Guests Temporary and Permanent

G'day all!

Since our last blog, we've had lots and lots of guests here at the DeVries homestead. First, we had the wonderful privilege of having Noel's sister and brother-in-law, Ed and Tammy Carroll, come for a brief whirlwind visit. They haven't had many chances to visit us here in Colorado, so it was a special treat for us to have them here. The kids thoroughly enjoyed messing around with "Uncle Ted" and Tammy was a huge help to Noel in preparing for Christmas with Noel. We are so glad they were able to come.

Speaking of guests, we also picked up the old tradition of Christmas with Noel. Noel was due to be born on December 25th; that's why she has the name she does. And she loves to show hospitality to people. So we give people Christmas presents by opening our house and "puttin' on the Ritz." We invite our church family, our friends, neighbors, co-workers to our house so we can love on them and let them know how thankful we are that God has put them in our lives. We had over 90 people come through our house last Friday night, and we are thankful for each one of them. As I said, Tammy was invaluable in helping Noel prepare for it. The food has never been better, thanks to her. We are thankful for others in the church who came to help as well. They will most definitely receive rewards in heaven.

Our last guest will probably be with us for a long time...hopefully. We had the unfortunate responsibility of putting our little Boston Terrier, Angel, to sleep this past week. She has been a part of our lives for a very long time, thirteen and one half years to be exact. She is one day older than Ivy, and we purchased her when she was only 4 months old. Anyway, she was really struggling to breathe, and it was time to do the humane thing and send her to doggy heaven. We will miss her. But, being convinced that a necessary Biblical element in growth is "replace" (i.e., replace bad habits with good habits), we have already secured a new dog to fill the void left by Angel's passing. For Jami's Christmas present this year, we got her a retired racing greyhound dog. He is a fabulous creature, very loving and docile. So far, we highly recommend the breed. His racing name was Dexter, but Jami has renamed him Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet; that's the role Anthony Andrews plays in the movie, The Scarlet Pimpernell, a family favorite. Anyway, we say good bye to Angel and hello to "Percy." Jami cried when Angel died; but she is thrilled to death with Percy. We hope he is will be with us for a long time.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We'll update in a week or so with photos of the visit of Noel parents and 96-year old Grandmother after the first of the year.

Don't forget to look at the pics at the bottom of the blog.

For Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.

Thanksgiving - Ivy style

Hi all,

Hope you're all doing well.

This past month we've enjoyed Thanksgiving, a surge from the Denver Broncos toward the playoffs (fingers crossed!), another edition of the "Dump Meal" and Noel's 44th birthday. Last night, we went out to the Boulder Cheesecake Factory to celebrate together. All the kids had other things to do, so it was fun for the two of us. The snow was falling on the Pearl Street Mall. The Christmas light were up. The restaurant was quiet. It was a great time! Bummer I forgot to bring my camera to take pictures! Doh!

This blog's pictures will feature Ivy. She is our 3rd daughter, 13 years old. And a very funny child! The kids took some pictures of themselves "jowling." When you jowl, you shake your head back and forth as fast as you can while somebody is taking a picture of you. Some of the faces that end up as photographs are quite hilarious. I put them on the blog (hopefully they won't see them and kill me!) to show how how crazy our family life is. Never a dull moment.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Matt and Simone were out of town, but Mom and Dad, Mark and Steph, and all the cousins were able to get together. It's my favorite day of the year, and this year was no different. We started off with a fun (and very physical!) game of touch football with some guys from the church. Then Monk and I went out and had some hot chocolate at a local coffee shop what was open; that was fun. Then we came home, showered up and got ready for the Thanksgiving meal. My job is to carve the turkey every year. I volunteer for it because I know that I'll get first dibs on the turkey skin! Yes, turkey skin. Fatty, greasy, heart-attack-on-a-plate turkey skin. I love it. But others have figured out my ploy and have started to carefully watch me as I carve the turkey, so I have to be extra sneaky! Anyway, we had a great time.

We also went to Mike and Paula Fisk's house for our annual "Dump Meal." It's a low country boil, but we put tin foil on the table and just dump the food out and eat it like a bunch of carnivorous, pagan barbarians! It's great! King crab, shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, etc. We even try to convince one of the kids to try a large clove of garlic. They've all figured out that's not too smart, so we couldn't sneak it in on anybody this year. Anyway, it's always a highlight, and this year was no different.

Hope you are doing well. I'll update the blog probably after Christmas sometime. It snowed last night and the sun is out, so Colorado looks as beautiful as you could possibly imagine!

Dont' forget the pics at the bottom of the blog.

Take care for Christ's sake,

MJD,Sr.