December 2018

 December was a great month filled with lots of school work, holiday events, hiking, and our annual trip to Mississippi for Christmas!

Violet invited me to attend the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's Yuletide Celebration which I have heard about for years but had never attended.  It's such a special event.  I loved it and will wake the family next year!

Our Litwits discussion in December was at Barry and Leigh's newly remodeled home.  Mary outdid herself and made a bouche de noel.  It was as delicious as it was gorgeous!  We discussed "America's First Daughter" and had a great time talking about holiday traditions in our group.

Two friends from church (Jodi and Tracy) set up a trip to my favorite little holiday café, Batar.  It was decked out for the season and the food was as delicious as always.

Our Cabaret crew had a terrific time seeing Tony-award winner Norm Lewis at the Cabaret at the Commons.  Oh my gosh he was fantastic and so personable.  I need to listen to more of his music.  

After the Cabaret I took a couple of shots of our city tree this year at City Hall.  I LOVED the deer  and all the lights bouncing off the glass.  So pretty!

These boys had a busy month watching the UPS driver making his deliveries, always letting us know when he had stopped at our house!

Our wine club completed 8 years and 75 get togethers!  Mike and Mary hosted us for a holiday dinner and the food was amazing!  Roger led us in a toast to 8 years.

Charlie and Jayne led us in song

Missing a few but our annual holiday group photo.

I love the lighted holiday car display I bought this year.  

 The last 11 weekends in 2018 we hiked a new trail in southern Indiana every weekend with the dogs.  It was a lot of fun and I've got the hiking bug now.  The dogs absolutely love it and can't wait to go each weekend.

Thomas and I met Jeanne in Louisville to exchange Christmas gifts and explore a couple of new Louisville locations.  We went to a glass factory and made our own ornaments.  It was a lot of fun!

Here is the finished product that we picked up on our way to Mississippi.  We will hang our new ornaments next year!

We also went through Cave Hill Cemetery, an iconic tour in Louisville.  We say Colonel Sanders' and Muhammad Ali's graves.

 Amber invited me to join their Holiday Movie trivia team at 4th Street.  I got two hard questions right and unbelievably, our team won.  Fun night!

Our downtown alleys are taking care of by garden clubs.  I loved this one next to my hair salon.

Here we are dressed up for a night out with friends in Indy.  First, Meridian for dinner and the Butler University of "Book of Mormon".  Such a fun night with great friends.

It was Remy's first Christmas!  He didn't know what to make of it all but he waited patiently.

As always, Santa came early to Indiana so we could have our own Christmas a day before heading south for more Christmases.  Bailey is READY and is SURE there are treats under the tree for him.  (He was right)

 The Rupps hosted us for Christmas lunch and it was delicious.  

The Rushings hosted us Christmas evening and again, an amazing dinner!  We got to open stockings too!

We headed to Jackson for my family's extended Christmas at the Bretheim's.  We went for a catfish dinner and oh my gosh, it was good!

Natalie and I saw "Mary Queen of Scots" before Christmas dinner.  She's got a cute new haircut!  David and Thomas say "Aquaman".

And our final Christmas was hosted by Wade and Blair in Tylertown in their new home.  So great to see the extended family again.

We missed seeing the crew in Canton this year but it was a nice, relaxing trip and it was great to see everyone we did get to see.

Bailey and Remy really like their new blankets from Aunt Shelly.   

And I really love my gift from Thomas - our Mother's Day photo on acrylic with a metal stand.  

Brennan and I visited Wild Geese Bookshop in Franklin over the holiday weekend.  I've heard such great things about this independent store that has lots of fun events.  Such a sweet spot.

 Brennan asked for crochet hooks and yard for Christmas - he's into creating things right now!  He made this great bracelet by following instructions from a book he checked out at the library.  He's also playing with watercolors these days.

And that wraps up our terrific month.  Happy New Year!!