HomeMade Christmas Gifts

All three of the kids made me a home-made gift this year.

Karl made me a magazine rack for the master bathroom.

Jill made me a Moose wreath

Jackie made me a photo albums to scrapbook some holidays. This one is for Easter.

Christmas 2016

Doug and I spent a quiet Christmas home alone with the stocking hung by the chimney with care.

We enjoyed a quiet dinner at home
(Steaks, baked potato and broccoli)

 And a nice bottle of wine

Doug and his gifts

Doug received a Makita light, 3 bottles of  "Howell Mountain", Tahiti ornament, 2 skillets (10" and 8") various meat rubs and several books: Joe Buck's autobiography, Gordon Strong beermaster book, Clone beer book and a series of books on Water, Malt, Hops & Yeast.

These are my gifts before opening. I received a 6 bottles of wine, coffee sryups x 2, Honda sun-shade, screen wipes for the Honda's nav screen, Honda insulated car cup, wireless keypad for the garage door opener, and a tire pressure gauge.

Andrew's 5th Birthday

Andrew was able to have two birthday parties this year. [Click on the photos to make them larger]

1st one was Saturday, December 17th.
This one was a destination party. Movie theater in Frisco with nine of his friends to see the movie "Moana". Followed by cake!

The 2nd party was on Sunday, December 18th.
It was a family gathering at Mimi & Poppa's house. It was a Mario theme party.

New Truck for Dee

Today I ordered my next vehicle...a 2017 Honda Pilot Elite (AWD-STD)
This is a 9 speed automatic. It has many options that my Ford Expedition did not.
Panoramic sun/moon roof; Heated 2nd row captain chairs, multi-information screen (Audio, Navigation, Phone, Android Auto) integrated sunshades, Collision Mitigation System, Road Departure Mitigation system, Lane Keeping Assist System, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Information System, Cross Traffic Monitor, Rearview Camera.

I had to order the car as no dealership had it in the color I wanted "Dark Cherry Red".
The car will be in the dealership around mid February.

I received my truck on February 7th. The grandkids are shown testing out my rear entertainment system.

Chuck E Cheese

Saturday fun with Andrew and Jill.
We went to Grapevine Mills Mall for some shopping, went to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch and then to Chuck E Cheese for some fun.

NYC (Day 3)

This morning, we would get up very, very early. In fact it was so early we could not get breakfast at the hotel and instead settled on some donuts at the Dunkin Donuts on the corner.

We took LYFT from hotel to Rockefeller Center for the live taping of the TODAY show. It was of course, cold and rainy so it wasn't that pleasant to stand outside for several hours. We did get a chance to get on tv a few times.

 We shook hands with Al Roker and had our photo taken with Hoda Kotb. We donated toys to the Toy Drive (Victoria Secret super models were collecting them that date) I commented she wished she had my ear muffs because she was so cold :-)

 The Today show hosts (Dillon, Tamryn, Matt & Al)

 We also donated toys to the Toy Drive (Victoria Secret super models were collecting them that date) I commented she wished she had my ear muffs because she was so cold :-)

 After the TODAY show taping, we took LYFT downtown to see the World Trade Center Memorial.

We grabbed a bite to eat at a local diner and then we were off to the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.

Liberty Island

 Statue front 

 A look behind the Statue of Liberty 

 From there the ferry went to Ellis Island

After a long day of being out in the cold, we opted for a nice dinner out at the West Side Steakhouse.  We each enjoyed a drink and a steak dinner.  http://www.westsidesteakhousenyc.com/

                                                                  Moscow mule for me!

Tomorrow we go home. Thanks for a great weekend girls!

NYC (Day 2)

Saturday morning we took LYFT to Rockefeller Center
to see the big Christmas tree from each side of the plaza.

 Early morning ice skating

 We walked by the Today Show taping on Saturday and found some
NDSU fans showing their support. I think we "Boo'd a little!"
They are a rival to SHSU in the football championships for the past few years.

Sights around Radio City Music Hall

We couldn't get tickets to see Jimmy Fallon so we settled for a photo op instead.
A stop at the NBC experience store, shows me doing my best Blake Shelton impression.

We attended the first show of the day at Radio City Music Hall
Rockettes Christmas Spectacular

 The living nativity scene

The Finale' 

After the show, we headed to 5th Avenue for some shopping.
1st stop - Michael Kors store. Handbags 50% off.
Yes! Yes! Yes!

After shopping, we walked to Trump Tower.
A few protesters around, lots of security detail.
We did visit the Tiffany's on the corner but were not allowed to walk
in front of Trump Tower, unless you had business there.

 In the evening, we stopped by the hotel Christmas tree for a photo before
we went to the Ambassador Theater to see the broadway show "CHICAGO"

 

 It was an action packed day and I topped 17,000 steps.  Whew!