Hello all! I hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Christmas! I had a great Christmas break! We went home to Alabama and spent time with the girls, mom and the rest of the family. Thankfully it was warmer than we expected so we didn't freeze our butts off! We landed and went straight to work making preperations for Christmas. My oldest, Ashley, selected the perfect tree. That is her special job and as always she found the very best one. We always have a live tree and live garland strung in the house. I use fake greenery outside and thousands of christmas lights inside and out. My youngest, Tara, and my mom decorated the tree while Jimmy and I put up the outside decorations. The middle daughter, Dara, was with us when we got the tree and helped with everything else, too. We worked our fannies off but it was worth it. Another tradition we hold dear is cookie night. I buy cookie dough and lots and lots of icing, gel and every other cookie decorating medium known to man. The girls invite thier friends over and the party begins! Everyone wears an obnoxious holiday shirt and decorates cookies and makes gingerbread houses. We had a contest this year for "best worse shirt" and best cookie design. Congrats to Matt for the ladies sweater he purchased especially for cookie night and to Nichole for her gingerbread house. Afterwords we played a fun game of Pictionary on the Wii. Jimmy is really good! A great time was had by all!
I ran into Nancy, a former coworker and genuinely lovely lady, who scolded me for not updating my blog more often. She could only know I have been lax in my updates if she was checking it regularly. It means alot to me that people are keeping up with us here and reading the blog regularly. Thanks Nancy, and everyone else, for checking out the blog! Shout to Christie- great to see you again! Shout out to Shae- congrats on your beautiful baby girl- I hope the onesie I got her from Dubai fits! Shout out to John W.- sorry I didn't get to see you and I hope you are recovering well from your unfortunate injury. Shout out to the Penn. crew- we miss you and think of you often. Prayers to Wayne.
I got to spend time with my mom and my sister and my best friend, too. Pam looks amazing and Amy's laugh is music for my soul. Jay and Greg and the boys, Jeremy and Jacob, are doing great. We had everyone over for a big family and friends dinner on Christmas Eve. What a great time! I gave everyone the gifts I brought back from Dubai. They were very pleased and happy with the things I chose for each of them. My former boss and forever friend, Denny, came. I miss him so much and was so pleased he could make it for Christmas Eve. He really liked the leather box and pen I brought him. I was so glad Joyce and Tracey came this year again, too. Having all of my loved ones on such a special night was the best gift of all. Of course I didn't hate the diamond earrings Jimmy surprised me with! On Christmas day we exchanged gifts with the girls-what fun! Ever thoughtful Jimmy got them each a car emergency kit and I had items from Dubai for them. We loved the house shoes and robes and other items the girls gave us. They were all so thoughful.
We got all the decorations down and neatly put away before we left- major job! We returned to Dubai on 29 Dec. and I promptly got sick- big time! Jimmy was great taking such tender care of me while I was so ill. We didn't go out for New Years but we didn't have to. There was so much going on right downstairs even from the balcony we felt like we were in the middle of all the action. The Hilton, right across the street, had a big party with music and lights on their private beach. The public beach next to it was PACKED! I have never seen so many people on The Walk! At midnight the Hilton and Atlantis put on a fireworks display that nothing short of dazzling! From our balcony Atlantis is behind the Hilton so the fireworks were doubly bodacious!
So we are back to work now. We work with some really great people. Bud, Salem and Julius are smart, funny and easy to get along with. We all get along great and joke with each other. Work is so much better when you like the people you spend most of your day with!
Remember the ring I found while treasure hunting with my metal detector on the beach across the street? I had it appraised in Bama. It is 18K white gold with real rubies and the white stones are not diamonds but white sapphires! It was valued at $400-$500 USD! I was very pleased. I still treasure hunt on the weekends and have found lots of coins. Today I found 19 coins- my all time best for one day so far! It is relaxing for me and I enjoy the thrill of the hunt.
The weather is very mild now in Dubai. It is rather cool- low 60 degrees fahrenheit in the morning and gets to upper 70/low 80 in the afternoon. It will be much warmer when the girls and mom get here in March. I am so excited I can hardly wait! The Walk is bustling tourists and lots of activity.
I'll post again very soon and include more pics. Thanks again everyone for reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other!
Much love,
J&M
I ran into Nancy, a former coworker and genuinely lovely lady, who scolded me for not updating my blog more often. She could only know I have been lax in my updates if she was checking it regularly. It means alot to me that people are keeping up with us here and reading the blog regularly. Thanks Nancy, and everyone else, for checking out the blog! Shout to Christie- great to see you again! Shout out to Shae- congrats on your beautiful baby girl- I hope the onesie I got her from Dubai fits! Shout out to John W.- sorry I didn't get to see you and I hope you are recovering well from your unfortunate injury. Shout out to the Penn. crew- we miss you and think of you often. Prayers to Wayne.
I got to spend time with my mom and my sister and my best friend, too. Pam looks amazing and Amy's laugh is music for my soul. Jay and Greg and the boys, Jeremy and Jacob, are doing great. We had everyone over for a big family and friends dinner on Christmas Eve. What a great time! I gave everyone the gifts I brought back from Dubai. They were very pleased and happy with the things I chose for each of them. My former boss and forever friend, Denny, came. I miss him so much and was so pleased he could make it for Christmas Eve. He really liked the leather box and pen I brought him. I was so glad Joyce and Tracey came this year again, too. Having all of my loved ones on such a special night was the best gift of all. Of course I didn't hate the diamond earrings Jimmy surprised me with! On Christmas day we exchanged gifts with the girls-what fun! Ever thoughtful Jimmy got them each a car emergency kit and I had items from Dubai for them. We loved the house shoes and robes and other items the girls gave us. They were all so thoughful.
We got all the decorations down and neatly put away before we left- major job! We returned to Dubai on 29 Dec. and I promptly got sick- big time! Jimmy was great taking such tender care of me while I was so ill. We didn't go out for New Years but we didn't have to. There was so much going on right downstairs even from the balcony we felt like we were in the middle of all the action. The Hilton, right across the street, had a big party with music and lights on their private beach. The public beach next to it was PACKED! I have never seen so many people on The Walk! At midnight the Hilton and Atlantis put on a fireworks display that nothing short of dazzling! From our balcony Atlantis is behind the Hilton so the fireworks were doubly bodacious!
So we are back to work now. We work with some really great people. Bud, Salem and Julius are smart, funny and easy to get along with. We all get along great and joke with each other. Work is so much better when you like the people you spend most of your day with!
Remember the ring I found while treasure hunting with my metal detector on the beach across the street? I had it appraised in Bama. It is 18K white gold with real rubies and the white stones are not diamonds but white sapphires! It was valued at $400-$500 USD! I was very pleased. I still treasure hunt on the weekends and have found lots of coins. Today I found 19 coins- my all time best for one day so far! It is relaxing for me and I enjoy the thrill of the hunt.
The weather is very mild now in Dubai. It is rather cool- low 60 degrees fahrenheit in the morning and gets to upper 70/low 80 in the afternoon. It will be much warmer when the girls and mom get here in March. I am so excited I can hardly wait! The Walk is bustling tourists and lots of activity.
I'll post again very soon and include more pics. Thanks again everyone for reading my blog. Take care of yourselves and each other!
Much love,
J&M
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