Christmas at The Dainings

Christmas dinner at 459 Rosemary - 2008

-This blog invites you to celebrate Christmas with a dinner at the house of Marlene and Paul.

-Arrival time is 2:00 PM for the beginning of the wonderful festivities.

-Below you will find your names and something on the menu that Marlene would like you to bring along.

-Presents are optional. If you are inclined to do so, great. If you are too busy or strapped, great. Your real present is your presence.

-Please read your own personal blog below for additional Christmas Day festivity instructions.

-During the time you are reading this, feel free to go to the bottom of the blog and choose a different Christmas tune to listen to.

Positive Responses

Justin and Nana have emailed us with a positive response. We'll be there!!! I've actually got some delicious roll dough that I will be rising and baking on Christmas day! Sorry, no Vans rolls from us!!!! Can you add a little Ghanaian flair to that, Justin? I'll see what we can do, but Nana is having a tooth pulled on Wednesday and will be out of commission... but we'll do our best.

David and Jane have emailed us and assured us that our Christmas will not be blue since they will in fact be there and that our Christmas will be a brilliant white. Hooray. Wow you don't mess around with a normal email like everybody else! You won't be having a blue blue Christmas, because we will be there! Jane and David

Gareth and Cara have signed in. Must be they were in Aukland when their response arrived. They said they will be bringing a fatted calf from New Zealand. Does that sound good or what? Your blog is amazing. And it made me laugh. Hard. A good reminder ofwhy I am traveling halfway across the world on a sore stomach!
Can't wait to see you guys! Marlene told me that Gareth and Cara survived the flight and arrived at 1:00 am Monday morning.

Katie (our daughter) did email us with a rather positive answer and an agreement to bring a pie or two to pass and assured us that there would be no funny stuff this year ... like last year, especially with Aunt Mary. Hi Dad! I love your christmas blogspot!I would be happy to bring pies, if I manage to get out of the house/ driveway ever again. My work called this morning and told me to not come in, so Nora and I are sitting around reading.

The Irishes will be there since they did not want to be square. We all look forward to seeing them. Hi every one! Merry Christmas! Thank you Paul and Marlene for hosting this years festivities.

The Johann Bratt family responded positively ... for appetizers we will have pig knuckles and for dessert ... creamed heuvos de toros ... two of Johann's favorite comfort foods. We accept! Pig's knuckles for an appetizer and creme brulee of sympathizer's nougee' for dessert OK? Jane said that the Johann Bratt family is around and causing lots of trouble in the neighborhoods.

Anna responded favorably to our invitation and will make an appearance at the appointed time. The brussel sprouts and I will be there—They can’t wait.

We still have not heard from the Ragagni's ... so who knows, maybe not this year. Voila ... Mary called last night and wanted to know how many people were bringing mashed potatoes. That's a pretty good indication that at least she will be dropping some potatoes off at some point. Hopefully she will also drop off Arturo and Giovanni.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Pictures from last Christmas

Friday, December 19, 2008

Justin and Nana

Four point eight miles for Justin and Nana to go for a great dinner and fun and relaxation with family and friends. Bring your favorite beverage and maybe some sourdough dinner rolls from Van's Pastry on Fulton ... those are good, but if you have a better source, feel free to grace our table with those.

Mary, Arturo and Giovanni

Google maps puts the distance at 4.1 miles. That's a short distance to go for a little turkey and stuffing. Things for you to bring ... a beverage of your choice ... Marlene has assigned a vegetable dish and mashed potatoes to the Ragagni family.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

GarethandCara

Well, here's where I had some problems with Google maps. They say they can't give me a distance from 459 Rosemary SE to 60 Willis Street ... why, it just sits and spins and does'nt do much. So I tried Google Earth. No luck. If I were still at Lear Siegler in the lab, I could simply do a "direct to" using the onboard flight management computer to give me a great circle path and distance. I suspect though that a message may appear on the screen ... "insufficient fuel" since the system I worked on was a Boeing 737. Anyway ... it's a long way to come for Christmas. Let's hope Cara feels a lot better before they take their leave. On Christmas Day, bring along your favorite beverage, one that has a little hint of New Zealand maybe. Some lamb would be good but let's save that for next year when we all come to New Zealand for Christmas.

Katie and Brian

3.9 miles to go home for Christmas. Not too far when you consider that there's some pretty good eating when you arrive. Take along your favorite beverage of choice. Also, remember the beautiful lattice work apple pie that we did'nt get a piece of for Thanksgiving? Well, maybe now would be a good time to bring one of those.

Chelsea and Paul - Brittany, Amber and Devon

Google Maps puts the Irishes about 11.7 miles from our house. That's a little ways, but not bad when you consider that we could at this time be living in College Station Texas, where Marlene would like to be living right about now. For the dinner ... bring along your favorite beverage and a whole lot of corn for those corn fanciers that will be there on Christmas Day. Don't forget to bring the girls too!

Anna

Google maps puts Anna about 5.6 miles from 459 Rosemary. That's not far at all to go for so much fun. Please bring your favorite beverage and lots of brussel sprouts, you know how everyone loves those things.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Jane and David

Google maps puts them about 2.7miles away. That means they will be the closest visitors. That should give them plenty of time to arrive early and help out with lots of details. Bring your favorite beverage of choice, maybe a little home brew. The all time favorite green bean cassarole, mashed potatoes and maybe a little hors-d'oeuvre.

John and Ellen & Eric, Emily and Laura

Google maps calculates their driving distance at 782 miles. That's a long way to go for Christmas dinner. Please bring your own favorite beverage of choice. Also, Marlene asked that you bring two things ... a chef surprise dessert and an hors-d'oeuvre. An hors-d'oeuvre should be easy seeing that you visited France last year.