Chronicles of Christmas, 2008

It all began way back in October when Karen re-wrote the play for our Waterbrooke Christmas program - Bethlehem Treasure. I've been singing and practicing for months with the kids and finally on Dec. 14 we were ready to tell EVERYONE that JESUS is the treasure! The kids did a marvelous job, and the truth of Christmas was marvelously displayed in Karen's script.
We had the twelve oldest elementary kids as the main characters, and the eighteen 3-8 year olds as the nativity players (they only had to be on stage for their song and the finale). There were also six teenagers who had walk-on "adult" roles when the cast went Christmas caroling around Victoria to invite people to come hear the message of Christmas.
The kings, shepherds and angels were a big hit. Rehearsals every Sunday were a bit of a scheduling nightmare - the angels were so busy watching the shepherds they would forget their part and the kings couldn't sit still until it was time for their song. The Sunday School teachers were great to let me shuffle the kids in and out during the lesson time so I could rehearse with the little ones one group at a time!
We had lots of help with the costumes and staging. And ... we can use them over and over again.This is our littlest angel - I think she'll get to reprise her role again next year. She wasn't one bit afraid to go one stage. Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace to men of good will.


The very next weekend, we started the family Christmas gatherings. The Casey Christmas was scheduled for Sat., Dec. 20 for dinner and a white elephant gift exchange that Tessa organized at her parent's house in Excelsior. The senior members of the clan relax while the rest of us get things ready in the kitchen. The youngest members of the family enjoy the pets - but does Dryfry enjoy cuddling? Only with Drew!Anna won the coveted white elephant cow this year - I hope she is feeding it regularly. It will accept all types of coins - and I'm sure Anna will accept donations!

The Three Amigos - Tessa, Brenner, and Jon! Tessa won the mustache collection - I wonder if she can wear them to work at the St. Paul Hotel???
I really can't wait to hear the reaction at the next Bingo night when Roger wears his Viking/Jester hat!

We had to replay the Casey gathering - since Alison's plane was delayed two days in a row and she missed the Saturday night affair. Phil and Leslee threw together a delicious turkey dinner on Tuesday, Dec. 23 and we gathered again - this time to eat and play games.

Roger and Elaine took on the girls at Dominos while the brothers (Paul, Phil, and Mark) and their wives played a fun card game downstairs. Brenner and Christie wandered between the two, just hanging out.
My camera got stuck on a weird setting and all my pictures turned out green and dark. I thought I was going to need to get a new camera, but discovered the correct setting in the menu on Wednesday. Isn't technology awesome?

Callen is enjoying her first year of college, while Alison and Tessa are hard working college graduates. Alison missed their annual cousin sleepover, but just being together was a treat.
Of course, we had presents at our house after the Christmas Eve service at Waterbrooke and a yummy cranberry glazed roast pork dinner!
Oh boy, can we play games now? Well, we did - Apples to Apples - and had a blast. Thanks for the game, Alison.Finally, the last family gathering - Christmas Day at Jane and Chuck's. We are wearing the new Gopher gear that Santa brought us. We will wear it next fall when we use our 1/4 of the season tickets to the new Gopher football stadium . The Casey boys all chipped in to buy two season tickets, so we'll get to go to two games next year!

We had lots of fun with the younger generation of Catlin/Brackens. Phebe wasn't too thrilled with two two year old boys to play with, so I filled in admirably as we played games and "Pet Shop" all day long!
The boys didn't mind that Phebe ignored them for most of the day - there were plenty of other people willing to entertain them!
We really missed Tom, Kim, Katie and Griffin. Ted and Pat left around 2:00 to head to Illinois to spend some time with them. But next year ...we'll enjoy ANOTHER baby Catlin to add to the clan. I'm hoping for a nice birthday present in May - perhaps a girl Catlin???
Maddox and Matthew played beautiful duets together. I wonder if any of the younger generation have inherited any musical inclinations?
Andy and Jenna FINALLY went out to play with Phebe in the snow after the little boys went home to take naps. Too bad I didn't bring my snow pants - heh heh! The day was too soon over, and Paul and I headed home to collapse on the couch. Christmas is over for another year, but I pray the true meaning of God's gift will permeate our lives every day of the new year.

November Fun

We began the month experiencing Gopher mania for the final season in the dome. This was actually the beginning of three loses in a row after having such a fine run of wins. We must have been bad luck! Next year we will get to go to two games in the new stadium, since we went in on a pair of season tickets with Paul's brothers.
We really enjoy the marching band. It was Homecoming the week we were there, and they had a big group of alumni march with them at one point. The Saturday before Thanksgiving I went down to Cannon Falls and spent the day with Phebe. Jane and some friends were having a "Girl's Day Out" while the guys were up hunting, so I filled in babysitting while Jane played all day. I'm really the one who got to play all day! We played hide and seek, Barbies, Shake-a Doodle ( a game Phebe got for her birthday) and Sand Castle (an indoor sand box activity kit) plus computer games, and a craft I brought, and our own personal Valley Fair carnival rides on Joyce that I used to do with Jenna when she was that age. I was exhausted from being so inventive!
I can't wait until Christmas vacation to do it all over again up at my house - just like the olden days when Tom, Ted, Kyle, Corey and Jenna got to stay over night with me - NOT all at the same time.


Thanksgiving arrived early this year. We all showed up at Jane and Chuck's around 10:00 a.m. for breakfast treats and then had our turkey dinner around 1:00 p.m. I had to make sure no foods touched each other on my plate (a good technique for dieters) because I was headed for Orono by 3:30 for another meal at 5:00!

Phebe and Maddox have lots of fun hamming it up for the camera - no shy bones here!

