Hip replacements and Dreidel spinning

Our weekend: Friday morning I went to GAC to hear the fifth grade band, orchestra and chorus perform. Wes and Joy did a great job and I wish I had a picture of Wes in his Santa hat! Friday night we went to a church Christmas party and unloaded a bunch of junk for a white elephant gift exchange. We by far gave the worst gift including a back scratcher, flower candles, a hat from a bar-b-que restaurant, a plastic colander and two mugs. Someone said as the guy was opening our gift, "wow, someone just emptied a drawer." I replied, "no, I emptied my trunk which was full of stuff for the Goodwill."

Saturday Wes listened to a lot of bassoons and oboes trying out for honor band which he said was pretty miserable this year. Then that night we had two interesting parties! The first was a Christmas party downstairs with some of our neighbors. We were by far the youngest people there...and I mean by about 40 years! In fact, as we were walking in, Wes had to help a lady up the small stoop and then keep her from running straight into the crystal clear storm door to the condo. She said she is due for a hip replacement. We did have one thing in common with another lady though. She had been on a cruise down the Rhine River similar to the one Wes and I will be going on soon down the Danube. She said a young couple helped her as they toured castles; they stood on either side of her as they walked. I suspect this is a foreshadowing of what we may be doing on our trip!!!

Our second party was a Hanukkah party at Joseph and Heather Kocevar's house. They are Messianic Jews -you should read about it if you have not heard of it. Heather is a friend of mine from high school and she got to know Wes well in college since they both play bassoon and are music teachers. We had fun learning some Jewish traditions at the party. The homemade latkes were awesome and Wes turned out to be a champion dreidel spinner!

Our tree and Willow Tree Nativity almost complete thanks to the Wes's parents who gave us the creche this year! Thank you!

Haley wondering why the groomer put a Christmas bow in her hair when it's 70 degrees outside