Sandy and I are still recovering from the virus bug…not so our youngest son Rory. He lines up with his friends in preparation for a wild night out. I remember those days as well…not any more though. New Years eve this year will be a raised glass to a falling ball and then to bed! Next year we will try and do better…

In one of those acts that you can only regret after it has taken place…I buy my wife a step ladder for Xmas, she buys me a valuable book. Oh well, in the past I have done better on the gift side of things….next year I will definitely have to top this years gift…

All was not lost though…I did receive a magnificent gift. It is the rare, out of print, “Death of a President” by William Manchester. The book is rare because Jackie Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, sued to stop its publication. They did not succeed with the first edition but it was sufficient I believer to stop the publication of further print runs. This makes the book a rare read and a rare find. It was Sandy who found it for me…..so even though we are all laid up and sick, I at least have a good book to read.

And all is quiet…it is quiet because we all caught a BUG!  We are laid up in bed.  Sandy came down, took the turkey out of the freezer, looked at it, looked at me, put it back in the freezer and told me call the kids and our guests and that Xmas dinner was off, and she was going back to bed.  And that was that.  I was not feeling too good either so Xmas this year DID NOT HAPPEN in the Cooper household.  The places were set, the tree sparkled but we didn’t.

The Office Christmas party! In the past we have done lunches, and then dinners, and parties. This year we had a 5 course lunch at the classic Boulderado Hotel in Boulder. Need I say a good time was had by all?? No need I think…the photo speaks for itself….

Sandy and I are presented with the magnificent, hand crafted tea pot, made by Vince Pitelka, the Professor of Art and the Appalachian Center for Craft.

The pot has the most amazing spout and when I brewed my first pot, I can tell you it pours like a banshee and it is an art getting the right pour into the cup….

The dreaded shopping for Xmas gifts!! Actually this shot has nothing to do with the hunt for gifts but more to do with the stock market.  In the shopping mall I saw this display of models. The expression…”When skirts go UP, the stock market goes DOWN” crossed my mind.  So if this is the style we are seeing in 2010….take care in the stock market…I’ll let you know if the expression is accurate in 2011….

It takes two stalwart bodies (not mine you note, I take a administrative/supervisory role in these type of events nowadays) to raise the tree and get it positioned correctly.  Note Miles in the corner observing everything calmly, he has already got into the Christmas spirit.

We are given a wish list of the toys and items that the families need and then we go out and buy them. We then have a lot of fun wrapping them up and sending them to be placed under a tree.  We don’t know the names of the families, we just know that we are somewhere out there on Christmas day we have made a group of kids happy….and that makes us happy!