Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas Music

  
I love Christmas music.   When we were in Hawaii there was a radio station that was playing only Christmas music.   It was great.   Finally last week one of the stations here went to straight Christmas music.  Some years there will be a new Christmas song or Album that will catch my attention.  


     
Its like when I heard Amy Grant's Home for Christmas Album for the first time.  I loved it and its still a favorite.


I think I've come across a new favorite.   Yesterday I was driving Jenelle to school and we heard this version of the 12 days of Christmas on the radio.   They said its their #1 request this Christmas.   This song became popular because 1 of the members of the group posted this 10 year old video of them on YouTube.


Enjoy!



They are called Straight No Chaser.   They reunited after 10 years to record a new Christmas Album this year.

 

I like their sound.  Listening to them brings back fond memories of my days as a Keith Wood Singer.  
(Click here for a link to an MP3 Recording featuring vocals by The Keith Wood Singers


I know the recording is not a Christmas song.  We had some great Christmas tune but I don't think they are recorded.  The Keith Wood Singers did record a CD but we should have done a Christmas CD - then we could sell it every year.   Straight No Chaser's first album was a Christmas Album.  THat was smart - Now no matter what else happens they will sell albums every holiday season - Just ask Johnny Mathis.


... and who knows...maybe a lost video of the Keith Wood Singers singing Christmas Carols will appear on YouTube and we will reunite to record a Christmas Album...Wake up Doug...You're dreaming...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Jamie the Jet Setter

      
On November 26 we headed to the airport early in the morning to catch our flight to Vancouver to catch our flight to Honolulu.

Here we are waiting in Vancouver for our flight to Hawaii.
   
On the plane ready for takeoff
   
on the flight to Hawaii
    
I also have pictures of the girls on the flight home but they aren't very flattering.  
(I didn't know they could open their mouths so wide while sleeping).
      
  So last Sunday we flew home.   Today is Thursday.  Early this morning I drove Jamie to the airport to catch a flight to Victoria.  She's off with the girls high school basketball teams for a tournament.   They will fly home on Sunday.   She's become quite the jetsetter.  
   
Checking in
   
There was a WestJet guy doing card tricks for the teams.
    
The Mormons
Jamie (right) and her friends Jessica (left) and Jessica (centre).  
(or is it Jessica (centre) and Jessica (left)?)
  
          
 We actually timed our trip so Jamie could be there for the basketball tryouts.   The tryouts ended the day before we left for Hawaii. Jamie made the Jr. Team.   She missed the first tournament because we were away.   Jamie's first game was on Tuesday night.  She only had 1 practice with the team so she was pretty nervous about things.   (She took a basketball to Hawaii intending to practice every morning.   That never happened.)  But she seemed to get over her nerves quickly and ended up scoring 19 points.   (I wonder what she would have done with some practice)
     

Unbelievable Coincidence

  
On Alana's trip home she reported that fitness guru, Tony Horton, was on her flight.  You can read about it here .



Here's her picture of Tony on her flight.

       
I couldn't believe it when I "saw" Tony Horton on our flight home.   What are the chances of that?   He was right in front of me.


I took some pictures but the lighting wasn't very good so the pictures aren't very clear.


Here's my pictures of Tony.


Ok.  So the real Tony wasn't "on" our flight.  But I did "see" him on our flight.  It was the infomercial for his workout on the individual TV screens we had on the plane.
     
   
Well - at least I thought it was funny.
     
    

I'm Back

      
We are back from our Hawaiian vacation and I am back from my break from blogging.   I have lots of excuses for not blogging.  I didn't have a computer... well we did have multiple laptops but the connection was slow.   Plus Angie  and Alana and even Nicole did some posts that covered lots of what we did so I didn't have to.  (Plus there were lots of other things I would rather do in Hawaii than blog - like hanging out with Tyken and Brylie on the beach).

So we left this . . .



And returned to this . . .


My first morning back I had to bundle up to go out and shovel the sidewalk, start the car to warm it up and clear off the 6 inches of snow that had accumulated and scrape the ice off the windows.  And then risk my life slipping and sliding while attempting to drive the girls to school on the icy roads.   On Tuesday I put the snow tires on the van.


At least its not that cold (by Canadian winter standards).  Its been around freezing.   But in the next week they are expecting the -20 to -30 temperatures.


So when Jamie and Jenelle asked me why we live here I had no good answer.




I loved Hawaii!