Grandma braves a slide at Monkey Joes

Yeah, I did the big slide at Monkey Joes. It was tons of fun. Wouldn't have done it without Hannah to hold on to. Ben was enamoured with Monkey Joe and wanted to dance and hang out with him. Hannah was too cool to care about a Big Purple Monkey.Sorry about the middle part of the video. New camera, first video.

Call it!

While visiting South Carolina this past week, Jared and Debbie took me to the famous Beacon Burger where you can get a heartattack on a plate. Beacon Burger is famous for visits from Pres Bush, Mitt Romney and other political hopefuls. You place your order with CJ and he yells it out to the cooks in jargon not understandable to the likes of a California girl like me. When the order is complete he yells "Caaawwwllll et!" CJ was kind enough to allow us a photo op. There are billboards around town proclaiming CJ's fame. Ben likes to say "call it," as well. Take note, also, that when ordering a side of slaw and chili, the slaw and chili are IN the burger!
I also learned the locals refer to shopping carts as buggies. "Honey, would ya'll get me a buggy for these here groceries?"




Sorry the "it" is cut off.

We also made a trip to Monkey Joes, a bounce house place and a trip to the snow for some tubing. It was a great trip and I appreciate J & D hosting me. Thanks to Hannah and Ben for all the cuddles and kisses.

Christmas Eve Outtakes

 

I thought you might like to see what happens when you let a 3 year old take charge of the camera. This is Carter's artistic interpretation of Christmas Eve Festivities

Christmas Eve

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Chinese for Christmas Eve

We have a time honored tradition of having Chinese Take-Out for Christmas Eve dinner. The idea was born out of exhaustion about 25 years ago when my sister and I were too exhausted from cooking goodies all day to even consider what to feed our family for dinner. Ergo - Chinese Take-Out. The idea has stuck and the kids love it.
We told the kids the chicken drumsticks were pigeon legs - didn't keep them from eating them!
I save the big fortune cookie boxes the food comes in, to store my nativity collection. Serendipity! Click on the fullscreen at bottom to see pics. I messed up somehow!