Candy and Jim's Great Canadian Adventure: December 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Toys for Tots

Last Sunday, December 16, was what I assume will become an annual event for Anthony. He threw a "Toys for Tots" party at a local establishment called Brixx. All comers were asked to donate toys in exchange for a free beer and all the entertainment they could handle. The entertainment was provided by DJ Nekkid (AKA Anthony Vowell) and DJ Bones. In addition to the entertainment, there were rousing games of bean bag toss and Jenga! The turnout on that rainy Sunday afternoon was great. Anthony and Casey's friends were generous as always and a total of sixty-two toys were donated.

I have never really thought about the work that takes place each year to pull off such a huge nationwide, undertaking, of gathering toys.....so here's a little history on the Toys for Tots campaign:

Toys for Tots started in 1947, and over the years the Marines have worked tirelessly distributing over 386 million toys to more than 181 million children nation wide.
The program serves over 600 local communities covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Nation wide Toys for Tots collects and distributes an average of 16 million toys to an average of 7 million children each year at Christmas.

As impressive as those numbers are, it could not be done without the help of all the big hearted people that put on such events and those that donate toys. So thank you Anthony and all who participated in his event. You guys ROCK!!! Merry Christmas!

Patty, Kendra and Nhi

Donny and Desiree

Karen and Casey

William and Anthony

Ryan and Cindy

Jamie and Matt

Summer and Tyler

Ryan and some pizza!

Aaron and Tommy

Ryan and Tyler

Tiffany, Patty, Kendra and Steve

Pramel, Steve, Noni, and Omar

Cathie and Omar

Anthony (DJ Nekkid) and Derrick

Patty, Eddie, Nhi, and Casey

Anthony preparing to execute a cartwheel

Yours truly and Ryan

Anthony and Heather

Casey

Omar and Pramel playing Jenga

Last Jenga block before........the crash

Jenga crash!

Toys for Tots Drink Specials

Dj Nekkid and DJ Bones showing off the generous contributions of their friends

Nhi, Casey and Eddie

DJ Bones

Toys for Tots haul - 62 toys!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Lights in the Heights

We celebrated Lights in the Heights in conjunction with Toby's birthday this year. Happy Birthday, Toby! We started out at Toby and Janet's house for a delicious fajita dinner. (Mmmmm! I do love me some delicious fajitas!) After dinner, we caravaned over to the Heights to meander, drink, and party! And,of course, our rolling Christmas Tree Bar (is it sacrilege to put "Christmas Tree" next to "Bar"?) was the best "mobile party wagon" there! Keep up the good work, Toby!

We noticed that LITH was on a smaller scale this year than it has been in the past, which is not necessarily a bad thing for the neighborhood. LITH was developed to be a neighborhood party. The organizers of this year’s event – just as last year – had reasons to keep the number of people attending a bit more controlled. For starters, putting on such a festival is expensive. The Woodland Heights Civic Association, which tries to raise money from the event, ends up spending as much money as they make on things such as police protection. In 2010, 60,000 people attended LITH. That's a lot of drunk elves, Santas and reindeer! I like the new smaller LITH. I haven't seen stats on the number of people attending this year, but it felt much less crowded. Sooooo.....if you have never been to Lights in the Heights, it's high time you go! It's always the second Saturday of December, so get your mobile party wagon ready for next year and meet us there in 2013!

After the LITH, I headed over to Kendra and Stephen's house for an "After Party." It was great to see everybody and eat more delicious food! I think the only party foul was committed by the host, Stephen, so it doesn't count.....something involving drinking out of a dog bowl.

Rebbecca, Janet, Stacy and Ryne

Janice, Greg, Rebbecca, Janet and Toby with the Christmas Tree Bar

Ryne and Janet

Ryne, Rebbecca, Toby, Janet, Bronwyn, Pete Janice, Greg, Stacy and Marc

Stacy, Ryan, Cindy and Cindy Lou Who (AKA Janet)

Ryan, Cindy and Ryne

Santa?

Cindy Lou Who

The Santa Candy Gram, Ma'am!

The "Most Interesting Man in the World"?

Mandie, Edie and Kendra

Jamie, Matt and Casey Boy

Meagan, Meredith, Lindsey and Ryan

Kristen and Meredith

Cindy, Meagan, Casey and Kendra

Yummy food at Kendra and Stephen's

Noe, Karen and Anthony

Martha and Casey

Cindy, Casey and me

The whole fam damily! Where's Jim? :( He's still in Calgary!

Ryan and Cindy's Engagement Party

Jim and I flew down from the "cold north" to celebrate Ryan and Cindy's engagement with the Byrd family on Saturday, December first. When we left Calgary it was 6 degrees F, and when we arrived in Houston it was a balmy 70 degrees F! What a nice change!

Frances Byrd, Cindy's grandmother, pulled out all the stops. Her home was beautifully decorated and the food was fabulous. Thanks to the world famous "El Chico of Huntsville" we were able to get our Tex-Mex fix! I sure do miss fajitas!

Cindy's mom, Pam, and her aunts, Michelle and Cheryle, must have been cooking for weeks because there was every dessert your heart could desire! What a spread! We were entertained by local musicians and danced the night away. Best of all, we were able to connect with Ryan and Cindy's friends again, and we made lots of new friends from Huntsville, very friendly folks! We can't wait to see everyone at the wedding in January.