We Are Off For The 31st Year (We Were In Australia One Year)
A wonderful day with family!
It's almost winter...in another six days!
The trees are already thinning out!
We began with a Gin & Tonic!
Did You Know? - Gin became popular in late 17th century England when the Dutch prince William of Orange was on the English throne with his wife Mary.
A Christmas drink when mixed with lime and cranberries!
Lee, Nancy, Paul & Sue...Bellies up to the bar!
The WORLD FAMOUS "Amy Smile"
Joe and his bride, Amy
Greg is about to burst out with entertainment! G-Rated of course!
His rendition of pirates
Sue, Paul and Lee!
Secret! Do not tell anyone... Lee is older than me for one more day!
The Mom's and Dad's must be proud... We sure are!
(Robin and Bob are flying home from Mexico as we speak)
Master Charlie and Master Alex ... Practicing their "Amy Smile"
Yes! There is a little devil in there somewhere!
Our grandsons get along so well! We sit back and smile and enjoy!
Michele and Franklyn
Busy trying to solve a puzzle?
Lee and Nancy...New found friends
Bingo!
The Thinker!
Did You Know? -
A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843) ... Production problems plagued the book, and the whole process cost Dickens more than he expected. Even though the first printing sold out, he only made £137 of an anticipated £1,000.
Early in 1843, as a response to a government report on the abuse of child laborers in mines and factories, Dickens vowed he would strike a “sledge-hammer blow . . . on behalf of the Poor Man’s Child.” That sledge-hammer was A Christmas Carol.
At the break we got some snaps!
A beautiful family
Did You Know? - It only took Dickens about six weeks to write A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit helped speed up the process. When Dickens wrote he “saw” his characters much like the way that young Ebenezer Scrooge saw the characters from the books he had read. As Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol he said that the Cratchits were “ever tugging at his coat sleeve, as if impatient for him to get back to his desk and continue the story of their lives”.
Meanwhile inside....At the bar!
The lighting was a challenge
Watch our for these three!
Did You Know? - The Cratchit family is based on Dickens’ childhood home life. He lived in poor circumstances in a “two up two down” four roomed house which he shared with his parents and five siblings. Like Peter Cratchit, young Charles, the eldest boy, was often sent to pawn the family’s goods when money was tight. Like many poor families the Cratchit’s had nothing in which to roast meat. They relied on the ovens of their local baker which were available on Sundays and Christmas when the bakery was closed
"Do we have to go home?"
About to pop out of their seats!
Did You Know? - At the time Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol Christmas wasn’t commonly celebrated as a festive holiday. In The Pickwick Papers and A Christmas Carol Dickens’ descriptions of feasting, games and family unity combined with his message that Christmas was a time “when want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices” helped revive popular interest in many Christmas traditions that are still practiced today.
Joe helps with the pictures
The boys thought the seats were just fine!
The occupants of Row J come to life
In the olden days it would look like this...
Did You Know? - In 1867 Dickens read A Christmas Carol at a public reading in Chicago. One of the audience members , Mr. Fairbanks, was a scale manufacturer. Mr. Fairbanks was so moved that he decided to “break the custom we have hitherto observed of opening the works on Christmas day.” Not only did he close the factory on Christmas day, but he gave Christmas turkeys to all of his employees.
Nick and the Adams ran out too fast...
Amy, Alex, Charlie, Paul Sue, Greg, Nancy, Lee, Jan, and Brian
(Joe took the picture)
That's better! The gang is all here!
