Having a White Thanksgiving,This and That, 2010 Wrap-Up,The Never
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Having A White Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving It’s Thanksgiving day again; another year passed remembering the good and the bad. Thanksgiving continues to be my favorite holiday, and one thing I’m thankful for is that this holiday has remained relatively commercial-free. This is and should be the one day each each when families and friends come together to celebrate, reflect on the year passed, and give thanks for their many blessings. Then eat a lot of turkey-based foods. This is a white Thanksgiving day as we already had our first snow of the year yesterday. Given my general lack of excitement about cold weather, having snow in November doesn’t bode well for the rest of the winter. But, whatever; I can be thankful that summer is on the way… This has been another fairly good year for the Charest family, Virginia edition, and I have many things to be thankful for. Winnie and I are still together. More than anything else, I am thankful for the marriage we’ve built together. I still have my health. My doctor continues to tell me I’m in pretty good shape for a man my age, which I continue to take as a compliment. On the flip side, I wonder about the people my age who’re not in such good shape. The family finally got my mom out of her house in the middle of nowhere and moved her down to Tennessee, where she has lots of people around to take care of her and keep her company. I know it was hard for mom to make that move, but she did and everyone in the family came together to help her. I’m still employed, making a decent income that provides for our needs and still leaves extra money to put away for retirement. We had a nice vacation trip this past spring to England and France. Winnie got to Europe for the first time, we saw Paris in the Springtime, and even had a bonus of visiting an old friend in London and my brother in Cardiff. I continue to enjoy boating and kayaking during the months when It’s actually warm enough to be outside. My normal Thanksgiving tradition has been to invite over a lot of friends and family (on the occasions that family actually live nearby) and cook a huge turkey with all the trimmings. One big regret here in Northern Virginia is that there is no family close by and the friends we’ve made have their own plans for Thanksgiving. This year will just be the two of us so I’m not cooking. Winnie and I have dinner reservations at Gadsby’s Tavern, a historic tavern in Old Town Alexandria that advertises “Fine Dining Since 1770.” Presumably, they’ve learned something about cooking during the past 244 years so this should be a nice experience for us. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Eat lots of turkey, and have a great day together with friends and family. Related Posts Happy Thanksgiving 2015! This and That, Snow Day Edition And A Very Merry Christmas to All! This and That, 2010 Wrap-Up This and That Another year passed, a new year ahead. Another time to sing Auld Lang Syne and celebrate the western world’s marking the start of a new year. All things considering, this is as good a day as any to take a few moments to reflect on the year passed, and what may lie ahead. I think this has been a good year in the Charest household, Virginia edition. The big event this year belonged to Winnie; gaining her American citizenship. But we had other events significant and insignificant that are still worth remembering, and December was more of the same. In November I was informed that the contract I had been working under for the past nearly two years would be ending this month and not renewed. I had been expecting this news, but it still came hard as I really enjoyed the work. I also didn’t know what I would be doing after the contract ended, even though I knew my firm would keep me “on the bench” until something else came along. However, the first week of this month I landed a new contract assignment that may prove to be even more enjoyable than my previous one. I’ll still be around ships but these will be a bit smaller than the ones I was working on. I will be doing a lot of traveling, which I’m not particularly excited about given how abusive the TSA is becoming. At least I did not travel this month, so I’ve had the rare opportunity to see what thirty days at home felt like. I had another project come to a close this month. Back in October I started a certification program studying for my “Certified Supply Chain Professional” exam throughThe Association for Operations Professionals (APICS). This included four classes conducted eight hours per day for four consecutive Saturdays. I couldn’t help but notice that I was by far the oldest person in my class, even older than the instructor. Many of my classmates were nearly half my age. The classes ended in mid November and had three weeks to study on my own for the certification exam scheduled for December 11. I spent the final ten days prior to the exam cramming for my exam, and then I did pass. Gaining this certification gives me the right to add “CSCP” after my name in all official correspondence, and bragging rights in my resume. This certification is industry- recognized and does mark a certain level of professional excellence that may help me gain future assignments. I also feel rather happy knowing this old dog can still learn a few new tricks. Meanwhile, we decorated the house for Christmas with Winnie doing most of the actual work on account that I was busy studying. She really got into the Christmas decorating this year and did a wonderful job. This year was the first year we actually celebrated in this house. For the past three years we’ve gone up to my Mom’s house for Christmas. This year we managed to convince her that she really needed to come down here. Finally, she did agree. We had a quiet Christmas weekend together. Christmas eve we had a small dinner and opened our gifts. Christmas day we had dinner with friends at their house. Our House Decorated For Christmas Mom came down December 23 and planned on leaving again Monday the 27th. She ended up staying an extra day on account that Snopocalypse struck the New York City area over Christmas weekend. On the day she was supposed to return home nothing was moving, not even a bus. During this past week I had the wonderful opportunity to telecommute for work. One of the things that I think I will enjoy most about this new assignment is that I’ll have increased opportunities to work from home. Any day I don’t need to spend 3+ hours commuting is already a good day. Our Christmas Living Room So here we are, New Year’s eve again. Winnie is working today until about 8:00PM so we’re just going to stay home tonight. Winnie doesn’t much get into the western New Year’s celebration anyway; she’s more interested in celebrating Chinese New Year which happens February 3 this time around. However, this will be her first year celebrating New Year’s as a American citizen, so I’ve reminded her of the fine print on the bottom of her citizenship papers that says she has to stay up until midnight and watch the ball drop in Times Square. She doesn’t believe me that it’s there, right under the other fine print that requires her to eat turkey on Thanksgiving… Looking back, 2010 has been a good year for us. Having had really bad years in the not-so-distant past, a good year like this past year is especially sweet. I know this hasn’t been the case with many people in my family, nor for many other people around the country. To my family, friends, readers, and everyone else, I’d just like to say that bad times cannot last forever. Eventually, things have to improve. They always have for me, and the Goddess willing times will stay good for Winnie and me for at least a little while longer. Happy New Year everyone. May your coming year bring you good health, happiness, and prosperity. Related Posts Come Sail Away! : I take on yet another challenge and learn how to sail. The Never-Ending War on Christmas : Another Christmas, another year in the trenches. Christmas At Mom’s House : Spending a Christmas visiting Mom in New York. The Never-Ending War on Christmas So who’s winning the War on Christmas? Snowmen Nativity Once again Christmas time is approaching. Houses in our neighborhood are all decked out in colorful lights with inflatable ornaments sitting out on snow-covered lawns. The stores are full of holiday shoppers making retailers smile while dreaming of big holiday bonuses like kids wishing for candy-apple treats. Our TV screens are aglow with the many incarnations of Santa Claus telling the viewers in TV land just how great of a gift their trinket would be for that special someone. So who’s winning the War on Christmas? Besides all the general merry-making this time of year, we also have our right-wing brethren ranting about the “War on Christmas” that heathens, Liberals, and other evil-doers are committing in the name of destroying all that is good and holy about our most holiest of Christian traditions.