Santa made it...

...despite the Texas wind turbines. And Bethany made it, too!

Everyone's least-favorite tree topper.

(Karen & I LOVE it!!)

(BTW, the kids noted that the Santa voice that accompanied the sleigh bells outside their windows sounded remarkably like Aunt Kristy's! Hmm...)

Karen thought of a terrific gift...REAL New Hampshire maple syrup made by my childhood friend, Melanie (Cray) Blake. Her family makes it themselves!!

Can you tell how content I was to have that sweet Bessie Lou home again? It does NOT matter how old your child gets...she'll always be your BABY. (The blue jewelry belonged to my crazy red-headed grandmother, Lea Emma, Dad's mom. It felt so nice to wear it on Christmas Eve.)

Hope you all had a quiet, happy, blessed Christmas with the ones you love...

Christmas in peril for West Texans!

How will Santa ever make it to Abilene?

A coach sent me this today accidentally as he tried to email it to Mike...but I loved it enough to share it. (My favorite part is the turbine on the far right of the cartoon; it kinda' reminds me of a Claymation Christmas spoof I once saw done on Apocolypse Now...)

Abilene High teachers...

...go above and beyond the call of duty in this video! (Is it any wonder that AHS beat Hebron last week after this inspiring pep rally number?)



Good luck tomorrow at Texas Stadium, Eagles!


Update: Abilene's mighty Eagles had a rough game yesterday, and Pflugerville won in overtime. (The game was tied at 14 points each at the end of regulation.) A friend of mine, who used to be inside the AHS "Champ" mascot suit, sent me a rather naughty email at 1:43 in the morning, suggesting that Pflugerville ...well...let's just say that my potty-mouthed friend converted a taboo 4-letter word into a new, non-existent 5-letter word with a P in front...

Congratulations, Abilene Eagles, on a terrific year and for tying the 1955 school-record for the second-most wins in one season. Everyone at Cooper and in Wylie followed your progress with support and enthusiasm and respect...

Christmas Concert at the Civic Center

We just got home from the first-ever matinée performance of the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra's Christmas Celebration. It was wonderful, and we really made a girls' afternoon of it, meeting Kirsten at Starbucks before the performance. In fact, she snapped the picture above!

In the Christmas spirit yet?