Our Manger Scene

Here is the manger scene we set out for Christmas every year. This has been in the family a very long time, I'm not sure when my parents purchased it, but I remember being very little and playing with the sheep and camels.

The stable we had to replace and the figurines of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are replacements, but all the others are still original. I would have to say it's about 40 years old.

I'm not sure who had it last, but when I heard it was in a box somewhere, I snatched it up. Now, my kids get to help set it up as I did way back when.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me!!!

We were in Kentucky over the weekend with my in-laws. When I say Kentucky, I mean in a remote area with no t.v. or internet access. Thus, I heard no news. On the way home today at a restaurant, I happened to see a sports wrap-up show (with no volume) and noticed the Colts lost. Yikes, I was afraid that might happen, because the Jets are a good team and had to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

But when I got home, I decided to get the scoop and find out what happened, and I am totally aghast at the coach. A chance for history and they don't even make a feeble attempt at capturing it? Why did Manning not go back in when the Colts lost the lead? I didn't see the game, but I imagine Colts fans all over were screaming at their t.v. to put Manning back in.

So, the Colts are in the playoffs and have home field advantage throughout. Yeah, whatever. You know, it's going to be kinda hard to get totally excited about them in the playoffs. They could win the Super Bowl but there's always going to be a big "What If . . ." hanging over the season. They had a chance to be one of the all time great teams. A loss to the Jets would have been disappointing, but to lose in the fashion they did just really casts a pall on the entire season, no matter how it ends up.

As for the coaching decision, it only gets worse the more you read. I read a column by Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. He made the following observations about games earlier this season:

The Colts led Arizona 31-10 in the fourth quarter. Manning was behind center the entire game.

The Colts led Seattle 31-3 with eight minutes left. Manning was in there until the bitter end.

The Colts led at Tennessee 31-9 with five minutes remaining. Manning was in there, as usual.

Same with the game in St. Louis. Complete blowout. Manning was behind center in the fourth quarter.

Yeah, I'll stop now because this is going to keep me ticked off for a while.

The Value of Friends

We've been having a lot of vehicular challenges this past week. On the way home Saturday evening, our 1996 Buick suddenly stopped. I mean, it just stopped running and I was barely able to get off the side of the road. I was on a very busy street and sort of felt like a sitting duck, because the battery was drained and I couldn't even use my hazard lights. Dorene was in our van so she was able to come by and at least serve as a beacon for oncoming traffic.

We called our pastor and he came by and gave me a jump start so I could drive the car to the nearby Meijer parking lot, where we let it sit for a couple days. I had visions of major $$ having to be spent, so I wasn't anxious on finding out what was wrong (figuring that maybe this car was done for).

It turned out that the alternator gave out. A couple in our church canceled their plans last night and Harold came by and diagnosed the problem. In spite of my suggestions that it could wait until morning, he took out the alternator and we went and got a new one. Then, in the rather frigid temperatures last night, he installed the new alternator and I was able to drive the car home without incident as it ran perfectly.

Needless to say, we took them out for pizza, the least that we could do. Guarantee you that was a lot cheaper than a mechanic would have charged (another drawback to living far away from a mechanic brother that can also do this stuff). But wow, that was so great of Harold to do this. All I did was hold the flashlight and watched him stand there in the cold and help us out. You can't put a price tag on that folks.

Meanwhile, we just had to put 4 new tires on our van, because we were basically driving on bald tires. Yikes, I just love cars!

@Ford Field

Yesterday I got to finally spend my September birthday present. Dorene had gotten me tickets to see the Arizona Cardinals v. Detroit Lions at Ford Field. I'm a big Cardinals fan and I took along our pastor, who is a huge, huge Lions fan. Since we had to skip church to go to the game, I assumed God would favor the Cardinals, because the Lions have had such a lousy team lately.

