So we should be on the road and arriving in Michigan right about now, but the weather had other plans. A lovely blizzard blew in across our western mountain range all the way up to New York. We opted to wait until tomorrow when the roads should be clear for safer travel. Plus it gave me an extra day to get a hair cut and pack the sled(car). And pass out invites to Scott's  upcoming 13th bday party and White Elephant party(before the decorations come down). And there is always something that needs wrapped!

We have been working very hard at getting ready for the holidays. Last Sunday I took the family for their St Nick's Day surprise present, a trip to the Ford theater in DC to see A Christmas Carol. Unfortunately Tom was not able to join us as he had to travel out to LA. He has spent the last two weeks of work in LA, although he probably could have skipped this last week since they cancelled all the meetings. And he could have seen the play with us too! Instead, I invited our good friend John Dutton(moved from LA) to join the kids and I. He was very excited to see a piece of our history. We first enjoyed dinner out with our neighbors Dan and Gloria. They both have seen the play several times in the past, but really enjoy the whole experience. The Ford Theater was shut down for a few years while they remodeled. It now has a very nice museum in the basement. We did not have time to read and see all the displays before the play, so we will have to go back again(and take Tom too). There is also the house where Lincoln was taken after he was shot directly across the street. It also is a museum, but was closed Sunday night. It was amazing to see the box seat where Lincoln was shot, as well as the gun used by Booth. Our own Ellicott City was frequented by John Wilkes Booth as he was an actor and was often seen in plays in our local theater. So plenty of history to go around.

We also spent the day at church with Scott Altar serving, and then Allison and I were off to sing at my workplace in the nursing home. Everyone loves seeing me doing something besides torturing the patients!

And the day before, Tom and I attended a luncheon with the American Legion as they presented Allison with a beautiful plaque from her time spent at the Girls Nation camp this summer. She had to give an impromptu speech and talked about her great experience at the school, and how she wrote about the opportunity in her college essay, which by the way helped her get accepted into Salisbury University! So now we are 2 for 2! And even better, she received a scholarship to attend Salisbury as well! Her last choice is U of Maryland, but she is leaning towards Salisbury and their business school.

She also spent some time last week with her NHS team shopping for gifts for their Adopted FAmily
and afterwards wrapping the presents. She just wished she could have convinced the team to eat chinese food afterwards! She couldn't spend too much time with them anyway as she had to get to work.

Scott unfortunately did not have quite as successful a week. He missed out on his opportunity to join the Jr. NHS. His school raised the GPA, and his B's and A's didn't cut it. He was also rather disappointed in his Lego club competition as his coach allowed the whole team to try programming the robot on the day of the competition regional try outs. Needless to say, it was a disaster as Scott is really the only one who knows how to program the robot! They did get a very nice medal. But now they don't get to go on to the regional finals. SCott did enjoy seeing some of the amazing robot designs. And maybe next year the coach will be better prepared. Tom had to step in for her last year when she broke her ankle while riding horses in Costa Rica, so this was really her first competition.

Scott did spend some time this past week signing up for a new Boy Scout Troop. We joined the new troop for their year end party and I dropped off the paperwork. They are very excited to give him his new patches. And he has been very busy with the school choir. The choir performed at the school Christmas pageant. I was sorry Tom and I missed it. Allison sat through it(twice) since she is doing her internship at the school. She also brought home some wonderful gift cards from all the Kindergarten parents! That was so sweet of them.

I am sure everyone is feeling sad and upset about the event that occurred in the elementary school in Newtown.  Not only that, but we had the whole end of the world thing to deal with on Friday. Looks like we made it, but there were crazy threats here in the Maryland public schools that had parents keeping their kids home. Not mine. Allison had a math test on Friday, and SCott had a half day and went off on a play date with his friend Sammy. Since we did not go to Michigan today, they had an opportunity to go ice skating too. Allison and Scott especially had a great time!  And Allison was able to drive Scott to the rink, so I had lots of time to pack.

Lately I have been busy hosting parties. We had our neighbors over last night to exchange gifts. They have been overly generous, and recently gave me two Snow Baby statues-"To Grandmas's House we Go" and St Nick. (photos above). Last weekend they had all of the neighbor's over to their house. It is just one big party city over here!

I also had my Girl Scouts over for an end of year Holiday party. They played pictionary-guessing Christmas movies. They watch too many movies cause they were really good at it. They also had a cookie exchange, and White Elephant gift exchange.

So we will let you know how our vacation turns out. We plan on going to a Christmas eve party at my parent's friends house-The Dugans. And we'd like to go skiing with our friends, The Hejzas. And Allison wants a tour of MSU(again) if we have time.

So Have a Very Merry Christmas! We will be back before New Years. And a Very Happy Birthday to Linda Seitz!

I also included a photo of Allison's plaque from the American Legion. It was fun hanging out with all the old folks and eating great food at their holiday luncheon(reminded me of work!).And I included the box seats where Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre. The seats were right over the stage. You could almost picture JW Booth jumping out of the box seats to the stage below. Also the gun used(a Deringer with one shot only). Now you know why I wanted the family to see the Lincoln movie.