The Ghost of Christmas Past

Or otherwise titled: "The Slacker Blog Writer Finally Gets Christmas 2010 on Her Blog".

This brings a whole new meaning to "I'll tell you later, Betty"...like a lot later, it seems.

"Who's gonna read it? Who cares now? It's a waste of your time!" -Patrick Kiley

And I reply, "It's the principle of the thing...I've just gotta get it up...uh, I mean posted".

I'm imagining when my children are sitting by the fireplace, reminiscing about their childhood to my grandchildren (leaving out all the ugly dysfunction, of course) they'll say, "Oh, hey, what fun it would be to read mom's blog...a trip down memory lane!" Then they get to Winter 2010/2011 and wonder if Santa forgot about them that year...or perhaps Gavin never really turned ten in January 2011.

So here I am in the Spring of 2011 typing a post about Christmas 2010. Lame, really. But necessary to my psyche. So please indulge me, dear readers. I'm sure at least one of you can relate. The rest of you can make fun of me. But please do it behind my back so I can keep what dignity I have left intact.

Of course, the Clinton Christmas Parade, now the third one we've attended, continues to be a train wreck that I can't seem to turn my head from. I must capture this crazy thing they call a Christmas parade.

Let's start with the Shriner Hill Billies...always a hit...but I'm skeptical about the clownish nature of the whole thing.



This year, Wendy and her girlfriends were in the parade...dear lord, that is one ugly Wendy or a straight man in drag (my apologies to the local "Wendy" should you read this and, indeed, are a girl)


This float is in the parade every year and every year it takes me by surprise...note: the Shriner is not a mannequin.


Cute high school boy holds snowman's head in the land where snow rarely falls.


Somebody call the DSS...CPS...



I guess one of us considers themselves a "Clintonian"..."Clintonite"...from here...and she looks like she's having a heck of a time throwing candy at the locals.


And then, finally, nothing says Christmas like the Clinton High School Mascot, The Red Devil...not to be confused with the Pink Devil or the Chartreuse Devil.


It would be remiss of me not to challenge you, my friends and family, to come up with some captions for these photos. Really, I didn't do them justice. So in the comments sections leave your captions to my photos. There's sure to be a winner.


That concludes this long over due pictorial of the 2010 Clinton (say it with me: klin-uhn) Christmas Parade. Alas, our ancient Mac Book that had all our Christmas photos died before I could upload them. But now we have a shiny new iMac this makes me very happy.


But I did manage to upload to Flikr these two little video clips...variations on a theme.

Variation One: The North


Variation Two: The South

A Virtuoso in the Making?

It is too soon to tell. But in our house she is a virtuoso. Uh, just as long as she keeps playing "I Like Chocolate Ice Cream". Anna started violin lessons last fall and I must say it is absolutely adorable seeing her with her little violin. When she practices her bow for the audience I about want to melt in that sweet cutie goodness.

So her first recital was in December. I promise I won't post every recital on here. It could prove to be torturous. But this one is easy on the ears. And will provide a good "before" to her amazing performances later. Can you all sing along with me? "She's got high hopes. She's got high hopes. She's got high apple pie in the sky hopes!"



Any hopes of me being a videographer sadly are not worth having. But you get the jist...cute little girl in a cute dress playing second fiddle to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We also got to hear several of our friends' kids play too.



Anna's instructor, Nancy Ditto, is an instructor of violin at Presbyterian College. She is so good with the little ones. She is just Miss Nancy to us. We love Miss Nancy and the way she makes playing so much fun for Anna. I think Anna would do just about anything for that woman...especially if there is chocolate or stickers involved.



Come to think of it I've been known to do just about anything for some chocolate. Like mother like daughter...

A Revolutionary Holiday - Thanksgiving Part Two

Only in South Carolina would they name a town, Ninety Six. Where do you live? Oh, Ninety Six. It's like saying you live in Letter "P". The history of the name is unclear. There are several speculations as to why they named it Ninety Six. As I type this I'm beginning to reconsider the "only in South Carolina" theory. Case in point: Hoosier. Need I say more? Maybe my home state and my current state have something in common...say it ain't so Joe.

But I digress. Let's get back to our visit to Ninety Six National Historic Site while the Kileys ventured to the whoopee cushion of America. Oh man, I should have greeted them with my clown shoes and water squirting boutonniere when they arrived. Damn, another opportunity missed.

Well, South Carolina is chock full of National historic sites featuring either Revolutionary War battles or Civil War battles. And Ninety Six used to be a village in the 1700s that was eventually burned to the ground by the Loyalists. At the site they have trails explaining how the battles there were fought. There are also a few buildings that assist in recreating the village feel. For those of you who have been to Conner Prairie in Indiana just imagine a tiny little part of the living village...itty bitty. The weekend the Hoosier Kileys were here Nine-Six was having a Colonial Holiday Reenactment and it was free. There was something for everybody.

When we first arrived we met this soldier. I can't remember whose side he was on. I've slept since then. I really look interested don't I?

Actually, I was more interested in this little guy right by his foot.



Now before you all rush to the comments to leave dirty jokes, I must stop you. For I am truly intrigued with the variety of mushrooms in South Carolina. This one is called "stinkhorn" I guess the heat and humidity create the perfect breeding ground for fungi. This guy lost his life to the revolutionary soldier who was telling us all about his, cough, cough, fire arm.

Soon we were off to the trail.



The kids tried their hands at making pomanders the Colonial way.



In the cabin we got to experience what it would have been like at the inn during the 1700's complete with Styrofoam cups.



And the innkeeper's wife...



But quite honestly we had had enough of the kids. Something had to be done. Perhaps they had the answer to unruly children 1700's style.



It was a great way to start the holidays...simply and with family.



I hope yours was just as memorable as ours this year.

Over the Mountains and through the rain...

[I know, dear readers, that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Alas, so did the time I had for blogging when I began full time employment...heavy sigh.]

Indiana came to Clinton for Thanksgiving for the first time. The Kileys all climbed in their cars and made the nine hour trek through rain and mountains to spend the Thanksgiving Holiday with us.

The table was festively set...


And we all set down to a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.


One thing we were grateful for is that the kids' table was in another room.


The cousins had a great time together. The top fun thing to do was the next door neighbor's zip line. The adults were bummed that it was not designed hold our weight minus thanksgiving dinner.


The girls played dress up and created works of art.




Jack was channeling his inner Rambo...


Really. See...



We've got a great old Magnolia tree in the front yard. I think every single cousin and maybe even a stray aunt or uncle were in this tree at some point during the weekend.



The Hampton Inn's hot tub was a hit with all the kids since the pool wasn't heated.



And Christmas came to early to the Kiley cousins.



Jack gets to explore all things great and small



The girls and their American girls got matching dresses



Best of all, the professor and I were lucky enough to be given a yodeling pickle...ah, the memories.



Please enjoy the yodeling as we did and still do.




I know you'll be tempted to play this over and over...it is mesmerizing. But please practice some restraint. And, instead, anticipate Thanksgiving Part Two: Ninety Six - A 1700's Holiday. Hopefully I'll get it posted before 2700.

The Tooth Fairy found Maple Street

Miss Monkey Mae wiggled the heck out of that tooth. She was determined to meet the Tooth Fairy. But alas, sleep took her out of the running to be the first one to meet her.