Picking Out the Tree

This year we went to a church tree lot near Costco.  The girls really wanted this tree but it wouldn't fit, of course.  Maybe only at Papa's house.

Decorating the Tree

This year we chose a douglas fir Christmas tree instead of a noble fir.  Doug fir's only half the price but doesn't have the space between to hang ornaments easier.  The noble does look a bit nicer but the doug is doing just as well.  I think we'll go with doug in the future.  Besides, it's my name, which the girls thought was funny.

MM usually breaks at least one ornament each year, going back to her first Christmas, but this year she broke two.

This is probably the last year JoJo gets to put the angel on.  She's getting too big to lift.

Nutcracker 2014

The girls and I had our annual date to see the Nutcracker at the Orpheum Theater a couple weekends ago.  It was a nice time out.

 

Her

Bobbins and I watched the movie Her the other night.  It is a futuristic tale of a man getting divorced who falls in love with his operating system, which is brilliantly cast as Scarlett Johansson.  It's a slower movie heavy on dialogue.  I actually fell asleep toward the end, which had more to do with my own tiredness than the quality of the film.  It's beautifully shot in Los Angeles and Shanghai, and Joaquin Phoenix once again proves his acting chops.  Coming from eccentric director Spike Jonze, it's not your typical Holllywood film, but it's the kind of work that had me thinking about it for days afterward.  Unlike most pieces set in the future, it actually embraces technology and the challenges it poses, and includes a nice, even classic, twist at the end.

One thing I didn't see mentioned in critiques was the similarity to Sofia Coppola's Oscar-winning feature, Lost in Translation, which I really liked and own on DVD.  Her is Jonze's response to Coppola, his ex-wife.  In LiT, the main character is a young woman unsure of her marriage to a zany director/photographer.  In Her, the main character is a middle-aged man trying to cope with the heartbreak of divorce.  Both films were written by their directors, and are set in East Asia.  Coppola won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for LiT, and I bet Jonze wins this year for Her.

I enjoyed LiT more, but Her is worth the time if you want the visuals, good acting, and thought-provoking ideas. 

What Marriage Has Become

The traditional, conjugal view of marriage began its transformation (demise?) with the divorce revolution of the 1960s.  Making it easier to end a marriage slowly altered the very definition of the institution, which I don't think most people at the time realized.  So the current "same-sex marriage" movement didn't start the process, but is moving it farther.  I'll be really curious to see what marriage is like in another two generations, when my grandkids are tying the knot.  It's a scary prospect.

This thought really hit me after reading this quote from Daniel Foster's column in the back of National Review on 3 November 2014:

"...so long as marriage was a covenant with the eternal, it was not just outside the purview of politics but logically prior to it.  Conversely, when marriages are a bureaucratic stamp of approval for a very expensive party, a mere matter of tax-filing statuses and feelings, it seem petty to use the levers of the state to bless some and ban others."

He Can Do It

Another Frozen Party

Maddie and Maya (roughly the same age as MM and JoJo) had a joint birthday party, Frozen-themed, a couple weeks ago.  MM, unfortunately, was sick, so she stayed with Bobbins.  JoJo had fun by herself.  I got to spend some time with our godson Matthew (Maddie and Maya's little brother).

At the Midway

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we all ventured to the port and boarded the retired USS Midway.  Jess's family all came, as her grandfather had served on the ship.  It was a lot to corral all the kids, but I think everyone had fun.  Even though we had been in 2010, we still enjoyed it again.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I missed watching the Territorial Cup live while we were at the Midway.  The sacrifices you make for family.  We actually lost, so maybe it was better.  I watched it on Mark's TV later (had had DVR'd it for me).  Still wore my No Pity for the Kitty shirt.  Hope to get them back next year.  There's no way they deserved the Fiesta Bowl.

Family Photo

From Mark's front yard.  I missed out on the hike that afternoon, but Mark and I ran it Sat. morning before we drove home to Phoenix.  The second shot is supposed to be grandparents with all the grandkids, with Jess as a bonus.

Two CA-based Godsons

Will and Mikey.  The latter got a nice scratch above the eye from a broomstick when we were playing football in the front yard.

Thanksgiving Football

This year we went to Bobbins' brother Mark's near San Diego.  All of Bobbins' family drove over.  Mark and Jess have a cute little two-bed, two-bath house which barely held all of us.  Jess's mom rented tables and chairs, and we ate outside.  It was a classic Turkey Day - lots of football, some family drama, tons of kids running around.

I got Owen started off on the right foot as far as football...

 

Fun at Park

Bobbins took the kids up to the park to hang out the other day.

 

 

Common pic, that one on the right - the girls bothering poor Owen.

Friends Frozen Party

My co-worker's wife throws a great party for their twin girls every year, which our girls have enjoyed going to.  This year was Frozen themed, of course, with a special appearance by Elsa.

 

Halloween

Had our usual two events this year for Halloween - the neighborhood safety festival and trick or treating in the Country Club behind us.  Bobbins was a little behind this year, so just the girls got costumes (with Owen's tacked on for good measure).  The neighborhood shindig was a ton of people again, as was trick or treating.  This time we just hopped the fence to our neighbors and did the circle.  JoJo was too tired to hit our own neighborhood walking The Dog, but MM was up for it.

Two pic's from Country Clubbin'

Pumpkin Carving

I told MM I'd give her a dollar if she ate some of the pumpkin innards, and she almost did.  Better than last year, when neither JoJo nor her would even touch it.  Maybe next year.


We missed Gooolia.  She was fun doing it last year.  And creative.  Bobbins wasn't into an intricate design this year.  [I always like the standard jack-o-lantern.]

We enjoyed the seeds as always.