We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2009 Christmas Letter

We hope this Christmas greeting finds you in good health and enjoying the season! We are both doing well and loving the fact that the Christmas tree and house are decorated!!

It’s been a difficult year for us, adjusting to life without Megan, but we are muddling through. After Megan’s death last December, we committed to spend more time with those we love….and we’ve had a wonderful year making memories with family and friends! It’s amazing the guidance we receive from those no longer with us.

In addition to a trip to Missouri to visit Carolyn’s family in March, somehow, we managed two vacations this year! In September, we enjoyed an Alaskan cruise with John’s Uncle Eric, his son Eric, daughter Shirley, her husband Dan, Dan’s mother Mary, Carolyn’s cousin Benita and Benita’s daughter Renata. Very enjoyable and relaxing. The second vacation, in November, was a first exposure (for John) to the American South. We began this trip by flying into Louisville, Kentucky where Shirley and Dan have a second home to be close to their grandchildren. We visited Churchill Downs racetrack and stables, home of the Kentucky Derby…and a bourbon distillery. Then, we drove through Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina (visiting the Biltmore Estate – largest private residence in the US), South Carolina, and Georgia. In Georgia we visited Carolyn’s cousin Madonna Engle and her husband Paul. We enjoyed everything from the World of Coke to a barbershop quartet concert….but the biggest impression John was left with was that the Civil War is still very much alive in the South....

Work continues, even through these difficult economic times. John is back with Cisco’s proposal group, leading a team supporting Cisco in Europe, NATO, and other global regions. Carolyn is still with the publishing company (now goes by the name Cengage Learning), celebrating her 20th year! She’s not traveling anymore for her job (yeah!!!), but she’s keeping plenty busy with her stamping hobby and many projects around the house!

We’re looking forward to this Christmas holiday and 2010! We’ll hope to share some of it with you!!!

With love,
John and Carolyn

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around our house. We had a great weekend celebrating with friends and are looking forward to more of the same for the next couple of weeks!

Friday night, we gathered with friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Orozco, here in Dublin. After dinner, we came over to our house for dessert, a little Wii, and chit/chat! Here's a picture of most of us.....

Lou and Paul and in the middle of a big story and you can tell that Kevin, Laurie, and Mary are getting a big chuckle out of what they are saying. John and Kristi pause for a photo, also! John, Paul, Lou, and Kevin went to high school together and have remained friends over the years. We were joined for dinner by John Glenn, another classmate, but he wasn't able to join us at the house. In addition to yummy cookies by Laurie and a lemon creme pie by Kristi, I made marbled cheesecake squares for dessert. Here's the link for the recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=701127
As you might imagine, we all enjoy getting together and hope to do it more often in 2010.

Saturday was a blast with a noon viewing of Avatar in the IMAX 3D theater. Amazing movie! After the show, bunco was on our dance card. We get together with our friends Lou and Mary (she's the cause of my stamping addiction), Connie and Fawaz, Stella and Steve, Susan, and Dina and Jeff. Stella and Steve hosted....and their house was absolutely beautifully decorated for Christmas! So fun and festive. I made a new appetizer and am including the link to the recipe.....it was really good:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=230886. After a yummy dinner and some egg nog, we played bunco. John and I were shocked when I won $25 and he won $15.....our winnings paid for our Avatar tickets!! Woohoooo!!!!

The kitchen was "mission control" for Sunday. I made apricot snow, Seven Layer cookies, Cherry Bars drizzled with chocolate, and biscotti. I've taken pics of some of my creations and in the collage I've also included photos of those who so generously passed along their recipe to me....Mom (with Reagan) for the peanut brittle (made last week), Madonna (with Aunt Ila) for the apricot snow and biscotti, and Aunt Allyne (with Uncle Olin) for the Seven Layer cookies.   Thank you all for sharing your sweet tooth with me! After baking, I arranged some goodies in tins and delivered to friends....wishing them a Merry Christmas.

John paid me the best compliment by saying that the house was starting to smell a lot like Christmas. I think he had no idea how wonderful that made me feel. Christmas is a time when memories are on "high alert" and so many of them are from years of wonderful time spent with family and friends. Growing up, it seemed like Christmas was the entire month of December and we were very lucky because we grew up in the town where my Grandma Bock lived....so we got to visit with and enjoy all the family that came to see Grandma for Christmas. So many laughs, great meals, card games, and jigsaw puzzles!!! While I won't see all of you this Christmas season, know that you are in my heart and I love you very much!!!  As an adult, I spent many a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my second family, Susan and Eddie Wilson and their family.....I'll be with them this year on Christmas Day....so grateful and fortunate!

West Virginia Girl.....introducing Katie Dent

What a treat!!!  John just received a message from his/our friend Katie Dent.  She lives out here in the Bay area and she and John worked together for many years. 

