Downtown on The Circle last night: Allie (Brooke's friend), Matt, Brooke (Daniel's sister), Daniel, Kathy (Daniel's mother). And, the second photo is Daniel and Matt with a familiar figure...15 and still sitting on Santa's lap...how cool is that?!
Last night Matt was invited by his friend Daniel and his family to attend the Yuletide Concert downtown with dinner at PF Chang's and a stop by Circle Center Mall to chat with Santa. Daniel is a swimming buddy of Matt's and the Dapper Daniel can swim rings around most everyone in the club...he is very very good. He is also very very funny and fun to be around, so Matt knew he would have a great time and he did...a very good time. The boys had a little while to browse about the Mall, much to Matt's delight, of course. He wanted to know if it was "too late to add about ten things I saw tonight at the Mall to my Christmas list..." (Yeah, right...not happening.) I tell you, this Mall business is very risky...but it was fun to hear about the things he and Daniel found interesting and worthy. All I can say is that teenage boys have come a long way since my day. (Photos complement of Daniel's father, Dan...thanks, Dan!)
I know I have been woefully lacking in the posting department here at the Table lately, but I want you to know that I am DONE, DONE, DONE with the Christmas prep around here, so I have not been just frittering my time away these past days. (Okay, there was a certain amount of frittering, I will admit it.) I just finished the last Christmas card/letter (much later than usual, but some years are just like that, right?), all the gifts are wrapped, tagged, and waiting under the trees, all the grocery shopping is completed, the house is looking very spiffy, and I can't think that there is anything left to do except light the candles and cook the meal tomorrow when Mark's family arrives.
Just for fun, I visit this little site during the winter months to remind myself why I like living in Indiana so much...this morning, for instance, the roads up in my hometown area were completely covered with snow and CLOSED. Another reason that sign on the I80 bridge crossing the Mississippi saying "Welcome to Iowa" should have a little * with a footnote saying, "Closed for Winter...See You in the Spring." The snow here is gone...all melted away yesterday in that 52 degree weather we were having..."were having." Tonight it is windy and cold with more of this expected tomorrow.
And now I am going to enjoy the rest of the evening with my book curled up in my jammies and under one of Grandma Sieckmann's quilts beside the lovely fire...what's going on over there?