THE LOWE FAMILY NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 72 DECEMBER 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

I can state with certainty that my heart is in fine fettle. Without Ethan to help this year I had to haul my nine foot pre-lit Christmas tree up from the basement freezer – no – it's not a fresh tree that I freeze to preserve every year, it's an artificial tree that takes up so much space (even when split into four sections) that our huge empty freezer is the best storage space available. I huffed and puffed as I dragged each section out of the freezer chest,wrapped my arms around the branches that kept trying to unfold like an umbrella and cautiously staggered up the stairs praying I wouldn't fall backwards each time as I blindly climbed, holding on for dear life to a forest of weighty branches. I was determined to get my house decorated before the upcoming weekend as I didn't want to have to take time away from the Chiefs game on Sunday to enlist the boys to carry it up and assemble it. All this activity caused your dad to warn me about the hazards of putting my back out or falling on the stairs. I smiled and reminded him that I am still young, strong as an ox and as agile as a monkey. He became even more agitated when I dragged the step ladder in and climbed up with the tallest tree sections. He thought the whole operation very dangerous – doubtless the reason he never assembled a tree even in his healthy years!

It only took me a couple of hours to get the lights working and the branches straightened out and I spent the next day trimming the tree with my ever growing collection of balls and handmade ribbon decorations. As I stood back to admire my artistic effort I noticed that from some angles the tree did appear to be leaning a little but decided that no-one but me would notice this once the whole room was decorated. A few days later Josh entered my family room with the towering tree, three glowing wreaths, a mantle draped in lights, greenery, candles and fruits with the stair rail decorated to match and announced that my tree was crooked and immediately began twisting the sections this way and that. My heart palpitated as my hours of decorating threatened to fly off the tree: balls flew in all directions. I told Josh not to worry about it but he seemed deeply concerned about righting my leaning tree. To stop the tree carousel I suggested that maybe the floor was uneven and that all we needed to do was shim it up. Sean actually sided with me on this one. Just as I was was about to find something to shove under the tree, Josh announced that the problem was fixed. The relief. I could feel my racing heart slow as I replaced my fallen balls on the tree. Another heart attack inducing event successfully survived.

Leslee and Craig celebrated Thanksgiving with us this year, and as usual Coryn and Jeremy ate their first dinner with us and then drove to his Aunt and Uncle' home for their second dinner of the day. Thankfully they had a few hours between meals as our family dines much earlier in the day. But this year the focus of Thanksgiving was not on my lovingly basted tender and juicy turkey or my honey glazed ham. My children were giddy with excitement over their plans to drive up to Nebraska after our dinner: spending the night at a hotel to ensure that they would would be up at the crack of dawn to tailgate at the college football game the following morning. Leslee and Craig's beloved Iowa Hawkeyes were playing.

Leslee had the foresight to book a hotel suite months before they knew who was going – so that they had room for Josh, Bryn and Sean when they decided it sounded like a fun trip. They were planning on getting together with various groups of friends. This involved taking along a cooler of beer, pounds of polish sausage, all my condiments, their overnight bags, blankets and Hawkeye gear. I enjoyed watching them pack all their stuff and themselves into Bryn's Kia. Little Leslee was squished in the back between Sean and Craig. She usually insists on riding shotgun claiming she'll be car sick otherwise. I fervently hoped that she didn't puke all over Craig and her brothers on the way – she'd definitely lose her rating as the cool sister.

But now we come to the most incomprehensible part of this whole adventure for me. I was under the impression, for the longest time, that they all had tickets to the game but no – they were going to drive over three hours to park at an exorbitant rate to sit around someone's turkey fryer to keep warm, and watch the game on another groups big screen TV powered by a generator. I asked in bewilderment why they just didn't park in my driveway (for free) and tailgate. I'd even let them use my bathroom so no disgusting port -a- potty. Think of all the money they would save on gas and the hotel. They assured me that parking and partying in my driveway was a horrific idea which couldn't come close to approximating the nirvana of tailgating. But it gets even more bizarre. Jeremy thought the whole idea of tailgating in Nebraska sounded so good that he got up in the middle of the night and drove up to join them – despite the fact that he'd spent four hours or more the day before driving from one meal to the next. He tried to talk Coryn into joining in the fun but as we all know she isn't the fun sister.

Coryn spent the day with us, seizing the opportunity to curry favor by portraying herself as a martyr for choosing to spend time with her parents rather than her more raucous fiance and siblings. Since Coryn rarely drinks, hates being cold, and dislikes being in crowds (unless she's the center of attention of course) she wasn't making much of a sacrifice. I spent most of Thanksgiving night and Black Friday worrying about the safety of my children. I eventually got a phone call on their return trip announcing their imminent arrival with the expectation that I'd want the heads up to get their their supper on the table - with the exception of Jeremy and Bryn who were lagging behind as they needed more time to sober up for the drive home apparently. Drinking and driving do not go together and we all know it's a red button topic for me.

