MN Thompson's

I had no idea Angela Lansbury had done anything besides Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Beauty & the Beast, and Murder, She Wrote – did you? 😉 Ok, maybe I knew a bit more but I really didn’t know much about Mame. I was listening to the Christmas station on the radio and was drawn to the words from We Need a Little Christmas. Maybe it had a different meaning in Mame but it sure seems to apply to how I’m feeling this year at Christmas…I really want to have a good, fun, meaningful, peaceful, reflective Christmas, and enjoy the times with family and friends – and I want that right now. It’s tough this year. But nothing is different for my kids – it’s just like any other year for them and we’ll have a fun Christmas – and I’m glad they will help pull me through it. Our tree is up, the stockings will be filled, I’ll have to buy a fruitcake to slice – and I’ll be sure to listen to this song a few more times (take time and read the words – I think they are just what many of us need right now):

We Need a Little Christmas

Mame:
Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I’ve ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.
For I’ve grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older,
All:
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,
Need a little Christmas now.
Mame:
Haul out the holly;
Well, once I taught you all to live each living day.
All:
Fill up the stocking,
Young Patrick:
But Auntie Man, it’s one week from Thanksgiving Day now.
All:
But we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
Agnes:
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry;
Ito:
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I’ve ever seen.
All:
Slice up the fruitcake;
It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.
For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy
“Happy ever after,”
Need a little Christmas now.
Need a little Christmas now.

Alright, time to talk about the pics. Follow along the best you can. I took the kids to see Eden Prairie play in the state championship (to the semi-final and final games). Eden Prairie dominated and won their 8th state title!! Skol EP! Colleen and Christopher brought friends and we saw many people we knew – it was fun getting out and cheering and letting the kids run around a bit in a semi-empty stadium (the games were played at the Metrodome where the Vikings play). Skol Vikings!

I remember how excited I would get to “paint” my dad’s face with shaving cream so I’ve let my kids do that from time to time. I love watching their eyes and expressions as they come at me with the shaving cream brush and lather up my face so carefully (ha!). They are so intent and focused – I love it. And Megan will soon outgrow it so I’d better let her do it a few more times!!

We got our first snow on Thanksgiving so the kids couldn’t help but run out and try to catch as many flakes as they could on their tongues. We had a good Thanksgiving – lots of great food and time to relax a bit. The kids have loved getting to smash ice on the pond again – the fun never ends. I’ve heard that’s bad on the fish (something about giving them horrible headaches – hee hee) but I hadn’t seen a fish in a while…until a week later I spied the fish in the photo at night swimming below the ice in the shallow part of my pond. Not sure what he was doing but glad he paused long enough for a photo op.

This is the time of the year when Colleen has several dances – we did the Gopher Women’s b-ball half-time, Gopher’s Men’s b-ball halftime, and then her recital at the high school. I do enjoy these programs now – her group is really good, plus I get to see some college hoops and walk around campus which is always fun. Can you find Colleen in the group photo? Hint – she’s the only one looking at me (not much help, huh). While we were taking photos a huge syringe walked by (the team the Gophers played were the Dayton Druggies and that was their mascot) and I found it funny watching it try to duck to get down the stairway.

I have always enjoyed traveling back to Rochester. Such ingrained memories from childhood of walking to the dam, hanging out at Grandma T’s and Aunt B’s, going to auctions, pizza parties with so many relatives, flag pole, etc etc etc. It’s always fun to see the kids asking to go the dam and then wanting to do the things that I always wanted to do. Mater was new to Rochester from what I remember – everytime I see a beat up old brown truck I always call them Mater so it was cool to finally see a real Mater. Loved it.

Miss you Grandma T. Yellow flowers will always bring up happy memories going forward. Driving home in Wisconsin the day of the funeral it was a clear night sky and I saw a shooting star right in front of me while I was driving. Thanks for saying hi Grandma 🙂

Check out the pictures of the cars. That was the day after we got a foot of snow. The snow covered the lines in the parking lot which apparently gave people permission to park however they wanted which included completely boxing people into parking spots with cars on all sides – the good news is that these same idiots can’t be out on the roads driving if I can see their cars all grouped together. Morons. And it’s crazy how one moron does it which immediately gives everyone else permission to turn off their brains too.

The picture of the snow falling in our driveway was the night after I hung up Christmas lights and cleaned out our gutters. Nice timing, huh?

December also brought us to a band concert for Colleen and Salvation Army bell ringing for Christopher’s scout pack (and Megan came too – she’s a great helper). We raised a lot of money – people seemed to be especially generous this year. Or maybe the boys got cuter? Or scarier? Whatever it was, it worked!

And here are some videos. The first one is the md-phd (Jakub) who is leading the lab that Beth is currently working in. He does amazing stuff for children with very serious genetic disorders. This video is one of his recent transplant patients for epidermolysis bullosa.

Jakub transplant patient

And here’s the video Beth’s team made for their final presentation for their cell biology class. You won’t quite get the full effect if you don’t watch it with Beth laughing the whole way through it. I must admit it’s still a bit hard for me to find quite as much humor in this as she does but I’m doing the best I can 🙂 Oh, don’t judge me until you’ve watched it! I’m not even sure that I’m smart enough to say that I’ve even learned anything by watching it more than once – I just hope her teacher lets her bring stuffed animals to her final test!

Beth’s cell biology final video

And finally, since I’m posting other videos…can’t remember if I’ve posted this one before or not but here’s another cake video that a friend posted. And yes, I know my own Grandma’s name 😉

Grandma T cake on fire

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2012 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Children, Katherine, Life, Vacation, Weather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.