Eyesight Update

Clay's eyesight had a bit of a setback around the 24th of December. We don't know if it's because of flying or something else. Prior to our trip he had good days and bad days with his sight, but starting the 24th there were only bad days for about a week. It was rather discouraging. He says it seems to be gradually improving now. We can only hope it will return to what he calls "the good eyesight" he experienced on the best days in November and December. He returns to the doctor on the 11th for a checkup. For now we wait.

Santa Stamp

I got a postcard from Portugal the other day. I thought this was the cutest idea. The sender put the postcard inside an envelope, but on the postcard itself where the stamp would be she glued a small wooden Santa figurine. Too cute!

Christmas in Florida

We had a good time in Florida celebrating Christmas with Clay’s family. It was really great to see everyone. All the kids were there, and Clay’s mother too. The Rusty Scotts have a beautiful home and took good care of us while we were there. Santa was also very good to us.

Of course in Seattle we are used to having chilly weather for Christmas, so spending the holiday in Florida was a little different. On Christmas Day it was 81 degrees, and I remember sitting by the pool with a soft breeze blowing. As you can imagine all the palm trees were lighted for the holidays.

On Christmas Eve we went to a beautiful candlelight service that was quite a production. Then we came home and took a bunch of family photos while we had everyone together in their nice clothes.

Clay’s brother took us down to the beach where I got my first ever view of the Atlantic Ocean. One evening we took a drive to view the large fancy estates which overlook the ocean there, including Donald Trump’s estate, Mar-a-Lago. We also drove down Worth Avenue to see all the fancy shops in Palm Beach’s very upscale and exclusive shopping district.

Our trip home took about 9 hours longer than expected, though. We got home at about 4am on the 27^th. Between weather delays and the holiday rush of people, I suppose it could have been worse. We were just counting our blessings because all around us we saw people who had it worse – mostly parents traveling with small children.

I hope you all had as nice a Christmas as we did.

Elena the Star

Speaking of creativity, you won’t find any more creative than Jim and Kristina - the parents of my beautiful little friend Elena. Here is a picture of Elena which came in their Christmas card. Oh wait, it’s not just a picture – this is actually a photo magnet!

And here is a picture of the card itself. Stitched by hand with their little star Elena at the top. How cool is that!

More Christmas Card Pics

Here are a couple more pictures which came in Christmas cards. This first picture is of my 16-year-old nephew Charlie. Nice handsome fella.

And here is a picture of my friend Joey’s family. That’s his wife Theora and their children Christian, Adina and Lucas (the little one). What a good looking family!

Handmade Christmas Card

There are many people in my family who are artistic or craftsy. I do not happen to be one of them. But I really appreciate when others show off their creativity. Check out this cool Christmas card from my Aunt Darlene!

Kimber and Cappi

I mentioned in an earlier post that my friend Kimber recently lost her beloved dog Cappi. Kimber’s been on my mind a lot recently. I love this photo of Kimber and Cappi at the dog park. As you can see they were lost in their own little world.

Florida, Here We Come

Tomorrow morning we are off to Florida to spend time with Clay's relatives for Christmas. The shuttle picks us up at 4:45 AM. I am SO going to sleep on the flight.

We found out this afternoon that my nephew Russ who lives in Houston will be flying with us on the second leg of our flight to Florida. We fly from Seattle to Houston first and then from Houston to West Palm Beach. I'm not sure why, but we will be returning via New Jersey. That should be an adventure - we've never flown through the Newark airport before.

We're really looking forward to seeing Clay's family. We haven't seen most of them in a couple years, and even Clay's mother will be there from North Carolina.

For Some the Holidays are Tough

This time of year everyone's expectations are very high. The mood is supposed to be happy and celebratory. But sometimes regular life intervenes and the gap between reality and expectations is great. The last few days I've been thinking about some friends and relatives who will not have as joyous a Christmas as most.

-- On my mind is my friend Colette who will be celebrating her first Christmas without either of her parents.
-- My friend Betty passed away earlier this year and I feel for her mother and the rest of her family who feel her absence greatly.
-- This week my friend Kimber had to say goodbye to her dog and best friend of 11 years. Her home won't be the same without Cappi.
-- My aunt is suffering a terminal illness. My heart goes out to her and her immediate family members who are caring for her.
-- Today my friend and coworker Doxey was turned away from an airplane flight because he was too sick to fly. He ended up in the hospital possibly with pneumonia. I can only imagine how disappointed he is that he cannot spend Christmas with his family in Tennessee this year.

