Greetings from the Czech Republic...

From: Christopher Corsaut

To: My family

Hello All!
While searching for something touching and profound, I came to find "Christmas Chill" by Paul Curtis

Enjoy your Christmas day in peace

Avoid any kind of quarrel or wrangle

Chill out, relax and enjoy the day

And don't get your tinsel in a tangle!

Ha ha. Simple wisdom and the last line reminds you of snoop dogg? lol

Merry Christmas! I will be missing my family during this season of special memories, and my heart will be with them.

I know however that I am very fortunate to experience Christmas festivities in a different part of the world. Here there are trees, lights, presents, music and gatherings as Americans might expect. Christmas celebration is on the 24th, through the day that the sun begins to rise in the sky again toward the life giving days of spring.

For the meal we will enjoy a carp fish stuffed with potato salad, which is even more bizarre than it sounds when you see that the fish are chosen from tanks near the Christmas market in the town square! Whacked on the head and thrown in a bag. Also, the celebratory meal is a special green soup, fresh sauerkraut that has been fermenting in a stone keg, salad, and so many delicious sweets.

I hope your holiday celebrations are full of refreshing, humorous and meanful memories with the best of friends, family and food!

Much love and Na Zdravi (to health!),

Christopher Corsaut

Be the Change, Go Green!

TheOrganicMechanic.org

P.S. Christmas was fun, and the carp was delicious, the potato salad was on the side actually, not stuffed in it. The two soups, mushroom and sauerkraut, were soooo tasty.

You would have enjoyed the ritual before we sat to eat when we each ate garlic and honey, "garlic to make you healthy, honey to keep you sweet." It was a neat tradition from eastern Slovakia.

I love you, Nana! Talk with you soon!

Postscript: The Czech Republic is near the border of Germany.

No Caption Needed!

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Dear Santa...

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This is Nick's letter to Santa Claus.
(Don't forget to click on any picture
to see it up close and personal.)

Typed on Nana's
"old timey typewriter"!

Nick rubber stamped, colored,
and typed the envelope.

I'm sure Santa will appreciate the
letter Nick wrote for his sister and
himself, and is busy making the
toys as we speak!

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Happy Birthday, Silly Sal!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the birthday gal!
On your special day, my friend, Sal.
Kick up your heels, sing a song,
Enjoy your birthday, all day long!

Your pal,
Bets

Postcript: Hope you don't want to kill me for using my favorite picture of you!

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Happy Halloween 2008

Our yearly tradition....a day at the photographers! Capturing the moment!

Girlie was dressed in her cute little Lady Bug costume with black patten leather shoes. I love the huge rose she's holding! Trying to put makeup on a 1 1/2 yr old child is not the easiest thing to do!! She wiggled like a worm and wanted to play with all the toys at the studio so we were only able to put on part of her make up and she smeared part of it, but the effect was still great....she was adorable!

However, she wouldn't stay in the picture....she kept leaving! Trying to corral her was impossible....she had other things to do! We were lucky to get her into two pictures! Nick on the other hand was all into his Indiana Jones outfit. And posing him was so easy, being the consummate little actor. I just love these pictures....so mature for a 6 year old!

By the way, this was an official Indiana Jones hat! His ruck sack was used to haul his loot from house to house. (Genius!)

Hurry, take the shot before she runs off again....she wants to go sit in the corner with the 5 foot teddy bear! And I might add, all the while Nick stands by patiently waiting for her to settle down.

While we dressed our little munchkins for Trick-or-Treating, we enjoyed our traditional bowl of chili, made by Nana. I think this was one of the best years ever....the chili was delicious, in fact it was awesome! (It brings back so many memories of Halloweens' Past.)

Sharing....the yearly phone call from John and Robert about the chili, while Deb and I joined in to reminisce...."taking it all in"! We have never missed our bowl of chili on Halloween (John & Katie even made theirs weeks ago and froze it so they could have a bowl on Halloween.)