Just as my nerves were recovering from their tailgating trip Jeremy, Craig, Josh, Bryn and Sean decided to spend Saturday afternoon Go-Kart racing. I thought Leslee would be keen on this activity but she passed and stayed with Coryn, Norm and I. We girls did look at bridesmaid dresses briefly but nothing was exactly just the thing: one thing I can safely state is that I will not be making five dresses. I have enough sewing with the wedding decorations.

The boys returned in time for supper (of course) with their clothes reeking of gasoline so that necessitated showers and changes of clothes, and yes, my boys all have clothes and toothbrushes at their mother's house which probably explains why they can't get dates. Apparently Craig was almost assaulted by a driver who felt Craig was driving too aggressively. He must not have seen the posse of rippling muscles with Craig - I assume that they would have come to his rescue.

Thanks to Ethan my Christmas will be a sweet one this year. A lovely box of assorted chocolate bars from England was hand delivered by our mailman into my arms for safekeeping. The box was popping open so I cautiously explored to make sure that the contents were intact and found a a flaky bar – my favorite- in my hand so I tested it for freshness. Just melted in my mouth the way it did when I was a little girl in England.

Sean traded in his Ford Focus for a Ford Explorer shortly after their sardine packed tailgating trip. He very generously (as always) invited us all to borrow it any time – even me! It will be great for trips to the garden center this spring. It even has a DVD player in the back – just perfect for a couple of kids!

Speaking of kids , I have been greatly enjoying Elena Sophia, Becky and Fred's baby girl who has visited us a few times since her arrival a couple of months ago. Coryn and Becky are both considerably younger than me but I always manage to out race them to scoop that baby up every time she cries. My other friend Becky, (Clay) has recently become a Grandma to Lysander Gregory, - Gretchen and Dave's son. Unfortunately Gretchen suffered pregnancy complications that confined her to bed for the last couple of months so Becky took a leave of absence from work and drove all the way to Savannah, Georgia with Elli, her aging dachshund, to be help out until the baby was safely delivered.

Josh surprised me this past Wednesday night by calling to invite me to see the new Mission Impossible movie with Tom Cruise - my Ming Lee look alike , in the days when Ming had a full head of hair anyway!We planned to see the Thursday afternoon show, so that I could feed Josh lunch beforehand of course. Fortunately Coryn was free to stay with Norm so it worked out well. Josh did impress upon me that any talking or questioning during the movie would ensure that I would never be invited again. Just as we were driving out of our cul-de-sac , Bryn rounded the corner, apparently finished with work for the holidays and hoping for lunch. Josh invited him to join us, which he did, saying he'd lunch on popcorn. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken to the movies by two of my boys and suggested we should make it a regular thing since they don't have any dates to take. They seemed less than enthused.

Ming-Lee was able to spend some time with us at the beginning of the month as he was flying in and out of Kansas City for Fed Ex . He stayed with Norm for a couple of hours one afternoon so that I was able to get some Christmas shopping done and then cooked us a delicious steak and salmon dinner. We were able to get together for dinner with Ming,Josh and Coryn another night and decided to eat at Barleys as your dad felt up to going out but unfortunately it didn't go very well. After eating Norm began sinking into a seizure so it took the boys' help to get him out of the wheelchair and into the car. a By the time we reached home he was in full seizure mode. Thankfully the boys were able to get him out of the cold garage and into the house. He is becoming increasingly difficult for one person to manage, even when in his wheelchair, on trips out of the house. I had to take him to the dentist that week twice, once for a cleaning and then for three fillings - about the number of real teeth he has left. It took me awhile to get him from the car into the house each time.

Coryn's neighbor and friend, Doris, came over to have lunch with us this week and was as delightful as ever .She is very good with Norm who greatly enjoys her humor. They have new neighbors and Doris in most anxious to be invited into their home for a peak at their decorating so she enlisted Coryn to go on a meet and greet with her as she had made a pan of holiday fudge to share with them. Coryn immediately swiped some of my cookies to welcome them into the neighborhood. Doris may be getting another new neighbor soon as Coryn has put her house on the market but it may take some time to sell as no one has even looked yet. Coryn tells me that until she and Jeremy have their own home there will definitely not be any babies.

Marc will be flying in late Christmas Eve and I hope that my new toilet will withstand his abuse. Josh suggested I remove the toilet seat so that he can't slam it down numerous times through out the night, thus waking anyone unfortunate enough to be sleeping upstairs. I just hope he doesn't break the handle off the toilet tank this time. Ethan grew very tired of replacing it every time he wanted to flush last Christmas.

The shopping is done, the wrapping is done, the decorating is done, the baking is about to be done and I am about done in myself but as always Mother rises to the occasion like a loaf of bread, all hot and doughy and so good. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you with my love, Mom