Christmas Past - 2005

Welcome to Christmas Letter 2005
Yes Chicken Little, the Sky Really Is Falling

Greetings and Happy Holidays! It's the end of November here in Muskogee Oklahoma. It's a chilly 65 degrees (!?) and I am in our office looking out the window at one neighbor mowing their lawn while the people across the field from our backyard set up more and more 10' tall blow-ups.
First I guess I should explain the title, we need to go back to Labor Day, 2005 - forever to be known as the day Darren broke the house (no breaking a leg or a lamp isn't enough for me). Started out like any normal day, Phyllis and I picked out a new ceiling fan for our bedroom and we were installing it. Unfortunately the bracket that supported the old ceiling fan wasn't doing its job so the fan hung at quite an angle.
We couldn't take the bracket down from below so I had to go up in the attic take the old bracket down. Well I am up on the studs prying the bracket off since the adjustment screw wouldn't work either and....can you guess what happens next......
But more about that later in the letter, back to November and December. We are now decorated for Christmas with lights on the outside (care of me). On the inside, Phyllis has Christmas in every room, including (but not limited to) 3 large Christmas trees, 3 miniature trees - one in a bathroom. Other than the closets and the garage our house is Christmas central.
We had Thanksgiving at our house for the first time, 21 people total, including our new niece Ashlyn Eldridge (at 6 weeks old she didn't do much dining). We had turkey, ham, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, Oreo cookie pie, coconut cream pie, apple pie, French silk pie chocolate cake, many different cookies, candies, chocolates, mashed potatoes, chicken & dumplings, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad and a wonderful time was had by all.
112 trick-or-treaters came to our door this Halloween, not bad for a cold, rainy Monday (I don't know why Halloween had to be the colder than any other day before Thanksgiving). Phyllis is still plugging away at her math education degree. At this point a lot of her homework looks and sounds more like Greek (literally) than any math I remember. She no longer works at Muskogee High School since her required classes are now offered during the day. She is substitute teaching a couple days a week at the Hilldale school district.
She has also gotten a little club crazy, and is a member of the French Club, Student Educators Club, NSU Harry Potter Club, and Math Club (I think there may be a few others as well). She will be a junior at the end of spring 2006.

I guess it is time to finish our little ceiling story, where were we - oh yes, I was up in the attic removing the bent ceiling fan bracket and Phyllis was on the ladder after handing me the hammer so I could pry the bracket off when... BOOM... we have direct access from our bedroom to the attic - a nice big 4'x4' opening. I am not certain what was the funniest moment: me laying on my back trying to figure out where I was, Phyllis (who was struck by the ceiling as I came bouncing down) worried not about her injuries, or mine, but only about the fact that she would track insulation into the rest of the house if she left the room. It might have been when we looked back up in the hole to see light and thought the ceiling was on fire - it was just the flashlight that managed to stay in the attic. It may have been my strangely calm phone call to Alice & Jerry "Oh by the way I fell through the ceiling."
Alice & Jerry came to the rescue, helped us clean up the pile of insulation that was everywhere, found us a contractor who could do the repair, and Jerry patched the gaping hole in the ceiling. We can't thank the two of you enough for your help. Without you, we would likely still be alternately staring up into the hole and looking at each other,
"What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know, what do you think we should do"
"Whatever you think is best"
"No it's your call."
The room is finally completed with flat ceiling - no more popcorn texture -and crown moulding. Phyllis has even been dropping hints that I need to 'climb into the attic' and change another fixture or two, I think she wants new ceilings throughout the house.

For the first time since 2002, we have had no overnight hospital stays - though we did have three scheduled outpatients between the two of us. Still this is much better than our previous years. I guess that would explain why the local hospital announced that it was encouraging some 40 employees to take early retirement.
What else has happened... as many of you know every fall we plant a hundred or so tulip bulbs and every spring we watch them sprout then disappear as the moles dine at Chez Magady. Well this year we kept about 40 of our tulips, after all of the castor oil tricks, various chemicals, peanuts and combinations what defeated the moles? Two 99 cent pinwheels stuck in the ground scared the moles away. I don't know if it was the vibrations caused by the spinning wheel (some people's scientific theory) or the moles just thought they were aggressive attack plants, or they laughed themselves to death but the pinwheels worked. Next year we may skip the tulips and just plant pin wheels.
I hope all of have a wonderful and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!