Each December, the girls dance with their dance class at the annual lighting of the Christmas Tree in Lenexa. Several years ago the dancing and choirs were moved inside – yup, they used to do it outside on a portable stage in Old Town Lenexa. I was frozen, so I don’t know how the girls could do it dressed in tights and tutus.
Enjoy the video from this year – one tap and two ballet numbers (including one on pointe).
http://youtu.be/JmqKcUpTl44
I know it’s been a full week since the last post. Several events occurred that were worth talking about, but I was either busy at those events or I was working.
Last Thursday night was the annual Christmas Dinner for the Kansas City Cigar Aficionado Club – of which I’m a founding member. The picture above is me with my best friend, Krishna, and his wife, Amanda. It was a wonderful meal followed by a cigar that was given to us by a fellow club member that had died the previous month. One of his dying wishes was to have his favorite cigar distributed to the members at the dinner. What a great way to remember Bob.
Saturday night found us at The National Golf Club of Kansas City in Parkeville, MO. What a stunningly beautiful place. This was the annual Christmas party for my two hospitals. Linda and I had so much fun spending time with my colleagues in a non-medical environment. The food was even better and the free wine tasting was fabulous.
Sunday night found us across the street at our neighbors house for the annual block Christmas party. Catching up with neighbors is nice – but getting to know new neighbors is even better.
The next few nights found me at work and not really around to see what was going on around the house. Most importantly, no photos of things happening here. I hope to do a better job of this over the next couple weeks before Christmas arrives. The girls only have a few more days of school and Linda is already done teaching for the semester. Seems to me next week shouldn’t be near as busy.
A very dear friend died today. Gayle was one of the unit clerks in my ER upon my arriving straight out of residency. ‘Mama Gayle’ was dearly loved by all. Health issues forced an early retirement, but she stayed in touch with us in the ER.
Back in July, the ER staff gathered together to have a proper retirement party for her. Everyone created a square for a quilt that was presented to her. The picture above is just after she was given the quilt.
She will be missed, but we are all smiling knowing that she’s no longer in pain. Ya’ know – she’s smiling now too!
Goodbye, Gayle. We love you.
After finishing the Insanity program back in October, I’ve taken a break from the rigorous daily exercise that I’d begun in February. I considered obtaining another program from the makers of P90X and Insanity; I’d even considered restarting P90X again. However, I’ve been enjoying riding bikes with Linda and have promised to join her on the longer biking events.
So, I’m back in the saddle – cranking out miles on the indoor trainer. We both enjoy riding outdoors much, much more. However, 23-degrees is just a bit too cold to enjoy the ride outside. Plus, no matter how far I ride, I’m already home when I finish!
Linda enjoys watching TV while riding on the trainer. I enjoy listening to my biking podcasts and catching up on my magazines. Great way to get some exercise and complete other enjoyable tasks.
We are now in the 2nd week of Advent and the spirit of Christmas has arrived. Linda has had a rule for as long as I’ve known her – no Christmas tree until after her birthday. We fudged on the rule a bit and put the tree up on Sunday. Availability and scheduling trumps birthday rules!
What’s great is that Anna and Emily are able to help a lot now. They did a great job helping me place ornaments on the tree while Linda put the rest of the decorations up around the house.
Merry Advent to all of you – prepare ye the way for the coming of our Lord!
Happy Birthday to a wonderful friend, wife, and mother!
We love you so very much.
Linda spent the past week accomplishing a goal she set for herself – to clear out the overflowing storage closets before her birthday on Monday. These closets were filled with some junk, but mostly toys and games the girls have outgrown.
Some of the toys were recovered for the official toy repository (i.e., grandparents house), but most of it is going to be donated so that someone else can enjoy them as much as our girls once did.
Final interesting observation: the size of toys appears to be indirectly proportionate to the size of the child. Best example – small girl and big dollhouse. Alternate example – big girl and ipod.
