Frisbee On Christmas Day

The drive to Churchich Park, as seen on Emily's Snapchat account.

We enjoyed temperatures in the low 50s during our frisbee outing.

Opening Presents

Julia and one of the custom pillows from Santa.

I will let Olivia explain the "hand-on-the-nose" gesture happening here.

Veronica made this amazing poster for me.

Olivia was clearly happy with this present.

The opening of presents was clearly the highlight of the day.

Bob Cullinan sent a calendar featuring some of his amazing photos.

Christmas Morning

There would be no "White Christmas" this year.

Santa Claus delivered customized pillow cases this year.

Santa Claus also left some Reese's Peanut Butter trees. Our favorite!

We always enjoy Santa's notes.

This was a new one. And these "lumps of coal" tasted a lot like Oreo brownies.

Christmas Eve/Day Hotel

Julia made sure we knew all the important things about the hotel.

It has become a tradition for us to enjoy a hotel room on Christmas Eve. This year took us to the Springhill Suites in Council Bluffs. It was nearly vacant, with only five other vehicles in the parking lot. And that was just fine with us.

As usual, getting the girls to bed was a chore. Julia and Olivia insisted on being noisy and having a late night pillow fight, even as Santa was on final approach to our area. (We were tracking him via the NORAD website.) Overall, it was quite enjoyable and the breakfast was very good. Emily was not with us, as she was working the late shift at Aksarben Cinema.

We enjoyed a nice hotel room in Council Bluffs.

It wasn't long before it had that "lived in" look.

Veronica was clearly enjoying the bed.

Julia (left) and Olivia were a bit more crowded.

Lauren claimed the couch.

Breakfast was amazingly good.

Veronica (left) and Olivia enjoyed breakfast at the bar.

Julia made sure housekeeping knew we enjoyed the room.

Letter To Santa

Here is what was left for Santa at the apartment. Very healthy!

Julia and Lauren split the duties of leaving a note for Santa.

Here is the note Lauren wrote and left at the apartment:

Dear Santa,

We are at a hotel tonight. 

Please enjoy the snack we are leaving for you. The vegetables on the deck are for your reindeer. Have a nice night!

Love,

Lauren and the Weide Family

And Julia left this note in the room at the hotel:

*Anywhere there is a blank, that's for you to answer*

Dear Santa,

What time is it? _______ I have been tracking you for a long time. I can't wait to go home and see what I got.

How tall are you? ____________. Do you have any other outfit other than a red suit, or do you even own a red suit like everyone thinks? ____________________

Do you have any electronics, iPhones, iPads? _________________

Also, do you take selfless, or have a social media account that no one knows about? ______________ 

What is your favorite kind of cookie? _______________ About how many more stops until you are done? _____________

Love,

Julia Weide :)

As mentioned in Lauren's note, we also sprinkled oatmeal onto the deck and left a few lettuce leaves out there as well.

Christmas Eve Mass

Aunt Jean attended Christmas Eve mass with us.

Christmas Eve Breakfast

Cinnamon rolls, awaiting the icing...

A Steamroller Christmas To Remember

Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller delivered Omahans a Christmas surprise Monday night.

Not all fans at the group's annual Christmas concert at the Orpheum Theater might have known Davis no longer performs with either of his two troupes that are playing venues around the country. But you only had to look behind the drum set to notice this is not the same Mannheim Steamroller we have grown so accustomed to enjoying since their first Christmas album 30 years ago and their first album 40 years ago.

Sitting in Davis's place is Logan Penington, a "second generation" Mannheim Steamroller band member who figures prominently in the group on the drums – sans Davis's trademarked white sneakers. Davis is still a part of the show, seen on video in an introduction and later in clips pounding away with the group as it was featured over the years on NBC specials, appearances on "The Today Show" and even on a float during Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day parade. While taking in the nostalgia of it all, few in the audience could have known the band's co-founder would soon be strolling out on stage.

But there were signs – literally - that this would not be a typical Steamroller concert. Sandwich boards in the lobby advised concert goers that by entering they would consent to be filmed for something tentatively titled, "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas." And minutes before the band rousingly got things going with "Deck the Halls," a stage manager broke the news that the sellout crowd would "be immortalized" on a televised special for PBS next year. To help facilitate the taping and provide crowd reaction shots, the audience was asked to cheer, stand up and clap, and cheer loudly again. It was just a warm-up for what would prove to be at least half-a-dozen standing ovations on the night.

The first of which went to Davis, who appeared after the opening number in person to thank Omahans for paving the way for the success of a legacy spanning more than 30 albums (including eight Christmas albums), global tours and 19 gold records. My own experience with "Fresh Aire" music dates back to 1977 and Mannheim Steamroller concert in the Orpheum with the Omaha Symphony. Back then, the group had released only three albums and songs were interspersed between poem readings by Davis's ex-wife, Carol Scott, who was better known for delivering weather forecasts on KMTV, and accompanied by strange videos.

They still have the weird videos, though some of the Christmas-themed ones have (thankfully) been dumped. In fact, if reviewers in other cities are to be believed, the much-dated videos that typically accompany the live (mixed with pre-recorded) music on other parts of the "red" and "green" tours, were replaced for this performance due to the taping of the special. I did my best to ignore nearly every video, save for "The Steamroller," which features an 80s-style, story theme to go along with a cartoon Steamroller.

Energy levels were good throughout the night, mostly thanks to the antics of bassist Ron Cooley – now the senior performing member of the band – and conductor and violinist Rebecca Kia. Noticeably absent from either line-up of the tours are veteran band members Jackson Berkey and his wife, Almeda, though they could be spotted in the opening TV video clips and occasionally in several other songs. Berkey, who co-founded the band, is 72 years old and can't be expected to travel. Davis himself stopped touring in 2008 following a serious neck injury that affected his right arm. He told audiences (during his video introduction) that he is conducting performances of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in Orlando, Fla., on weekends throughout December.

