Merry Christmas!

This was a busy holiday, filled with many eating opportunities. We hosted dinner Christmas Eve, with Ken, Victoria, Allison, Andrea, and Alice joining us. We are getting pretty good at trying new recipes (contrary to Martha Stewart's recommendations) and had a delicious spread.

Rich joined us Christmas Day and we had even more food to enjoy!

Santa found our house and was very generous this year. Good thing we had a skinny tree so all the 'loot' would fit in the corner!

Thank you Mr. Claus for a wonderful Christmas!

The Rockettes - Up close!

The Girls got out of doing the Christmas dinner dishes and headed out for a night on the town. Well, not so much on the town, but out of the house and to the Performing Arts Center. Victoria scored 5th row seats to see The Rockettes!


We arrived a bit early and we (Victoria, Patty-Patty, Leann and Bonnie) did our own interpretation of the Rockettes in the lobby.
One who shall remain nameless, but always has her camera, got some great pix during the 2 hour performance!
We were so close to the stage that we started calling them the 'Crotchettes'. :)
This was absolutely amazing! All the Rockettes marched out, very stiff-legged and got into an X formation. Then they slowly marched and turned the X at the same time. They ended up in a line and all turned facing the stage right. All of a sudden, they started locking arms and the first one started falling backward....very slowly. By the time they got about 6 or 7 from the end, the whole line of soldiers fell like dominoes. It was really unbelievable! We thought the winter wonderland was the finale, but they had one more thing. A live nativity complete with 2 camels, a donkey, sheep, 3 Kings and their entourages.

Thanks Victoria for coordinating a fun night out. It was a terrific night!

Christmas Dinner with the Broomelli's

Ken & Victoria hosted Christmas dinner on Sunday and put out a fabulous Italian spread! Patty-Patty and Bonnie were there too. The food was delicious and the camaraderie festive!
Chef Ken prepared separate dishes for the vegetarians in the family. It was nice that Allison and Andrea were in town for the holiday and were able to participate.
A tradition Bonnie brought to the family is crackers! What fun to pull apart the paper crackers and collect the toys, a crown and a fortune!
We ended the evening with exchanging gifts. The girls (Victoria, Leann, Patty-Patty and Bonnie) were excused from doing the dishes as we has tickets to the Rockettes and had to get to the show!

Thanks Broomelli's for a fun Christmas dinner!

Neighborhood Boat Parade Party

Each Christmas season, our neighborhood in Tampa has a boat parade. We have yet to enter because the party at the neighbors is way more fun! Capt. Ken, Victoria, Patty-Patty, Kevin and Wendy - all having a terrific at the Hungarian Tiki Hut.

Our neighbor, Buck, is a regular entry in the parade and as usual, has his boat decorated very creatively! Last year it was Festivus, this year is was the Dancing Penguin.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and great to catch up with everyone.

Merry Elfin Christmas!

We've made total elves out of ourselves! Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1506411584
Merry Christmas!
Leann & Frank

Merry Fishmas!

Ok, so maybe I wasn't the first to come up with this idea, but it is very appropriate for celebrating the holidays when we're at the Fish Camp. Don't worry, no rules for Fishmas like there are for Festivus.

But when we're on the boat, we do wish for fish!

Merry Fishmas to all!

Getting ready for Christmas

Last year I had an idea to do a Florida State tree and found all sorts of FSU ornaments along with garnet and gold decorations. And I found a small tree. Well, it turned out to be smaller than I thought (3 feet from table to top branch!). Needless to say, I didn't get to use 2/3 of the decorations I had. But it was quick to decorate and added some festivity to the Tallahassee apartment. (It may be small, but it's no Charlie Brown tree!) :o)

Our decorating theme in Tampa, which started the day after Thanksgiving is "minimalist". We did icicle lights and some net lights on the bushes along with some quick garland and a wreath on the front door. Since we're traveling so much, we decided not to get a real tree this year. So, off to Target to fetch a lovely 'slim style' pre-lit tree. Guaranteed assembly in 5 minutes! Sure thing....5 minutes to get the 3 pieces together, but then another 30 minutes to 'fluff it up' and add a few ornaments. (But no needles and no watering!) A few other festive things inside, including stockings and I'm calling it DONE! Kind of hard to feel Christmasy when it's 80 degrees!

Merry Happy Ho-Ho-Ho!