Pictures of Christmas 2003

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Christmas @ mIkIE's
Jim helps me set up and decorate the tree
MouseOver for the latest "GBS" (Gratuitous Butt Shot)	Click for a Larger Version
Peek-a-Boo! MouseOver	MouseOver

Christmas in Canton
Once again, I'm including a selection of the beautiful Lights of the Season. Just up the street from my house is a little road (probably 6 houses on each side of the block) that seems to be involved in a "lighting war". It reminded me of Christmas '93, when I took a camcorder with me on my courier route. The whole town of Cuyahoga Falls (outside of Akron) seemed to be in the midst of their own Christmas lights contest. I took about half an hour's worth of tape of the beautiful decorations and lighting for Randy, who was rapidly going downhill and was unable to ride with me to see the lights himself. If he couldn't get to Christmas, then Christmas would come to him. LOL Here's a sample of a Canton Christmas for you since some of you can't get to Canton! :)

Christmas Past

Randy '89

Christmas @ DO's
The Christmas Villages

Cookie Time!!

One of the Holiday traditions here is getting a "Goodie Box" from DO. But it takes a lot of time to create the ingredients in those boxes. Here are some pictures to show our labors are we baked up cut-outs, buried cherries, and orange drop cookies.

Jim and I had to give DO her Christmas present a little early so that she could enjoy it.
Since DO takes her tree down the day after Christmas, Jim and I presented her with a set of Kincaid Christmas Tree Ornaments a couple of weeks early so that she could enjoy them while her tree is still up.
	MouseOver this image to see the full set of 3 Kincaid ornaments
Once again, DO and Cliff have a nice looking tree --- because it's fake! LOL For many years, the Hancock family has had trees that were lop-sided, short, or just plain ugly (well, no Christmas tree can be "tooo" ugly; let's just say that the trees weren't "right". ) For a couple of years now, they've been using this tree and I must say that it's looking beautiful this year. Perhaps because of those lovely new Kincaid ornaments. LOL

Here's a bonus Christmas cookie picture. After all those cut-out cookies, you'd think we'd be done, but that was just the start. Since DO is famous for her "Christmas Goodies Boxes" we have to make enough cookies to fill a bakery! Our second batch of cookies were iced orange drops. Tomorrow, Jim and I are doing oatmeal cookies at my house, while DO works on the fudge and some other assorted cookies.

Christmas Eve With Friends

Another Christmas finds DO thrilled with all her new Kincaid stuff. This year she got an actual Kincaid print from Angie. DO discusses with Pam whether she should use her new rolling pin on Cliff or another batch of cut-out cookies. Richard, Ritchie, John, Janet, and Scott (Pam's youngest son) hang out around the table - and the cookies! Uncle Mikie showing Becca how to play B-I-N-G-O, sorta. LOL Packing up MY "goodie box" Rosita sneaking in kisses from her uncle Richard, while I'm chatting. Look! Scott almost breaks into a smile on Christmas Trying to hide won't help you, Janet (John's fiancée) - not with those big antlers on your head! LOL Angie and Richard are all smiles! Becca with light-up slippers, and Ritchie with a new ear ring

Christmas for mIkIE's Kidz

Christmas is supposedly all about the kids, so I sure couldn't forget my Kidz - and mine are easier to buy for too. LOL No fancy toys with batteries and instructions only a scientist could understand. For my kidz, just a new bag of rawhide bones is the BEST gift. My little Aries just isn't quite right. He's got a neurological problem that causes him to be a lot fussy and have some nervous tics (back right leg twitches); so it's not often that he seems to really enjoy himself. You can see though that he really LIKES the rawhides. As I opened the package and passed them out, I noticed that he kept coming back quicker than the other dogs. As you can see, he was hoarding a pile of the rawhides for himself. ROFL If you mouseover the picture on the right, you'll see that someone else didn't mind Aries hoarding most of the bones, as long as Aries left the stash for a few moments. LOL Joxie always LOVES to play! Zeus loves the new pull toys. Aries was having a good Christmas and even decided to give the pull toys a try. And he liked it! Whew! Everyone, especially ME, is worn out from playing!

Christmas with Jim
Jim gets a new shirt, necklace and Shower CD Player
The Kidz are hoping that some of Jim's presents will be something that they can play with. LOL
DO gave Jim this incredibly beautiful fiber-optic dragon, which is now proudly displayed on his mantle.

Christmas @ Carolynn's
	Carolynn has THIS in her kitchen - Santa flying on a pig. ROFL
Carolynn searches under the tree for the presents
	Look! It's me! WooHoo! (Got to interject a big THANK YOU here to Jim for taking pictures. Now there are actually pictures of me on my website too.)

Jim and I were driving over to see Carolynn (about an hour drive over to Salem from Canton) and were nearly there, when I saw something that made me do a double take. We're in Ohio, in the winter, in the snow and what do I see?!? A camel!! But no Mary or Joseph! LOL

Jim takes a closer look as the camel came over to see who was visiting on this cold, snowy morning.
MouseOver the picture on the right to see how close a look Jim got to take of the camel

Christmas @ Home
Even though this picture isn't actually a picture of MY Christmas at MY home, it is Christmas in the home of my heart. From left to right are my nieces and nephews (Allison, Jackson, Jonathan, Kayla and Jenny). I love you ALL and really miss you; but I promise to come visit in March for my birthday. For now, I'll just have to make do with this picture as my computer's current wallpaper.
A new VCR for mIkIE! WooHoo!
Many of you are probably wondering about my other presents (one in particular). This year whenever anyone asked what I wanted, I told them to contribute to my new leather jacket fund. The grand total is $200 and I'll be going shopping this week, looking for my new leather. Thank you all for your contributions! and Happy Holidays!!

December, 2003