Well, Trick-or-Treating is over for yet another year! Last night everyone went door to door gathering candy and goodies in their bags and buckets. We loved the costumes and enjoyed the excitement and fun. "Girlie" (Elise) and Nick were quite the little troopers spending an hour and a half, climbing stairs to each house to get their sugary treats.

This was our first year in Charleston and the
weather was great, nice and balmy. We traveled
the neighborhood of I'on with Mommy, Nana, and
close friends Luda and Dr. Jonathan Edwards, and
sons, Alex and Nicholas.

Deb outdid herself....top of the line costume for the festivities!!! Loved the red Clifford slippers! (She really needs to do something with her hair!)

A great time was had by all.


P.S. Nana had on her usual costume....she looked just like the "Nana"!

Later in the evening, John & Katie sent me their photo from their yearly party at the "Crack of Dawn" at the Dowell's in Maryland. Such a cute couple!


*I will post more pictures when I get back to CA on November 4th. I don't have my Mac with me so I can't load my pictures from my camera. The only pics I have for now are from my iPhone.
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Halloween...2008...cont'd

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Kobe changed his mind about what he wants to be for Halloween.

He no longer wants to be a cowboy, so he traded in his cowboy hat and bandana for a space suit!

Thanks, Nana, for making this for me!

Kosmic Kobe

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Halloween.....2008

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This is Robert's puppy named Kobe. Not wanting to be left out of the Halloween festivities, he insisted on his very own costume for Trick-Or-Treating.

"Welcome to Dodge City, Pardners!"

Kowboy Kobe

They call him Quickdraw....! But he could never shoot anyone! He's scared of guns! His specialty is a whip.

Giddddddddy up cowpokes!

Yeeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa!

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Halloween PAST...2007

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It's hard to see Nick hidden behind his Race Car Driver costume! It was a great costume, but I really like the ones where we did the makeup! This year Nick is 5 1/2 years old.

And Girlie was so cute in her Princess costume....she kept the hat on all night! And she's only 8 months old! Everyone just loved her. She held out as long as Nick....what a trooper.

..(I have more pictures.....just need to find them!)

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Halloween PAST...2006

Remembering....Nick's Halloween Skeleton. It's Halloween night.....time to get our costume on for Trick-or-Treating!

Mommy is busy applying white theatrical makeup with a makeup sponge. Nick sits very still and is so patient. No other 4 1/2 years old would sit still for so long!

Can you smell the chili cooking in the pot on the stove?

This makeup thing takes a long time! But I know it's gonna look great.

The white is finally finished. Nice job, mommy.

Now we work on the eyes. Nana starts to apply black grease paint.

Next the nose and mouth are created. Starting to look really scary!

(Click on the picture to see a really scary face up close and personal! Not me...the skeleton!)

Finally finished "How do I look?"

"Let's go! I'm ready to get some candy!"
Nick insisted on going up to each house by himself so mommy, daddy and Nana waited at the end of the walk for him to return with his loot! What a funny guy!

"Wow.....that house gave me a whole handful of treats!

Can we go home now so I can eat my candy?"

"Halloween is fun!"

Postscript: Girlie didn't arrive until February 2007. We didn't know at the time that we would be dressing one more little munchkin for Halloween the next year!

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Halloween PAST...2005

This costume got more miles than any other! Nick wore it out! He was a Pirate for months ...... Aarrrgggghhhh, Matey!
For being a 3 1/2 year old, he was so good at this!

We found the costume in NC, the parrot on his shoulder came from the Swap Meet in CA , and the sword, hook and hat we found in Old Town, San Diego. And Nana drew the skull and crossbones, then painted it in white on the black bag for Nick's treats.

The "Pirate" didn't stop after Halloween was over, Nick continued to do Pirate jokes. "What kind of socks does a pirate wear? Aarrr-gyles!" ...... "Where do pirates eat? Aarrr-by's!" ...... "Where do pirates get tatoos? On their Aarrr-ms!"