Katie has been working on a CD of songs she's written over many years; her CD is complete and the first cut, "West Virginia Girl" is posted on YouTube!  Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPGiT69Npg

Oh, to have that kind of talent!!!  Congratulations, Katie, and we're looking forward to hearing more!!

John and I are looking forward to a weekend filled with good friends.  Tonight, we're meeting up with John's friends from high school; we'll have 6 couples in all and we're going to eat some yummy mexican food and then come back here to the house for dessert.  Tommorrow, after Avatar, we're headed over to Stella and Steve's to play bunco!  I'll likely have some pics to post!

I'm still humming along with Katie!  Love it!

Peanut Butter Balls

By popular demand, here's the recipe for my mom's Peanut Butter Balls (pic in earlier post):

Peanut Butter Balls (very yummy) - 1999

3 cups Wheaties
2 cups Chunky Peanut-Butter
1 box powdered sugar (or 3 1/2 cups)
1 stick butter or oleo ( I like butter) & I melt in microwave

Crush Wheaties in a zip lock bag until you measure 3 cups

Add butter, peanut-butter and mix ,then adding powered sugar, you
may think this will never mix but it will, just keep mixing.
Shape into the size balls you want, I like very small and this will
make around 65. Put wax paper on cookie sheet & ref. for 2 hrs. or longer
until ready to dip.

In double boiler Melt 2 oz. of Baking Chocolate (Semi-Sweet)plus 6 oz. pkg. of
choc. chips semi-sweet and 1/3 bar of paraffin (slice in thin slices) ( remember to put a
little water in your bouble boiler, so to melt the choc.)

To Dip: I use toothpicks or two forks.  (Carolyn's note:  to allow the dipped balls to dry, I cut a large baking potato in half....place the cut side on waxed paper and then stick the toothpicks in the potato half....silly, but it works like a charm.)

Good Luck.
From:Jane McNabb, Butler, Mo.

Wii and Baking with Allie

John and I enjoyed a wonderful visit by his niece, Allison. Allie is 17 and lives in San Mateo - about 40 miles from us. She drove over yesterday after school and went home late afternoon today to study for finals! While she was here, we had a blast playing Wii Resort, munching on chocolate chip cookies, baking sugar cookies, and making/rolling/dipping peanut butter balls.

Here are some pics from our sleepover: I've includes pics of our peanut butter balls, sugar cookies, Allie and her Unkie playing Wii Resort, our Christmas tree, and a tin I decorated with a Merry Christmas message on it. I was really happy with a new rolled sugar cookie recipe I found on the internet....here it is:

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookie

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt


Directions


1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Here's the link, too.....
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

It's time for me to go to bed....been a long day.  This Christmas season is filling us with joy and we're sending our love to you all!  Sweet dreams!

Dawn of a New Day

Good morning! It's the dawn of a new day!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Megan's death. As you know, Megan is John's oldest niece. It's been a long and hard year!

In the true spirit of Megan, we gathered last night at Cathy and David's house and were joined by Moe (neighbor/friend), Russell Peavey (friend/former neighbor), and Julia (Megan's best friend). David made Megan's favorite meal (chicken tetrazinni) and baked a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (and pink writing).....all of Megan's favorites! I certainly felt her spirit with us and she's at peace!

John and I are looking forward to Allison's visit this afternoon. She's coming over to get a lesson in making my mom's famous peanut butter balls (dipped in chocolate) and while she's here, we'll be sure to have a Wii tournament, maybe watch a movie, enjoy some Chinese take-out, and decorate some sugar cookies.....many of Allison's favorites!

As I mention peanut butter balls, last Fall, before Megan's accident, she called me to get the peanut butter ball recipe. I sent it to her and cautioned her that the most difficult part of the recipe for her would be to wait the required time for the balls to chill before dipping in chocolate. Our impatient Megan didn't wait long enough, she was a bit disappointed in how they turned out....but, she was looking forward to trying again. We'll make a few for you tomorrow, sweetie!

Rest in Peace, sweet Megan. We love you so!

Back on Blog

Apologies to those of you who have been coming here to get updates on Lewis and Crockett. I've been very bad at updating the blog....but, I vow to do better! I see that many of my friends post blog updates to Facebook....and I'll admit, Facebook has taken precedence over the blog for most of the year.

More to come....promise!

March Madness - trip to Butler

John and I returned home today after spending a wonderful week in Butler, Missouri....my hometown. Butler is a small town of about 4,000 people....60 miles south of KC. Family flew and drove in from different parts of the country (Washington, Georgia, Texas) and different parts of Missouri/Kansas (KC, Wichita, and the Lake of the Ozarks). I've learned how to make picture collages....here's a collage of a group of us at Aunt Opal's the day Uncle Olin and Aunt Phyllis joined the madness. I just wish I had a few pictures of us playing cards.....

