Merry Christmas

Hi all,
Not much happening on this blog -- everyone must be going 90 mph in 40 directions this time of year. Great post from Rian with his memories. I just wish I could remember more of when I was young... for some reason I cannot. I do remember the one time when Peggi and I both were wearing grandpa's plaid coat and following him down to the barn. (I think I might have mentioned this before.) We each had an arm in a sleeve and both of us fit inside. Oh to be that thin again !!!

Wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a great 2008. I may not get any holiday cards sent out this year.

We just returned from a trip to New Jersey to see Jim's Sister and her family. Had a great time. Went into New York city and "did" 5th Avenue. Went to Rockafellar (sp?) Center, Time Square and had lunch on 5th Avenue at a TGIF restaurant. And, since it was on 5th Avenue, the Hamburgers were almost $20.00. We bought one sandwich and shared it!!! The decorated windows in the fancy stores were amazing. I had to purchase a pretzel from a street vendor as well as a hat and scarf. Pretzels are a big thing on the East Coast. It was all very amazing and exciting. Rode the Ferry over from the NJ side and got to take photos of the skyline. Road the bus from the ferry terminal. I wanted to go on the subway, but Jim's Nephew and wife were a bit leary of doing that so we did not.
We explored a few really neat old towns in New Jersey...one down on the coast. Beautiful old victorian (huge) homes in that part of the country. Everything on the East Coast is so much older than the West Coast.
The crazy part of the trip was the rental car. I think those young guys at the rental car company saw a couple old farts that hardly know how to use a cell phone and decided to have some fun. They gave us a hybrid car... half electric and half gas. It does not even have a regular key. Took us 5 minutes or so to get the thing started. (No they DID NOT come out and show us how to run the car or anything about it.) It was covered with about 4 inches of snow and we did not even have a brush to clean it off -- had to use our hands. You punch a button on the dash and wait and it starts itself after about 15/20 seconds or so. Had lots of bells and whistles and a new-to-us way to close the windows that it took us time to figure out. Had to stop at the gate to give the rental guard our paperwork and it was snowing like crazy and Jim had all 4 windows DOWN before we figured out how to close the windows -- by this time we were starting onto the freeway in Philladelphia and starting to panic...well at least I was. I could see us driving all the way to his nephew's with all four windows down. I finally read the manual on the windows and a few other things as we went along. And there was much more fun with this car... like I said -- two old farts with a very modern car. And the worst part was that it is about the ugliest car in the world. Hope none of you have one and I hurt your feelings. Jim, mostly drives classic cars and motorcycles and here he is in this thing. His first comment was that he hoped none of his friends back home every saw him in it. We did get about 39 miles per gallon. And we did get used to it after a few days. Very wierd when you come to a stop sign/light and everything dies... even the engine.
Luckily we missed all the bad weather. Flew over the frozen central part of the country on the way home and left before it hit the East Coast.
Now it is "back to work" next week before I take the week of Christmas and New Years off. Have to take all my vacation before the end of the year or loose it!!

Anyway... Hope you all have a great holiday season.
Love, Bunny and Jim