Christmas and New Years

Dear Jack,
So I am over at Joy's celebrating the New Year. But before I get into that, let me put on record that this has been the best Christmas ever. Last year was the second best, mind you. This year, however takes the cake. I went into this with great anxiety.

Well Here was my Christmas Eve. Lucy came over mid-afternoon. Joy and Grandma & Grandpa Hohne both were on their way to meet at the early service at Church. Mom made a store-bought Lasagna. It was not all that good, but well food is food, and it was nice to have Aunt Lucy there.

Dad and I met the choir at church. We practiced the anthem I arranged. The night went off pretty good... G and G Hohne came on time, and Joy stopped in for a short time. After the first service, we went home and ate Cheese and Sausage, a family staple during the holidays. Then Dad and I headed back to the Church. OH One thing I must mention... Mike came over... he was not only well behaved, but pleasant to be with. It was rather different. He's even going to help Lucy get a job. It was eerilly nice.

The late service went nicely... I was asked to do the Silent Night arrangement again at the last moment. I got several complements from the choir on my conducting, and how clear and helpful it was. I'll have to let Big Stoge know.

We came home and I stayed up watching Bishop Alexander on ABC and Pope John Paul II on NBC. It's been a Christmas Tradition to watch them together each year. Lucy liked it too. Grandma and Grandpa and Mike tried to go to Midnight mass... but St. Pius' mass was in Spanish, and they could not find the Monastery.

The next day, I got up early with Mom, Dad, and Lucy, and we drove over to St. Simon's for a 10:30 AM Chirst Mass. Unfortunately Fr. Dan was late, so we left before it started. Oh... Need to mention that Fr. Dan was contacted on Christmas Eve by the Diocese of Atlanta. The bishop's secretary and the canon for the ordinary said it was ok for me to go ahead and start applying for seminary, which means that there is a ninety-nine percent chance of a complete goahead from PC. Also I was told that my seminary of choice, General Theological Seminary (www.gts.edu) is a good choice. Anyways... back to Christmas Day. I cooked a roast, made sweet potatoe casserole and aspearagus casserole whilst my grandparents, parental units, and aunt all had some discussion time. It again was pleasant. Then Mike came over, and we opened gifts. Again he was more pleasant than I've ever seen him.

For Christmas I got a nice jacket, a microwave, money from grandparents (both sets and Winnie Daniel), a teddy bear (Aslan) from Justin, a name picture art creation by Anna, underwear (American Eagle) from Joy, a subscription to XY Magazine (reminder to send it in) from Joy, grinch boxers from Mom, and a box of chocolates from G'ma Pease, and a poster of Christ Knocking at the Door from St. Paul's London from Paige and Terry. All in all it was a good haul. In all honesty the Microwave is a bit big for me and the boys, a 1300 watt Panasonic... however I'm assured it was on sale and did not put my parents back too badly. We ate Christmas dinner around 4 and all were pleasant and wonderful. It was almost like a TV movie... like Prancer... not like A Christmas Story.

Joy and Wanda and Jim came by the next day (Saturday). Joy and I hung out throughout the week and went to the movies twice... seeing LOTR and Peter Pan which was a damned good movie by the way.

Now I am at Wanda and Jim's with Joy and my parents celbrating the New Year's dawn. I miss Justin, and luckily have been able to talk to him.

Anyways, back to here... went to eat a most disturbing dinner at Western Sizzlin... the salad was rotten. Then we went to the Food Depot. At the food depot I had a rather embarrassing incident... see in Alabama you can't buy alcohol if you have someone with you who looks like a minor who doesn't have ID. That minor looking person was Joy... and so they refused to sell it to me... even with Joy's mother coming and verifying her age. I had to exit the store, reenter... collect my alcohol from them at the register and pay for it with Joy not near me. It was the dumbest and most embarrasing this Christmas.

Dad and Jim did bottle rockets a bit ago, and now we're headed up stairs to see whatever drops in the Central Time Zone, drop.