Gingerich Reunion, Country Style

Today, I had brunch with the lovely Gingerich sisters, Emily and Hannah. My lack of wheels allowed me to be entirely dependent on them. I wonder if this is what life will be like when I am older and cannot drive or walk. Back to the matter at hand... So Emily and Hannah arrived in their cute little Honda right here in Kidron to pick me up at approximately 10:30 am and we departed on our way to Wooster, OH on the NEW US ROUTE 30, which was the much anticipated ride. However, as this route is fairly new and uncharted by both sisters, we had to get on and off several times to end up at the correct destination. No worries, it was a fun little trip. After a quick gas stop, we arrived at Bob Evans, a hometown favorite, to have our lunch. I decided to go all the way and get their big Homestead Breakfast which came with 2 eggs, 2 sausage patties, home fries, two biscuits, and sausage gravy. Yummy delicious! It took a while to finish as you can see below:

I thought it necessary to show off Emily's amazing new hair style. Look at the bounce in that wave. She loves her wavy auburn hair :)

After brunch they drove me home and dropped me off with the fam with whom I am sitting now, with not much to do.

Christmas Bells are ringing, Christmas Bells are singing, on TV @ Saks.

Christmas with the TAYLOR CLAN. A joyous, loud, stressful fun annual tradition. I flew to Ohio on the last AA flight from ORD to Cleveland on Christmas Eve night and arrived in Kidron, Ohio (population 1000, maybe) at around 1:30 am Christmas morning. After rushing off to bed I was rudely awakened by my cell phone alarm, which was an unfamiliar chant to me as I had never used it before. I mustered the strength to get ready for Church and failed to have breakfast:(. We went to Sonnenburg Mennonite, My aunt and uncle's church and suprisingly everyone from our extended Taylor family in the area was there. We took up two large Church pews, in the back of course. The service was interesting. We sang hymns, but not many good ones, and they were all accompanied by musical aid, so sadly there was no awesome 4 part harmony. After Church, my immediate family gathered to have lunch and open presents. Lunch was amazing! We had Belizean rice and beans, white rice, stewed beans, ham, turkey, stuffing, and gravy. It was great. Check out the food photo here:

So we continued on to open gifts. The joyous tradition of ripping off nicely wrapped paper to uncover something that you have been eagerly awaiting. Ahh.. the commercialization of Christmas. oops.. I mean the Holiday Season. Here I am thrilled over something holidayish!


One of the highlight gifts this year was a Furby that my 3 year old niece received from her parents or possibly Santa. "Me Furby, you friend" "aaahhhhhhhhhh" (in a friendly mechanical voice)

A few hours after our immediate family gathering, the entire clan got together in the garage (the only space large enough to hold all of us) to have a delicious dinner and exchange gifts as well as get gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. This year for the gift exchange we had to buy a gift for someone of the same gender as ourselves that begins with the letter of our name. I bought a daily calendar with quotes from the "Duh Awards". My lucky cousin Scott was the one who received it. I happened to receive another gift that began with a "D"... a devotional...yay! The gift from my Grandparents was pretty cool. A old fashioned desk clock that chimes. I am actually quite excited about this one and can't wait to try it out. They also gave me the batteries to use it. JACKPOT. Check it out below.

Merry Christmakwanzikah and a happy...

How we gonna pay, how we gonna pay, how we gonna pay...last yeaaaaars rent? rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent rent... and so on. On a more serious holiday note, the big day has come and gone with no major problems or stressful situations. Gifts were fairly decent and exciting.. That's all!

"Love is a Force of Nature"

Today, Philip and I went to see Brokeback Mountain at one of the two cinemas showing it in Chicago. This weekend is the opening in Chicago and many other cities, but the film will not be released everywhere until sometime in January. With its limited release in 75 theaters it still was # 8 for the entire weekend and had the highest number of visitors per cinema, averaging 34,000 which was the highest for any movie in 2005. The film was a cinematic masterpiece. The film portrayed the cowboys as cowboys from the rugged sheep herding to their lives and struggles at home. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal played out their parts amazingly as did Michelle Williams. The film was happy, exciting, and sad. I definitely recommend that everyone who loves movies should see it. Not only is the message beautiful, but the acting and film are as well. Go watch it now.

Suggestions...

My Taylor side of the family gets together every Christmas in the small town of Kidron, OH. Our family now around 27 strong has a fun little gift exchange. This year we are to buy a gift that starts with the first letter of our name for someone of our gender. So I need to buy a cheap gift for a guy that starts with D and is under ten dollars. I have been struggling to come up with an idea for a gift. Any Ideas?

Baby Jesus WAS in the house tonight...

Tonight Philip, Greta, Vanny, and I went to Ross' Church, Broadway United Methodist Church, for "The 2005 Broadway Christmas Celebration" of which Ross was singing in the choir. We arrived 15 minutes early to an almost packed house of church attenders and friends of the performers. The church body is quite interesting and special as it is made up of a diverse group of people reflecting the neighborhood where it is located, East Lakeview. The prelude holiday music led us into the entrance of the choir, all decked out in Christmas Red tops and Black pants and there was Ross, right in the middle with his brand new Merino Wool Red Sweater with Argyle down the sleeves. He may have been one of the trendier dressers in the crowd. The music begins with Alleluliahs and Alleluliahs. The choir was really into it singing as loud as they could. One woman on the side closest to us could barely control herself as she sang and moved to the rhythm. The crowd got into it more and more with louder applauds after each song and some standing ovations. There was even a readers theatrical performance (interesting!) and a good liturgical dance, however their blue outfits clashed somewhat with the excellent red of the choir. Nevermind, their performance was good. The only real negative aspect was that the church was quite warm, and we all know that I don't really love the heat. Afterwards we chatted and snacked with Jordan and Marco and Marco's mom and then Phil, Ross, Vanny, Greta and I walked home and stopped at Starbucks on the way to keep ourselves warm. Such a good holiday evening!

Wrapping Paper

Wrapping gifts might just be one of the most exciting parts of Holiday time... well it depends on your wrapping abilities. Do not fear, if you are not highly qualified in the gift wrapping ability there is hope. I was once the person with the gifts with overlapping paper and crooked ends, but after a few easy steps and many wrapping sessions at the Barn, I have mastered (in my terms) gift wrapping. So, choosing wrapping paper is very exciting also. The Container Store has an amazing array of wrapping paper to choose from which I became accustomed to last Holiday Season and have been waiting to buy more paper since the rolls debuted in their store this year. This past Saturday, Phil and I were at Target looking for Christmas gifts and he spotted the paper and suggested that we get it there. I jumped at the opportunity to talk up the Container Store's paper supply and say that we had to get it from there. After a small argument we moved on and did not buy any paper at Target. So, this coming Wednesday we will go to the Container Store and buy some great Holiday Paper much to my excitement.

The holidays are here.. or near

I bought my airline ticket to go to Ohio for the Taylor family Christmas gathering tonight! I've given in to the higher powers at work and "agreed" to work Christmas eve :(, which means that I will be on the last flight at 9:39 pm from O'Hare to Cleveland. Hopefully nothing goes wrong and the weather is good, or I might miss Christmas (well, in Ohio that is). Interestingly enough, I am flying out on American Airlines and returning on United. Expedia.com's best deal... Now that my Holiday plans are set, I must begin buying all those Christmas gifts for friends and family. May the Holidays begin!