all so proud of her! I have to say I was very impressed that a teacher would spend so much time with her class to put this together. It was very well done, and every child had a role to play. They actually did the play twice, so I think just about everyone was on stage for one performance and was doing scenery or something behind the scenes for the other performance. What a great experience for the kids, and you could tell they had a ball.

Great job, Rebecca! Thanks for inviting us!

Tick Tock......

If you haven't had a chance to order candy yet for the holidays, the clock is ticking! Orders can be filled in 48 hours, so go ahead and place your order now to be sure you have it on hand when friends drop in. It also makes a great gift for a co-worker, pastor, neighbor, hair stylist...... all of those people who need a little something at Christmas.

So what does it actually look like? Here's a pound of chocolates. The only change would be is your order will have a festive Christmas ribbon and bow instead of the gold cord.




The pretzels are individually bagged and also have a Christmas ribbon and bow on them. The party favors are made to your specifications, and the Alpha Avenue Chocolate Shop's website (http://www.alphachocolates.com/) gives you all of the options. Turtles come in a white box decorated with a Christmas ribbon and bow.

Mr. Love does a great job of making sure that your order looks as good as it tastes, and anything you purchase would be all ready to go as a gift. If, however, you want to add just a little something, he does offer gift wrapping for a very nominal charge.

So, if you're stumped about what to get that special something, think of the Alpha Avenue Chocolate Shop!

Guilty Pleasures

I find that the longer I'm off work, the more time I'm wasting, with things like this.....

Ladies, is there anything better than Fa La La La Lifetime? It's a month of Christmas-themed chick flicks, hosted by Carson Kressley. I watch the same movies every year, and I still love them. They add a few new ones in here and there, and that's a real treat for we faithful viewers.

Then there's THIS little problem I've developed.....

It's an MTV "reality" show about 20 year olds in LA. I can't believe I watch it, and I really can't believe I'm starting to care about whether Audrina will ever get back with Justin Bobby. And don't get me started in the supposed Mexican wedding of Spencer and Heidi (aka "Speidi").

I need a job - quick.

And yes, I do other things besides watch TV. Yesterday I made cookies and am now trying to get them out of the house as quickly as possible. We don't need those sweets sitting around here tempting us. But boy were they good!

Mr. Love has been holed up in the man cave working on chocolate orders, and it sure is hard to walk through there these days. It smells just like heaven. He's gone tonight, so maybe I'll just head down there and pull up a chair.

But I'm tired of looking like this............

And am working towards looking like this..............

OK, so I'll never look exactly like this, but I can look better than I do now. I'm 1/3 of the way to my goal weight and hope to be there by summertime. So tonight I'll stay away from the chocolate shop and remember that as my friend Kathy says, "Nothing tastes as good as it feels to be skinny!"