We can only be grateful that the message of Christmas is one of hope. My hope is that my friends and family who are experiencing sadness this time of year know that they are loved and that tomorrow will bring a better day. Merry Christmas to all.

Another Good Report

Clay had another checkback today. Some days his vision is better than others. Today was not so good, and he took that opportunity to talk to the doctor about distortions in his vision. The doctor explained that the cornea is sort of wrinkly and that's from the stitches in his eye holding everything together really nice and tight. He expects that over time that will relax and the distortions should lessen. Clay's eye still has a long way to go in the healing process. All looks really good, though, and we just have to be patient. I was glad to hear there was an explanation for the distortions and there is hope that they may eventually go away.

When do the stitches come out? In 6 months or so. Clay's next checkback appointment is in 3 weeks - January 11th.

Christmas Card Surprises

I love this time of year when cards start arriving in my mailbox filled with pictures of my favorite kids. The first photo to arrive from her proud parents this year was Nikka's. She's growing up to be such a beautiful little lady! Don't you agree?

Christmas Postcard from Germany

I recently received a wonderful surprise in my mailbox. A Christmas postcard from Germany! The card was not signed and contained only the note "Merry Christmas Carm, from an unknown Postcrosser." Thank you to whoever you are, my unknown postcrossing friend. I love it!

Let It Snow ... Indoors!

The other day we went to Pacific Place (an upscale shopping mall in downtown Seattle) to watch it snow.

It doesn't actually snow in Seattle very often, so Pacific Place provides indoor snow for shoppers. They make it snow from November 25th through December 31st, from 6:00 to 6:15 p.m daily.

It's a fun activity, and they play really good Christmas music while you're getting snowed upon. In fact, it feels like you are on the set of some Christmas movie watching people with their shopping bags hurry about between the flakes, moving up and down the escalators, kids jumping up and down and catching snow on their tongues, and the adults trying to capture it all on their camera phones.

The little ones were SO excited about the snow, but I saw a lot of big smiles from adults as well (including our own). If you're having trouble picturing indoor snow, you can see a video of it here. Pretty cool!

Postcard From Finland

Yes, I'm still trading postcards using Postcrossing, and sometimes PostcardX. I recently received my first postcard from Finland. The birds are beautiful. I'm sure the one in the background is a quail, but not sure about the one in front. Do you think it's a quail or some kind of turkey?

Snow!

Yesterday was rather exciting. People in most areas around Seattle had our first snow of the year. Seattle doesn't usually get much snow, so it's a big deal when we do. I was working in my office downtown while the drops fell. We could see great big fluffy flakes coming down outside silhouetted against the dark terra cotta colored building next door. It was SO pretty! But there was some frustration too, because it's not really possible to capture the beauty of falling snow with a camera as well as it appears to the naked eye.

The snow fell for several hours but the temperature was too warm for it to stick. It stopped snowing before I left my office. It stuck in some of the outlying areas, though, and I understand some places got a couple inches. When I got off the bus at the Transit Center near our home (about 7 miles north of downtown) I was pleasantly surprised to find almost an inch of snow piled around, although the pavement was bare and wet. In fact I had to get out the snow brush and push snow off my car before I could drive home.

I love to watch snow fall and I celebrate almost every time it happens here. But I deliberately avoid driving in it at all costs. It's a good thing there is good bus service available for me. It's possible we will have more snow in the next few days, but it is unlikely to amount to much. Perhaps any real accumulations will hold off until after Christmas so we can do our shopping without worrying about getting around in the snow.

Job Corps - A Great Program

On Sunday we went with my sister Jozi to drive my nephew DJ back to Oregon where he is enrolled in Job Corps. He was at home visiting his parents in Lacey and Centralia for the Thanksgiving holiday. DJ went into Job Corps in May and is really enjoying it.

This was the first time I had been to the Job Corps facility which is located in Troutdale, Oregon (near Gresham). The campus is in a beautiful setting near the banks of the Sandy River. The facility has fairly tight security and lots of rules to keep the students on track with their studies.

DJ travels three days a week to Portland (a 40 minute commute) where he has an on-the-job training position. They teach lots of great employability skills at Job Corps including taking initiative, working in teams, how to troubleshoot and problem solve and dress appropriately for work. I'm really glad DJ is enrolled.