It had been 20 years since I went to an NFL game, as I was a season ticket holder of the Cardinals for their first two seasons in Arizona. They played at the stadium of Arizona State University. Lately, teams have been building these football palaces, and Ford Field is no exception. It is in downtown Detroit, which is not the scary looking place I thought it might be. It is right next to Comerica Park, where the Tigers play. Parking is scattered about in downtown lots. The farther away you park, the cheaper it is. We parked about 6 blocks away, which wasn't too bad.

The picture above was taken just before kick-off from where our seats were at, and as you can see, not exactly a full house (and they were advertising cheap tickets for the season close in January). But the stadium is gorgeous. It's essentially a mall with a football field in the middle. Concession stands or shops every 5 feet, with all kinds of different food items. Very clean and well maintained and light years ahead of the college stadium the Cardinals used to play in (although they have their own football palace now). Ford Field seats a lot, but it seemed to me every seat was a good one, even if you were all the way at the top.

As for the game, the Cardinals took a 17-0 lead in the first half and it looked like a blowout. The Cardinals were getting ready to score again in the 3rd quarter when Kurt Warner pulled his move from the Super Bowl. At the Lions 10 yard line, he through a pass that was intercepted on the goal line, and the defender . . .yes, he ran it all the way back for a touchdown. Yikes, suddenly we have a game. The Lions got the ball back quickly and on their first play from scrimmage, the running back goes 64 yards for another touchdown. I had commented to Pastor Greg that I didn't want to see a blowout, but now I was having second thoughts. The Lions ultimately tied the score, but then with just a couple minutes remaining, Warner engineered a perfect drive capped off by Boldin scoring the winning touchdown. The other picture above is me after the game in hostile territory celebrating the Cardinals win (and they clinched their division and are headed to the playoffs).

The Lions have a fight song. Every time they score, a guy comes out and leads the crowd. I wasn't sure if it was cool or cheesy. The lyrics go something like this:

Forward down the field, a charging team that will not yield;
And when the blue and silver wave, stand and cheer the brave,
RAH! RAH! RAH!
Go hard win the game, with honor you will keep your fame;
Down the field and gain, a Lions victory.

Maybe if they are winning, it would be cool, but when your record is 2-28 over the last two years, it seemed cheesy. The fans are getting a little disgruntled. In fact, on the way out, some fans were selling their version of the Steelers' "Terrible Towel." This one was called the "We are Terrible" Towel. Ouch!

But anyway, had a great time. If you've never been to an NFL game, I highly recommend it. A much different experience than watching it on t.v. My only complaint is every time I see a game live, they keep taking away that yellow line so I don't know where the first down is at.

A Day Without The Kids

Today, Dorene and I got to go Christmas shopping, sans kids. Dorene's sister is in town and booked a room at Varsity Club Suites in Mishawaka. So, she took Anna and Cameron. Dorene's parents went to the hotel and helped watch Allie. That gave us a day to finish up Christmas shopping, and we certainly needed the time because the stores were packed.

However, I love it. I've never complained about stores being too busy. Because, DUH, it's Christmas time, it's supposed to be busy. If you are too bah humbug, stay away and let the rest of us enjoy ourselves.

We didn't quite finish everything, still have to get Cameron something, but that's about it. Everyone else is all taken care of.

An interesting thing took place at Meijer. We were looking at toys and a kid, about 10 or 11, nice clean cut looking kid, came up to Dorene and handed her a two-dollar bill. Said he wanted to give it to us because we seemed like a nice family (by this point, we had Allie with us while Anna and Cameron stayed with Dorene's sister). Never had that happen before. Have no idea why. But, hey kid, that was very thoughtful of you.

My Wife, the Amazing Teacher

Last week, Dorene had her annual Christmas program at Navarre Intermediate Center. Now, you've possibly been to middle school programs before and suffered through them. Well, you don't suffer through Dorene's programs, you truly enjoy them. She doesn't just have the kids stand on risers and go through the typical Christmas songs. She does full-scale productions.