Yum - look at that beautiful bird at Mark and Karena's! Drew helped his mom prepare some of the food this year. What a guy! Elaine's pecan pie was out of this world. We were really blessed with two wonderful meals and thank God for all of our family. We missed having the girls and Ted and Pat's boys, but we'll have an extra special Christmas in just a few weeks!

MEA Weekend Adventures

It was a beautiful, but chilly day for a golf outing on Thursday. We headed up to Princeton to play at a course on our PGA card - buy one, get one free!The colors were beautiful, the course was in great shape - I can't say as much about our game - suffice it to say, we lost a few balls. It was fun just getting out one last time for this season.
On this hole, Paul had to hit over a marshy river spot. Luckily, the women's tee was off to the left, and I got a break. Paul only left ONE ball in the drink.
As we drove our cart through the woods, we came around a corner and spotted three wild turkeys on the tee box. By the time I got my camera ready, they had waddled off into the woods. I spotted a fourth and crept as close as I could. Using the zoom, I was able to capture him on film (yeah, yeah, there's no film in my camera, but you know what I mean). If I knew how to make changes once I download from the camera to the computer, I'd zoom in some more, but this is the best I can do for now. Gobble, gobble.
I was able to take my extra jacket off later on. I'd love to be able to say I made this putt, but ... to the best of my recollection, it took two strokes to even get it close!
Oh, yes ... this is our new MICRO van. It is a Kia Rondo, and I get to drive it to school every day. It simply floats along - I have to watch out for speeding tickets! I let Paul have it on weekends. Heh, heh.

After we finished golfing, we headed to Rogers, had dinner and saw "The Beverly Hills Chihuahua" before heading to the Country Inn and Suites in ... ALBERTVILLE? What a vacation - all the way to the town where I teach. It was actually a great place - and close to Fox Hollow where Paul was scheduled to golf with the guys from the wedding party while I headed to Elk River to help get things ready for the reception. What wedding, you say? Joan and Tim, my friends from school, have two daughters. Megan got married the same day as Jenna, so I couldn't help much at THAT wedding, and Adria got married last Saturday. Sorry ... no pictures, because mine all turned out very dark for some reason. It was a beautiful fall theme, and we had a great time.

Check out Jane and Heidi's blogs for some magnificent fall photos from the North Shore!

Paintball Anyone?

Load 'em up, move'em out! We're off to the paintball fields with the Waterbrooke youth. The place we go is between Rockford and Buffalo and it has all the gear and 3 different terrains to play in. They organize a variety of "capture the flag" type games and monitor the safety very closely. My contribution to my team is always playing defense - I have no desire to go tearing off into the woods and trip and break my leg or something. So I hang out near the flag and shoot at anybody that comes near!

As you can see in the pictures above, it was a gorgeous day in the woods, and the kids had a great time. I did get shot twice right between the eyes - but that is actually better than getting hit on an unprotected body part that bruises!
Paul got a really nice bruise on the top of his head - for the second year in a row!
There was another group playing on one of the other fields that was really scary looking - our kids just look cute.
We went back to the church for a yummy supper of sloppy joes, and then Paul and Mark got tuned up for a sing along around the campfire.
The kids played SPUD and Cops and Robbers while some built the fire and some played foosball inside.
We had to coax them down out of the trees for the campfire talk and finished up with s'mores.

Some didn't seem to want to go home, but Paul and I were ready for a soak in the hot tub after a long day running around with teenagers!

Stay tuned for a picture of our new car in my next blogspot!

Summer's Last Hurrah

Here's an update on what we've been up to the last few weeks to wind up the summer. I'll start with the most recent and move backwards, since that is the way the pictures got inserted! Last Sunday we tried to repeat the CBCH Golf Tournament but got rained out, as you can see in the photo. We assembled at Jane and Chuck's after church to munch and watch the Vikings (our first mistake - they lost). It wasn't raining until AFTER the game. We should have skipped it altogether. Oh well, we had fun anyways. Here are the teams that didn't get to play: Ted, Jenna, Phebe and Chuck. I'm sure Phebe would have been a marvelous help to Grandpa Chuck and Uncle Ted!
Joyce, Jane, Heidi, Corey and Maddox. I think our team has the most members, but Corey and Heidi would have taken turns playing with Maddox so it would have been fair.
Andy, Pat and Paul - don't they look color co-ordinated?
A sad looking bunch as they watched the Vikings lose.
Maddox and Phebe didn't care who won the football game - they just had a super time with all the attention from the crowd. Aren't they cute?
This is the bed and breakfast we went to down in Red Wing after VBS, a mid-week get-away to relax after an exhausting week! It was built in 1932 by the owner of Red Wing Shoes and was really a great place to stay. Our room had an extra sitting room with cable TV so we could keep up on the Olympics, and a porch where we could sit outside in the morning and have our morning coffee and devotions before heading downstairs to a sumptuous breakfast in the sunroom.
After breakfast we headed out to play golf on Wednesday at Mississippi National and then The Jewel in Lakeville on Thursday. Both courses were beautiful, but very different. We did much better at the Jewel - maybe because we practiced so hard the day before?We were blessed by my friends Joan and Tim, as they invited us up to their cabin the weekend after Julie's death. It was great to spend time in the beauty of God's creation with caring friends. Joan and I shopped while the guys went - not fishing - GOLFING!

It was actually a cool weekend - only in the upper 50;s and low 60's so we didn't get in any swimming. The pontoon rides were a treat - loons and eagles and Tim.

You can see why we appreciated the time away - doesn't God give us just what we need when we need it? The trick is to wait patiently, and then recognize God's hand in what we have received.
Thanks, God.