hey

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> Tamara wrote:
>> Piper wrote:
>>> "Clare" wrote in message
>>>
>>>> My rota is insane at the moment so just a quick hi - hope everyone is
>>>> doing ok?
>>>>
>>>> Not been reading much lately, has anyone tackled the new Koontz?
>>>> What's it like comparitively?
>>>>
>>>> PPPG any developments?
>>>>
>>>> I just heard that the book I was part of 'Nothing But Red' is a Eppie
>>>> award finalist which is nice for publicity.
>>>>
>>>> Clare
>>> Hey Clare! Am about half way with the new Koontz. Enjoying it a lot so
>>> far. It's got a creepy quality that you'll love, however, I can't speak
>>> for the rest of it. It might turn all syrupy in the last half, you
>>> never know. Am caught up in getting ready for Christmas, too, so limited
>>> on reading time except at bed time. Having about 13 in for dinner that
>>> day plus our Jo and her family are coming for the week so she's been
>>> shopping on line and having the girls gifts sent here. Guess who gets
>>> to wrap? I need to make a list and check it 10k times.
>>>
>>> Piper
>> Oh Piper!! One of the blokes at work (King Richard OAM) was telling he's
>> got FORTY (40) family members coming on Christmas day to his home. I
>> only hope his long suffering wife has a caterer!
>
>
> My day will be simple. A small, but good meal. I may invite one
> disabled freind over if she is out of rehab, after a nasty fall she took
> recently.
>
>

Lovely,

Last night we had a BIG pre-Christmas party, replete with one of our
friends dressed as Santa and he did a wonderful night.

It was a night filled with firsts - first time a few of our guests and
their children had come to our new home
- first time one of my friends 6 year old semi-severely autistic son
played with OTHER children (he came thinking he had Arthur to himself,
he chose an Air Force tshirt because "Arthur wanted him to wear it" [how
he even knew or understood about Arthur and HIS obsession with the Air
Force is a mystery] hmm actually ALL the children and teenagers who came
thought they had Arthur to themselves because that's what they're used
to... was interesting to see how he managed to keep them ALL happy)

Joel made a friend with the little brother of Arthur's first proper gf
and Hamish cried when his father had to take them home. Parents swapped
phone numbers!

- it was the first time Twin 1 (Taylor) had EVER not only SAT on Santa's
knee, but kissed him on the cheek and hugged him and told him what she
wanted for Christmas. Maybe because so many other kids had done it
before her, certainly cos Twin 2 (Georgia) sat on his knee first, cos
she's never copied before - we'll probably never know why, but her
parents were so HAPPY and pleased they took heaps of photos, I was
filming the whole proceedings and today I've started turning that video
into a dvd for them. They needed to show their parents that they weren't
tricking about Taylor *lol*

There were 8 families - with a total of 18 children ranging from 1 year
old (Lily!) to 17 years old (Caleb) with groupings of six 13-15yos, plus
approx six 6-11 yr olds. Great ages all of them.

After we had a HUGE bbq, with lots of music, the kids wanted to play
(verse as they say) the adults in a game of touch football (and like the
last time, the footy was forgotten a lot) but this time the kids
outnumbered the adults *lol* who could play (I couldn't, I was filming!
- couple had recently had surgery on their backs/shoulders/knees, you
know 40 yr old crocks) which turned out to be FOUR!! but boy was there a
lot of fun had.

Lots of illegal tackles, kids jumping on Joel's father (6'6" about 300lb
no joke) trying to get the ball and he just plodded along stolidly until
Arthur figured out the only way to get him down was to go for the legs
*lol*

later on, as some families had to take home their younger children to
sleep, the older kids entertained us with their dancing moves. Arthur
can be highly amusing as he sends up the girls heheh, actually, the
fella who was Santa, he also 'danced' ... in his own way.

They had a second bbq about 10pm (I kid you not!) and all but 2 of the
chops were eaten... an amazing amount of meat, salad, bread, dessert was
consumed and hardly any alcohol, which is probably why the party was
such a success.

Next big do will be Xmas Eve I believe!

Today we have spent most of the day cleaning the outside and filling the
various bins (rubbish and recylable) and re-vaccuming my home, because
although we were all outside and I kept the people traisping through our
home to a minimum, there was still the inevitable.

One family stayed overnight as they had a couple of hours drive to do to
get home and they helped us clean up, so it went pretty quickly. Now my
home is restoed to a decent level of cleanliness and John's had his 3
hour "Nanna" nap... glad we have a few days before xmas day *lol*

Hope you all enjoyed a little description of our weekend.

Tamara

Sounds excellent, Arthur certainly sounds popular.

Have a great Christmas.

