Every year, Christmas changes and brings something new with it – and not just the clothes grandma thought you could wear that are 3 sizes too large.  For me, Christmas is almost the closing out and reflecting of the year prior.  Sure, New Years is too – but that tends to have a more forward facing theme to it.  Christmas, for me at least, is the time to stop and think of everything the year has presented, and be thankful for what has come our way.  Be it new people, new love, new opportunities or new challenges – the recognition of these always happens this time of year, and I’m thankful.

For seeing my wonderful daughter continue to learn, grow, and flourish in my life;
For a new love and friendship, and everyone it brings with it;
For family, and the constant and reliable love, support, and energy they bring;
For friends who have been there, are there, and always will be there;
For the opportunities at work, and the amazing people that make up our company;
For the good times that brought smiles, and the tough times that brought growth…

All these things and more, I am thankful for.

Like most, we celebrate with family and friends – eating, drinking, talking, sharing and even unwrapping.  And while we spend days and weeks frantically preparing for a few hours – the few hours are captured, priceless, in pictures.

To you and your family, Merry Christmas.

Waiting for Santa

Christmas 2009

If you’ve never been to Johnson City for Christmas lights – you have not seen Christmas Lights.  PEC, the electric Co-Op of the hill country, puts on the most amazing display of lights in one concentrated area.  They literally wrap every branch of every tree on their property.  It is pitch black out there in the midsts of nowhere, but a glow like no other is found off Main street in Johnson City.  The amazement the girls saw matched the excitement in ours, to see them run around and check out all the lights. 

While taking pics at night is still a new thing for me and my camera, a few came out and I posted them here:

Johnson City Christmas Lights

After an awesome lunch from hosted by his sister, which featured a small dab (aka few pounds) of orzo pasta, and lots of crouton, we spent the night playing pictionary and flippie cup before falling asleep to the antics of YouTube.

The next morning, his dad was packing us up to go fishing in Galveston Bay. Bringing my A Game, I was ready to go. I won’t go into the details of Angler Magazine contacting me about my extraordinary fishing skills – I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Thanksgiving Fishing

Like pictures from my birthday in Houston and the Coldplay concert, The Fab Five goes to Galveston, and Pumpkin Patch 2009 with Kathie, Mike and the girls!

Birthday in Houston

Galveston Beach Weekend

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Being the lucky bastard I am, while bumming around the train station, I found a camera supply store that sold one for dirt cheap! So, thanks to luck, here’s some pics from my hotel

Auberge du Pêcheur – Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium16 pictures
Sint-Martens-Latem, BelgiumFeb 21, 2009

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Ainsley Turns 7!

Ainsley had her birthday, and this year I was able to be there for the party!  As you can imagine, it’s tough having a birthday on Dec 27 and having a party with all your friends from school there.  This year, my mom and I flew up to Charlotte on the 18th and surprised Ainsley at her Yellow Belt Graduation Ceremony.  Ainsley is now an Orange belt and is well on her way to learning self defense – which is good since she’s not 50 pounds soaking wet yet!

While there, I was proud to be the Mystery Reader for her class and surprised everyone by showing up with two books to read before lunch.  Ainsley was so excited, she had no idea I was coming into school.  From there, we had lunch in the cafeteria, and boy have things changed!  You now have a PIN number for your lunch card and can pick from vegan options, a salad bar and more – all in elementary school!

That weekend, we went out to a small ranch and took Ains and 5 of her closest girls horseback riding.  Now I know what you’re thinking, but this was far from walking a horse in a circle.  Everyone had their own horse and things got interesting as Ainsley’s horse decided to JUMP a puddle of mud, and my horse was spooked by something and thought he’d see if I could hold on for eight seconds.  Both incidents ended with us keeping control of our horse and me hoping no one was thrown on a 7 year old birthday party trail ride!

Ainsley’s 7th Birthday58 pictures
Charlotte, NCDec 20, 2008

We wrapped things up with an early Christmas and watching Ains eagerly open her gifts from Texas.  We had a great stay with her mom and step-dad, and got to see her new little sister in person.

Christmas with Ainsley in Charlotte44 picturesDec 21, 2008

New Years

Continuing my tradition, I had my annual New Years party, which was quite successful.  Ending up asleep in my closet at 5:00a New Years Day should be enough to highlight how much fun we had.  Many thanks to the best friends I could ask for – Roy and Natalie – for all their help in setting up and keeping my OCD in check.  Thanks to Roy, Natalie, Jeff, Jason (grr), Sean, Joe, Brandon, Ryan, Andrew, Sheerin, Brooke, Libby, Maggie and everyone else for starting the New Year off with me!

New Years Eve30 pictures
Pflugerville, TXDec 31, 2008

I met WonderWoman…

A dear friend of mine, Kathie, showed me in 2009 the definition of strength, determination and love.  January 6th, at 6:30p she lost her best friend and husband to an uphill battle of cancer.  Steve and Kathie are the couple you want to “grow up” to be like, with their two adorable daughters – Delaney and Alby.  In the midsts of caring for Steve, raising her daughters and running a house, Kathie was quite possibly the strongest person I’ve seen in a long time – and even managed to carry out every one of Steve’s wishes despite some less than ideal in-laws who gave her hell from 1400 miles away every day.  If 2009 is good to anyone this year, Kathie better be on the top of the list.

89 is not just another year…

My great-grandmother, Violet, hit the “one year away” mark this month, as she turned another year more fabulous and celebrated 89 years.  My grandparents, Nana and Dada, along with my Dad, threw an awesome lunch for MeMaw in Kerrville, with grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren in attendance, along with one of two living siblings.  At 89, MeMaw is the oldest of her siblings and enjoys her days with other residents of her senior community and a nice cold Dr. Pepper.

Do you hear what I hear?

No, not Christmas bells, but the pitter patter of little feet.  My Step-Brother Jason and his adorable wife Cecilia are getting ready to welcome a little boy to the world this spring/summer.  With all the excitement, it makes me wish my brother Allen were here to raise his little one (Allen Evan) and see these two friends who grew up together raise their boys together.  Another reason to cherish every day you have with someone – you never want to have to wish you would have called one more time just to say hi.

Home is where my head rests…

After a wonderful week and a half off from work over the holidays, I started back on 5Jan and hit the ground running.  I’ve spent most of my time since then traveling and visiting marriotts from Houston to Manhattan.  It’s exciting and rewarding to be part of such an envigorating company with an unbeatable product offering, outstanding team and confidence in what we do.  In todays economic times, everyone is thankful for their career… If the economy were at the top of its game, I’d be just as thankful for all the opportunities I have every day.

If you’re still reading…

You deserve some sort of award.  I told you a lot has happened… and well, when you put your homepage on your Christmas cards, and have some friends that keep track of you through this and Facebook, you kind of need to download everything, even if it is mundane.

While I don’t resolve to do anything other than the best I can this year, there are a few things that I’d like to see happen.  I won’t bore you with the list, and some of it is just cheesy, but I will say keeping in touch with you more is on the list.  So help me out, drop me a line or pick up the phone, and I’ll try more to do the same. 

With everything this life gives you, it’s the people in your life that fill your days with the joy and fulfillment that make the journey a memorable one. Thanks for being part of the ride.