He talked out of the side of his mouth (taught to him by his Uncle "Boo-Boo"--Robert!) so he looked like Popeye! For months we couldn't get him to smile for a picture without screwing up his mouth like the pirate!

Mommy and Nick are drawing on the pumpkins with a poking tool, getting ready for carving. We made three pumpkins this year. The spider pumpkin is Nick's, Mommy's is the ghost and the witch is Nana's.

This is what they looked like lighted at night! Spooky!

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Halloween PAST...2004

Nick was a Lion for Halloween this year.....he looked so cute and we drew a black nose and whiskers on his face. Too cute! (This picture was taken before the makeup.....we were on our way to have pictures taken and didn't want it to smudge!)

Now, isn't this just the cutest picture of such a precious little old boy! I know, I know, I'm his Nana, but you just have to agree! And the naturally curly hair...all the girls love it!

Trick-or-Treating on Oaklawn in NC was the best....lots of old neighbors and friends to visit with. And Nick made quite a haul for a 2 1/2 year old!

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Halloween PAST...2003

Nick at 1 1/2 years old!

Pumpkins and Tigger, too!

Where's Tigger?

We can't find him!

We think he's hiding in the closet with his bag of candy!!!!!

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Halloween PAST...2002

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Nick's First Halloween! At 5 1/2 months old, we dressed him up and dragged him out to go Trick-or-Treating! This snapshot was taken on Nana's porch in CA the day before Halloween......what a chunky little guy!

We visited grandma and grandpa Decoteau to see their pumpkin. Nick thought the face was a little scary!

Nick and his cousin, Avery, were not too thrilled to have their picture taken by the photographer. It was so hot and the poor little guys were sweating in those furry costumes!

What a huge pumpkin.......who is the roundest?
The little pumpkin boy or the stuffed pumpkin?


Nana and Nick with Spidey, Nick's Trick-Or-Treat bag! Guess who got to eat all of the treats!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN...

Jewelry for the holiday is so much fun!

I made this bracelet for myself using a lot of my junque jewelry and some funny little pumpkins purchased at Michael's.






I had so much fun, I decided to make another bracelet. This one is for my granddaughter, who loves any kind of jewelry! I'll give this to Girlie (who is only 18 months old!) when I go to SC in three weeks to celebrate the holiday.

My layout started on a board with two nails to hold the tiny 5" chain while I attached the charms.





The rest of this article will be written tomorrow after I've had some sleep! As long as I sit at my computer, I will continue to work on blogs and not get any rest. So good night, see you tomorrow!

Isn't FUN the Best Thing to Have!!

Days of fun times! A growing family that just keeps growing! Some photos of things I missed, but was able to be a part of through snapshots taken at special events. These are the moments captured for a lifetime of viewing...my most treasured memories.

A Day at the Races

Nick and Girlie at the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar in July 2008. This is one of my favorite pictures.

They were so cute sitting there together, chatting and waiting for the pig races to start. Girlie is pointing to the pigs. Nick is telling her what the pigs are going to do and when they will start the race.

Postscript:
Nick is wearing his makeshift belt...he just couldn't leave the house until we found a belt because his shorts had belt loops! The only thing I could find in a hurry was a piece of cotton clothesline so we cut off a piece and it worked. He was one happy camper!

A Food Network Star!

Welcome to
"Girlie's Gourmet Cooking Show"

They sent me to wardrobe. Are they serious...I'm not dancing, I'm cooking!

OK, now I know they're kidding me. I can't cook in heels, my feet are killing me!

I love my new television studio, the kitchen is wonderful. First thing you should always do is wash your hands.

Today I'll be braising lamb chops with mint sauce. And for my vegetable, I just love corn on the cob.

I'll just pop this into the microwave and in 1 minute dinner is ready!

And for dessert, I baked a lovely cake with lots of sugar...so yummy.

I also play guitar and will gladly entertain you after dinner.

It's been a long day...cooking is hard work! Time to relax in the pool...won't you join me?

"Bon Appetite"