HAPPY NEW YEAR~!

Just want to wish all my family and friends a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sue is on the mudslides

Rob is finishing up the Celebration Ale

and Carter has a brand new pack of FLASHIN' FRUIT PUNCH juice boxes!

We're about to watch the new 'journey to the center of the earth' and will attempt to stay up til' midnight.

I'll also be tuning in to the Woodside LIVE ... venture over to the Woodside and get an earfull of great tunes... we're usually there live also but this year just hanging out at home.

-Rob, Sue & Carter Bean

Carter's Holiday Drawings

As most of you know Carter loves to draw and color. His newest thing is to draw a bunch of pages, have sue or I write down what the picture is describing and then staple it into a book.

So, I asked Carter if he could draw a Christmas book. It took Carter about 20 minutes to come up with these. I scanned them into the computer and (with Carter's help) colored in the drawings.

Then we put together this video for your enjoyment.



HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Don't Let the Wife Alone

This is what happens when you are busy cooking Shrimp Creole while the wife decides to clean out the closet.

Your son will run up to you and say "Mommy needs help. She is stuck."

Of course, the first thing I did was get the ole' camera.

Priceless.

Let it Snow, Let it Hail, Let it Rain

Today over here on the east coast we saw some snow. Around 10am the snow started coming down (in Clinton, NJ) and by 1:00pm it was coming down pretty good. I closed the shop early today and headed home. My journey home usually takes about 45 minutes but today it was about an hour and 15. This wasn't too bad since the roads were covered with about 4 inches by the time I started heading home. I only saw one accident and that was an SUV that had spun around on a section of road (in PA) known as 'cemetary curve'.

When I got home I had a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs (leftovers from last night). This was around 2:30. Since I rushing around at work to get what I could get done (the holidays are always busy in a printshop) I didn't get a chance to eat lunch til' I got home.

Carter and I went out after lunch and I shoveled while Carter rolled around in the snow. Between shovels of heavy slush I rolled a couple of snowballs and helped Carter make a snowman.

After I was done I went into the garage to look for some sort of sled. And then realized that we probably didn't even own a sled. So, I got this crazy idea to have Carter sit on the shovel and I'd pull him around the yard.

We did this for about 10 minutes til' I was exhaused and after I pulled a muscle in my leg (it's ok now). It really sucks to get old. Maybe I should get out and walk more (that's another story for another day).

Enjoy the video and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all!

-Rob, Sue and Carter

Tale of the Tree

In the past we used to go out the day after Thanksgiving and buy a 'real' Christmas Tree. But once our son was born my wife thought that we should maybe look into getting a 'fake' tree. Many years ago the 'fake' trees did, indeed, look fake. But in recent years the artificial trees have started looking better and better. Of course the price for a 'real looking' artificial tree can run you anywhere from $120.00 - $300.00 (or more).

When we first moved into our home in Lower Nazareth Township we went out and bought a nice big artificial tree. It wasn't top of the line but it looked pretty good. The only problem was that the tree was at least 8' tall and touched the ceiling. So, the following year we went out and bought a smaller tree. This was a Martha Stewart model and was about 7.5' tall. We really liked this tree and continued to put this up in 2005, 2006 & 2007.

This year my boss was saying how he wanted to put a tree outside the print shop and put lights on it - make the shop look a little festive and possibly attract customers to the shop by simply driving by and noticing the tree.

Well, I told him that we had two artificial trees and I would give him the bigger tree which we no longer used. The only stipulation was that he had to keep this tree; as I did not want it back in the house (we're trying to simplify - trying).

Each year I would put our tree up in the attic. This was a big struggle getting it up the ladder and then propelled into the attic for next year.

Before giving the tree to my boss I made sure that the boxed tree in our garage was not the tree we used for the past 3 years. Sue came down to the garage the night I was to put the tree in the van and was positive this was in fact the old bigger tree.

You can probably see where this is going.

Well, last Saturday Sue and Carter started getting out the Holiday storage containers from under the stairs as I got the ladder from the garage so I could go up to the attic. I unfolded the ladder, climbed up, removed the ceiling panel and looked around.... and looked around... and looked around. Guess what? No tree.

We had to laugh a little since we soon realized that the tree that was in garage was the tree we had bought to replace the larger one. And after some thought I remembered putting the tree in the garage since I was tired of struggling to shimmy the tree up the ladder each year and into the attic (man, that sucker was heavy).

So, out into the night we went. And it just so happened it was snowing. We went to Sears first and Sue spotted a $150.00 tree she liked. Being the bargain hunter I am - I suggested we go to a couple more places and see what they have. So, we went to Home Depot - two trees and nothing less than $200.00. Walmart - 4 trees - one for $70.00 that looked like an artificial tree and 3 others that also looked fake and for a higher price. Lowes - 3 trees and nothing under $200.00.

So, it was back to Sears. We bought the $150.00 tree (which is also pre-lit) and are very happy with it. Our other tree was pretty wide and our living room has limited space so a thinner tree works great.

Later that night I took a walk with my son and our dog while it snowed. It turned out to be a nice night and it's always great seeing the lights on the house for the first time (of the season). And it's even better to go walking during the first snowfall.

The big question we are still asking ourselves is: What did we do with the other (bigger) tree? Neither of us remember giving it away and it's too big to be hidden somewhere. The only place it could be is in the shed and I don't recall coming across it.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday!

Don't eat too many cookies. Drink all the beer you want.