Pauline

"Tamara" wrote in message

> Michael A. Terrell wrote:
>> Tamara wrote:
>>> Piper wrote:
>>>> "Clare" wrote in message
>>>>
>>>>> My rota is insane at the moment so just a quick hi - hope everyone is
>>>>> doing ok?
>>>>>
>>>>> Not been reading much lately, has anyone tackled the new Koontz?
>>>>> What's it like comparitively?
>>>>>
>>>>> PPPG any developments?
>>>>>
>>>>> I just heard that the book I was part of 'Nothing But Red' is a Eppie
>>>>> award finalist which is nice for publicity.
>>>>>
>>>>> Clare
>>>> Hey Clare! Am about half way with the new Koontz. Enjoying it a lot
>>>> so
>>>> far. It's got a creepy quality that you'll love, however, I can't
>>>> speak
>>>> for the rest of it. It might turn all syrupy in the last half, you
>>>> never know. Am caught up in getting ready for Christmas, too, so
>>>> limited
>>>> on reading time except at bed time. Having about 13 in for dinner that
>>>> day plus our Jo and her family are coming for the week so she's been
>>>> shopping on line and having the girls gifts sent here. Guess who gets
>>>> to wrap? I need to make a list and check it 10k times.
>>>>
>>>> Piper
>>> Oh Piper!! One of the blokes at work (King Richard OAM) was telling he's
>>> got FORTY (40) family members coming on Christmas day to his home. I
>>> only hope his long suffering wife has a caterer!
>>
>>
>> My day will be simple. A small, but good meal. I may invite one
>> disabled freind over if she is out of rehab, after a nasty fall she took
>> recently.
>>
>>
>
> Lovely,
>
> Last night we had a BIG pre-Christmas party, replete with one of our
> friends dressed as Santa and he did a wonderful night.
>
> It was a night filled with firsts - first time a few of our guests and
> their children had come to our new home
> - first time one of my friends 6 year old semi-severely autistic son
> played with OTHER children (he came thinking he had Arthur to himself, he
> chose an Air Force tshirt because "Arthur wanted him to wear it" [how he
> even knew or understood about Arthur and HIS obsession with the Air Force
> is a mystery] hmm actually ALL the children and teenagers who came thought
> they had Arthur to themselves because that's what they're used to... was
> interesting to see how he managed to keep them ALL happy)
>
> Joel made a friend with the little brother of Arthur's first proper gf and
> Hamish cried when his father had to take them home. Parents swapped phone
> numbers!
>
> - it was the first time Twin 1 (Taylor) had EVER not only SAT on Santa's
> knee, but kissed him on the cheek and hugged him and told him what she
> wanted for Christmas. Maybe because so many other kids had done it before
> her, certainly cos Twin 2 (Georgia) sat on his knee first, cos she's never
> copied before - we'll probably never know why, but her parents were so
> HAPPY and pleased they took heaps of photos, I was filming the whole
> proceedings and today I've started turning that video into a dvd for them.
> They needed to show their parents that they weren't tricking about Taylor
> *lol*
>
> There were 8 families - with a total of 18 children ranging from 1 year
> old (Lily!) to 17 years old (Caleb) with groupings of six 13-15yos, plus
> approx six 6-11 yr olds. Great ages all of them.
>
> After we had a HUGE bbq, with lots of music, the kids wanted to play
> (verse as they say) the adults in a game of touch football (and like the
> last time, the footy was forgotten a lot) but this time the kids
> outnumbered the adults *lol* who could play (I couldn't, I was filming! -
> couple had recently had surgery on their backs/shoulders/knees, you know
> 40 yr old crocks) which turned out to be FOUR!! but boy was there a lot of
> fun had.
>
> Lots of illegal tackles, kids jumping on Joel's father (6'6" about 300lb
> no joke) trying to get the ball and he just plodded along stolidly until
> Arthur figured out the only way to get him down was to go for the legs
> *lol*
>
> later on, as some families had to take home their younger children to
> sleep, the older kids entertained us with their dancing moves. Arthur can
> be highly amusing as he sends up the girls heheh, actually, the fella who
> was Santa, he also 'danced' ... in his own way.
>
> They had a second bbq about 10pm (I kid you not!) and all but 2 of the
> chops were eaten... an amazing amount of meat, salad, bread, dessert was
> consumed and hardly any alcohol, which is probably why the party was such
> a success.
>
> Next big do will be Xmas Eve I believe!
>
> Today we have spent most of the day cleaning the outside and filling the
> various bins (rubbish and recylable) and re-vaccuming my home, because
> although we were all outside and I kept the people traisping through our
> home to a minimum, there was still the inevitable.
>
> One family stayed overnight as they had a couple of hours drive to do to
> get home and they helped us clean up, so it went pretty quickly. Now my
> home is restoed to a decent level of cleanliness and John's had his 3 hour
> "Nanna" nap... glad we have a few days before xmas day *lol*
>
> Hope you all enjoyed a little description of our weekend.
>
> Tamara
>