Here are some pics of Charlotte, Mom, Mac, and me with Pat & Janie's cherubs....Marcus, Jack, and Reagan:

Last Saturday night, John and I were treated to dinner at the Umstattd's. We had a wonderful evening with Kris and Kevin....and we were joined by Judie (Kris's mom), Don and JoAnn (Kris's uncle and aunt), and Tamee and Doug(Kris's cousin and her husband). Many memories were shared and we certainly had a glorious time making new ones! I finally remembered my camera by the time we made it to dessert. These pics hardly do justice to the feast set before us.....thank you, Kris and Kevin, for a terrific night!! We're looking forward to your visit to the Bay area!

I was so lucky on this trip to convince JoAnn to share with me her secrets for making her marvelicious sugar cookies.....and to get Aunt Ila to divulge the secrets of Grandma Bock's chocolate meringue pie. Here are a couple of pictures of the final products.....

We've had a long day, so I'll sign off for now. John and I are looking forward to my cousin, Benita, and her daughter, Renata, coming to visit us on Thursday.....most likely will update after they leave next Tuesday. Until then, enjoy your days.....relish in good memories......push yourself to make wonderful new ones! Life is good.....live it!!!

March Madness - trip to b

March Madness

Forgive me, my neglected blog. John and I are back to our very active social life, so updates should be more frequent! Life on Crossridge Road continues to be wonderful!!!

We kicked off our month of March Madness by spending the day in Orinda with Cathy Jensen and her partner, Kathy (sp?); Bill and Claire Jensen; Cathy and David (John's sister and brother-in-law). The Jensens were neighbors of John and Cathy's growing up and they've kept in touch. Here they all are gathered around the fireplace:

We were treated to a wonderful brunch of french toast, grilled sausages, fresh fruits, scones....and these yummy chocolate dipped orange candies (homemade....can you believe it?)....they were marvelicious!!

Oh, before I forget, here was the lovely table before we were seated....note the cute napkin ring holders are bottomed-out miniature clay pots....so darned cute!!! Here are our wonderful hostesses....gracious, generous, and so thoughtful! Thank you so much for a wonderful day!

So, why do I call this March Madness? It's packed with many activities....John and I are headed to Butler for a visit with my family from March 10th - March 17th. Many other "Bock family" members will be meeting us there, so we'll have a fun week of visiting, card playing, eating, drinking, and being merry! March 19th brings a visit from my cousin, Benita, and her daughter, Renata. They are flying out from Colorado and one of the highlights of their trip will be attending (with me, of course) the Scrapbooking Expo at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It's Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st....not sure what to expect, but it should be tons of fun!!! They are staying until the 24th, so we're hoping to take them to Point Reyes one day and then maybe to SF. On March 27th, we're getting together with friends for a wild night of eating, drinking, and playing Bocce Ball in Livermore. There are a couple of other social events, but you get the idea.....madness.....in a good way.

That's it for now....going to make a couple of cards and then call it a night. If you're on Facebook, look me up as I often post photos on my FB account that I don't post here.

Happy days to you, dear friends! Love, Carolyn & John

Welcome 2009!!!

It's with great hope and anticipation that we welcome in 2009!!! Christmas went by quickly and this last week has been a blur! I returned from Butler last Saturday, December 27th. I had a really nice visit with my family. John suggested I take the tripod with me and I was able to gather up everyone at Mom's on Christmas Eve for a McNabb/Crockett/Scott family picture...posted above left.

The weather in Butler was cooperative....I arrived as the cold weather was leaving and left when it was arriving again. Wild Missouri weather....I left Butler at 5:30 am with a temperature of 64 degrees and arrived at the KC airport at 7:00 am with a temperature of 28 degrees with freezing rain. I got out in the nick of time.

Charlotte stayed in Butler for a few days during my visit...we enjoyed late night chats, jigsaw puzzle marathons, and sleeping late in the morning. Mom, Charlotte, and I picked up Aunt Allyne and Aunt Opal on Christmas evening and drove around Butler to look at the Christmas lights.....took us 1 1/2 hours.....John said he didn't know Butler was that big! Ha!!!

I was so encouraged that Mac was doing well and getting better each day of my visit! John and I are looking forward visiting Mom and Mac in early March.

John spent Christmas Eve and Day with Cathy, David, and Allison. Christmas Eve was spent with David's mom and family. "Unkie" bought Allison the "Big Brain Academy" for Christmas, so much of Christmas Day was spent on the Wii with some BBA tournaments. All in all, we were relieved to get Christmas behind us!

As we enter the new year, we're looking forward to the new administration and have great hope for an economic turnaround in 2009!

I'll sign off by admitting that we've just finished a Star Wars prequel film festival and are now watching "First Men in the Moon."

Sending early birthday wishes to David and Pat.....wishing you both a Happy Day on Saturday.....and many, many more!