Let's watch the old year die, with a fond goodbye . . .

"One minute to midnight, one minute to go. One minute to say "goodbye", before we say "hello". . . "

[PHOTOS COMING. . . ]
Well, OK. Not exactly one minute. More like seven hours. But how romantic is that! I like Irving Berlin's version better. Christmas was wonderful. We had a nice morning doing presents. I got a whole box of old Etude magazines. They are very interesting. Took me three evenings to go through the contents of them all. I pulled some articles aside so that I can type them up for my movie and opera blogs. Even found one that has an article on Deanna Durbin's "current" film, It Started With Eve! That was exciting. I also got a Blue's Clues beanie. It is so cute. Let's see, some of the other exciting things were two Julie Andrews Christmas CDs, a glass emerald, a fantastic snowed Lilliput Lane of an oast house in Kent, and several old leaf-shaped pins.

I spent the day before Christmas Eve working on Sarah's presents. Two charm bracelets. One that has all different charms for Bing Crosby and Nelson Eddy, and another with all kinds of Cuba-themed charms. We also got her some books, an old "pin money" bank, a honky-tonk piano player planter, and this set of four very odd-looking German Christmas decorations (four guys playing musical instruments).

Dad got a bunch of fishing themed things. A cool ceramic travel mug, a decorative storage chest, pajama pants, etc. Also, a really cool set of Cuban stamps. They were fun to find. Got them at the National Stamp Show in August. It was a blast trying to keep them a secret from Dad! Mom got the usual candy and Jelly Bellys, a glass basket like her Gramma used to have, Yes, Minister, and Sarah and I bought her a bean cookbook. It isn't released until January 15th, so she has something to look forward to. It says it has 150 different bean recipes!

At noon on Christmas, we went down to Buddy and Kay's for dinner. She had her family up like usual. Always fun over there. We stayed until evening visiting. It was a lovely Christmas. Fun morning, fun afternoon. Nice to go somewhere for Christmas. All in all, we all think this was one fo the best Christmas days ever!

On Thursday, Mom and the two of us went up to Mansfield and just had a fun, easy day. Got some cat food, went to Panera. Just simple and fun. Yesterday all four of us went out. Headed to Columbus, but stopped at two cemeteries on the way. Had to take a few photos at Chester Baptist, so Dad got to see Truannie's monument! We also spent over an hour looking for some old cemetery in Pagetown (not exactly the booming metropolis!). Finally found it behind somebody's house. Managed to take photos of all the remaining stones before it really started raining. Then we headed down to Whole Foods to get coffee and milk. Ran out of organic coffee last month. Bought some coffee at Kroger which was terrible! This morning we had some nice, wonderful coffee. :o)

Tomorrow is our annual Lord of the Rings day. Every New Year's Day we watch all three LotR films in a row. Makes for a long day, but so much fun! Almost 12 hours of solid film time. This year we are going to make sure and start soon enough so that we can finish. Several times it has gotten so late that we all fall asleep. No fun to not finish. We have been doing this ever since we went to Trilogy Tuesday in 2003. What fun!

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. . . " - Genesis 1:14

Christmas with the Keultjeses

Tuesday night was our annual Cuban dinner with the Keultjeses. We spent the day getting the nice dishes down and washed, setting the table and making the food. Gramma and Grampa sent a box of plantains and yucca. Plantains . . . Mmmmmmm! They were great this time. Not too green. I like them when they mush flat and start turning black. Yum! They are always a blast when they come over. Just wish it was more often. Claire and Hannah are up here until Saturday morning, and coming here was the first thing they wanted to be sure to do. :o) It was really a fun evening. Time flew by and before we knew it it was late. Good fellowship always makes the time go faster. Christmas wouldn't be the same without the Keultjeses! Actually, now that I think about it. I don't think that we've had a Christmas in Ohio without them!



Yesterday, I spent the day wrapping and working on Christmas presents. Mom and Sarah spent the day making rum balls. They ended up making four different kinds. Bourbon rolled in coffee, Bailey's and Kahlua rolled in powdered sugar, German chocolate (Frangelico rolled in coconut), and cherry brandy rolled in sugar (with a brandied cherry inside!). We wanted to give some to Hannah and Claire to take home, but didn't get them done before Tuesday. So, we ran up to Mansfield last night. Impromptu and fun. They had called Mrs. Furr and she came over too! We all ended up staying until after 9:30pm! It was sooooo fun. Claire and I probably drank a gallon of hot tea. She kept making it, until they ran out of one kind of tea bags! Mrs. Keultjes kept digging up snacks. It was really fun, especially to get to spend time with Claire and Hannah again. They don't get up here often, so it is always great to get to see them.

Today we were going to go up to Stan Hywet to see the Christmas decorations. However, I think the weather is going to be better tomorrow, so we might be going tomorrow instead. If we stick around, then I will work on that present some more today and maybe finish wrapping some more presents.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." - Isaiah 9:6

Happy 90th Birthday, Deanna Durbin!

Today, my favorite singing star turned 90 years old! Deanna Durbin lives privately in France now, removed from Hollywood and everything that goes with it. However, there are still many fans who have discovered her beautiful voice through home video, cds, and the internet. As I have already related how I came to love Deanna (on the previous December 4th blog post), I will share a beautiful song from one of her funniest films. This winter's project (or should I say, "one" of this Winter's projects!) is to put together my Deanna scrapbooks. I have several contemporary scrapbooks of her that I have gotten online, as well as tons of photos I want to print and lots of memorabilia (magazine covers, postcards, sheet music, etc.). Actually, two days ago I got another old Deanna scrapbook. Can't wait to do all of these.

Here is a fantastic song, from her 1940 film, It's A Date. Co-starring Walter Pidgeon and Kay Francis. If you've never seen this film, you've really missed out on a grand piece of entertainment. This is one of our favorite Deanna films. Very funny! With her and her actress mother trying out for the same part in a play!

" . . . can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women?" - 2 Samuel 19:35 b