This year was no different as she put on a musical called "Santa Goes Green" which, as you can tell by the title, emphasized the environment. Her standout performance was by Mrs. Claus, by a student that is probably borderline autistic, but that just totally nailed the character. I guarantee you no other music teacher would have given this student a chance, but Dorene did and she was definitely the highlight.

Dorene didn't feel this was one of her better performances, although the rave reviews from fellow teachers keep coming in. My nephews Curt and Jonathan came up as Jonathan did a DVD of the program to sell and Curt manned the sales table.

There's something else that you'll notice when going to one of Dorene's programs, and that is the discipline. Her kids are not talking during the performance or being a distraction. If they are not performing, they are being quiet, which is quite an accomplishment for middle school kids.

In fact, earlier this week, Dorene herself was surprised when all her kids sat quiet and actually quite spellbound by a group from IU South Bend that did a performance for them at Navarre. What was the performance? It was an opera, and these middle school kids didn't make a peep the whole time.

Our Christmas Kick-Off

For the past couple years, we've kicked off the Christmas season at the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park near Angola, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite family gathering places. It's about a two-hour drive, which is far enough so we feel we're far from home, but doesn't take too long to get there, so it's not too taxing on the kids.

The rooms are nice. Not huge, but more than adequate for what we need. It has a pool that the kids spent a lot of time in. This was Allie's first experience in a pool and she was cracking up as Dorene and I tossed her back and forth. Anna and Cameron are absolute fish in the water and are never ready to get out of the pool but could go for hours.

There is also a really cool craft room that Anna especially likes. You can choose from tons of plain wooden, foam, or paper crafts which you then paint, color, etc. Anna and Cameron both made gifts for their teachers and some others. Cameron likes it but would prefer to go next door to the game room where I introduced him to Ms. Pac Man (I scored 135,700 thank you very much).

The one attraction that Pokagon is famous for is one we actually didn't do, and that's the toboggan run. Neither Anna or Cameron wanted to do it yet, although I think by next year they'll want to give it a try. No big deal, we're not going to force them to have fun ("hey, we drove all this way, you WILL try it"), so if they'd rather just hang out in the motel, that's fine.

The pool sufficiently wore the kids out so both nights we were there they slept quite good. We took our own food and ate at the buffet at the Inn on Saturday, which was pretty good. The place has a very down home feel and is very family friendly, lots of people come to kick-off Christmas as we noticed several carrying in presents during check-in. We'll definitely be back next year.

Notes from the World of Football

• No surprise here in South Bend, Charlie Weis was fired at Notre Dame. When he took the job, he said a .500 team just didn't cut it. Well, after back-to-back 6-6 seasons, he was right. Don't shed too many tears, Notre Dame has to pay out the remaining 6 or 7 years of his 10 year contract they stupidly gave him a few years ago. The coach that seems to get mentioned the most as his replacement is Brian Kelly from Cincinnati. The last coach Notre Dame got from that town was Gerry Faust.
• I don't care who plays for the BCS Championship, because the usual suspects Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc. have all been there. It won't interest me at all. However, what WOULD interest me would be to see Boise State have a shot. I'd be watching that one.
• At this point, can anyone even touch the Saints? They are absolutely crushing everyone they play, but don't always get the headlines. They remind me of the St. Louis Rams when Kurt Warner joined them and they came out of nowhere and just cruised through the season en route to a Super Bowl victory. This just may be one of those years for the Saints, with a Purdue quarterback leading the way.
• Say what you want about his being wishy-washy, but Brett Favre is having an incredible year for the Vikings. If my Cardinals don't make it back to the Super Bowl this year, that's the team I'd like to see get in from the NFC (just as long as they lose to the Colts).
• South Bend is losing the College Football Hall of Fame next year. So hurry on up if you don't want to miss it. Let me know if you come, maybe I'll join you. It would be my first time visiting, too.