It Was The Day After Christmas.............

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Dad who had to get up bright and early and head for the office. It will be a quiet week since much of the business community in Atlanta are operating with skeleton crews. We have a total of 7 associates in the office today including myself, which makes for a very quiet day allowing me to catch-up on emails and the backlog of work that sits on my desk. It is also a great time to get organized for the New Year. Much to do in 2008and so little time left to get prepared.

So, how was Christmas for everyone? We had a relatively quiet affair although the days leading up to Christmas were rather busy. Last Friday morning I was out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and by 7'ish we were off to North Carolina. It was originally scheduled to be a solo trip, but Joe and Ellie decided on Thursday evening that they also wanted to visit Uncle Joe and while I don't really know if Uncle Joe was fully prepared for the Company, we had a great time and really regretted having to leave on Monday morning. Joe and Ellie were mostly well behaved (as much as you can expect from an 11 old lad and his 9 year old sister) and really enjoyed spending time with their Uncle Joe. Joe is of course my brother's namesake and has a strong bond with my brother. I came out of the bedroom on Monday morning just before we headed back to Atlanta and the two of them were sitting on the couch having an in-depth discussion about my brother's health. Joe had overheard my brother and I discussing his health and he decided to make a few inquiries of his own to make certain he understood what was happening with his Uncle Joe.

The trip back to Atlanta was uncomplicated, with relatively light traffic until about 35 miles outside of Atlanta and then we hit both construction and wall-to-wall traffic. It took us just over an hour to travel that last 35 miles while the rest of the journey took around five hours. The total journey is roughly 390 miles, give or take 10 miles, which means that I drove 355 miles at an average speed of 71 miles per hour before hitting the wall just outside of Atlanta. I put the cruise control on 75 miles an hour and just sat back and guided the car home. We stopped a couple of times, but speed was the priority and so we kept our breaks as brief as possible.

Once we arrived back at the house we had about three hours to rest before heading for the Christmas Vigil Mass at Holy Spirit. It was the children's mass and both Joe and Ellie were participating in the service. Ellie led the congregation in song throughout the Mass and Joe was asked to carry the wine and water to the altar just prior to the communion service. Joe looked quite proper in his new sports coat and did an admirable job considering the number of folks sitting on chairs in the middle of the aisle (the church was packed, as it almost always is for this Mass each year). Ellie was quite articulate with the exception of the word "Liturgy", which she just could not pronounce to save her life. Mom and Dad were of course most proud, as were her Grandparents, who are visiting us from the UK.

Christmas morning arrived far too quickly. I was out of bed relatively early to put on the Turkey and start the prep work for the big meal. We had a very traditional dinner with all the trimmings. I did most of the cooking and even helped with the washing-up afterwards. Everyone seemed to be content with their presents, especially Ellie's Dad, who got an Apple iTouch, which he wanted very much. Yea!

So now we are moving through the rest of the week looking forward to the weekend and the New Year. I think 2008 is going to be outstanding and I'm really looking forward to accomplishing a lot next year. A new job with a great company....a wonderful wife and kids.........and we we sold our house to a developer......can't ask for much more.

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. I'll post some Christmas pictures next time around, but meantime a shot from a recent Hawks game. We are 3 games over 500 and ranked 4th in the Eastern Conference. This year is shaping up to be an exciting time for loyal Hawks fans.