Notable:
- Davis's 15-year-old daughter, Elyse, makes an appearance via video on other stops of the tour to sing a special rendition of "Greensleeves." But she performed it live Monday night. Though a bit drowned out by the percussion in the later part, she obviously has a future in music if she so chooses.

- Keyboardist Bobby Kunkle – sporting red high tops and a tuxedo with tails – was an unexpected breath of "fresh air" (can I write that?) with his bountiful enthusiasm, funny expressions and perfection on the piano that made me forget the venerable Berkey was not the one tickling the ivory.

- In another surprise, Davis and his two daughters (Elyse teamed with her sister, Kelly) returned to the stage for an encore of "Silent Night." But it was a bit uncomfortable hearing (pre-recorded) deep baritone voices come from a 67-year-old man and two teenage girls.

- The latest Mannheim Steamroller album is titled, "30/40 O Tannenbaum." A three-disc set, it is also available on vinyl. I don't know how many will be sold, but it will only add to the group's 28 million albums and CD sales to date.

- Kia and her theatrics on the violin were entertaining on nearly every song. But save for the final two songs of the concert, you rarely heard a single note she played in what was likely a mixing or microphone error. (When you can hear her, she does sound good. Here's the proof.)

- Had the Husker football team not been so saddled in controversy of late, you have to wonder how much hooting and cat calls Davis might have received during his videotaped introduction (and later, live appearance) for wearing  the sweatshirt of his alma mater, the University of Michigan. It probably helps that the Wolverines have also fallen on a bit of hard times.

- Three of the 12 songs after intermission came from the group's first album. "Chocolate Fudge" is my all-time favorite, but nowhere near as well known as their Christmas songs. A gentleman seated next to my oldest daughter professed to be a big fan but had seemingly never heard of the song before it was played. ("It was pretty good," he told her afterwards.)

- "Going to Another Place," from Fresh Aire II has been the group's mainstay encore song from Day One. Longtime fans didn't go away disappointed as the song began a few moments after the band took a final bow. Though it sounded nearly the same as all the other songs that were performed live, it obviously was not. Which left some shaking their heads on the way out, wondering just what was live and what was not when it came to the concert as a whole.

- The PBS special which was being taped will air during that station's peak fund-raising drives sometime in 2015.

Finally, a special message of thanks to Nebraska Furniture Mart for making me the lucky winner of two tickets (via a Twitter contest).

Lauren Gets A Reply

We know at least one friend of Sean's – Krissy – read Lauren's part of the letter!

Life Around The Apartment

Veronica was more than happy to pose next to a pie Lauren helped get ready to bake.

She was also ready to be the "first eater."

These are busy times as the days get shorter and it seems the holiday rush is upon us.

For example, last night, we blitzed through the final processing of the Christmas letter, fixed dinner, hustled it down to the main post office, zoomed out to Aksarben Cinema to see a movie and then back home to prepare cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Thankfully, the girls are extremely helpful and handy around the house.

This morning, we were in full-out cleaning mode so they could attend the annual "Christmas Cup of Tea" with Grandma Bep.

The girls did a great job getting their room in order.

Coming Soon To Your Mailbox

Julia (foreground) and Olivia got the folding started at CopyMax.

Getting our annual Christmas letter together has become one of our favorite traditions. Especially now that the girls are older.

They look forward to answering questions for the "bio" section and they are efficient in the folding (Julia), return address label affixing (Olivia and Lauren), addressing (Olivia and Lauren) and stamping (Veronica). Emily was on "quality control" this year, making sure everything was in proper order before the finished product headed out the door.

This year's newsletter comes to you in full color for the first time since the third edition, back in 1995. That year, it was only single-sided and letter-size (compared to legal size and double-sided). So it was not the financial outlay it was today. And we certainly weren't mailing out 160 letters back then.

Finally, if you see any mistakes on the letter, please don't tell us.

Lauren had the envelope stuffing process in order. Well, sort of.

Julia folded every letter. Every. Single. One.

Olivia was rocking the labels – address and mailing.

Veronica had the stamping process going in her bedroom.

Before Emily checked everything over, she was scaring Sean by saying she found typos in the letter.

It's Christmas Time...

The lights have gone up at my apartment.

It's That Time Of Year Again

There are new questions to be answered in this year's letter.

Here's a sneak peek...

You can hardly say it sneaks up on you. Come October and early November, the task of putting together our annual Christmas letter starts hanging over my head. The pressure usually ramps up around Thanksgiving Day and accelerates greatly as departure day approaches for winter training camp in Spain.

The good news is that the letter is nearly finished. Selecting the photos is always the toughest part. Writing the girls's summary statements on the back is also a toughie. But Veronica gave me some help this year, which was much appreciated.

If everything goes as planned, the letters will drop Saturday and start arriving next week. In between, there will be addressing, folding, affixing of postage and, hopefully, some personal messages!

Music And Lights At Midtown

It's a festive scene in the vast courtyard at Midtown Crossing.

Omaha's Midtown Crossing is stealing a bit of thunder from the Gene Leahy Mall light display – in more ways than one.

For starters, Midtown Crossing's display is already in place – and has been for nearly a week. The "million lights" display downtown won't "go live" until Thursday night.

But even more impressive is the nightly lights-set-to-music show at seven o'clock. It's about 10 to 15 minutes of holiday music with a choreographed light display that spans the buildings, as well as the trees in the park. Throw in the glow from the fire pits of a couple restaurants in the complex and it's quite the event.