Christmas Cheer for All to Hear

Once again, we have been blessed with a wonderful Christmas.

Even though we have been married for three Christmas seasons, this is the first year we got a tree. It was so much fun to have more holiday cheer in the house. Luckily the animals did not think that it was indoor plumbing!
We had my folks over for Christmas Eve dinner (seafood!) and went to my brother's house for Christmas Day (more food!). My brother and father enjoyed the lack political correctness of The Onion's Atlas for most of the afternoon. It was nice to be around family for the holiday. Joshua was able to go to Seattle a few weeks ago to enjoy some time with his family. He had a great time ... although none of it was documented because Joshua did not bring the camera with him (no photos, bummer). Unfortunately, I did not tag along this year so that I could afford to go to Arizona mid-month to see Erica, Greg and their newest family member. Moreover, we are planning a week-long vacation to Elk Lake in Oregon with the entire Chisholm/Fujimoto family this upcoming summer.

The day after Christmas, Joshua and I enjoyed one of the many wonderful gifts Joshua gave me: ICE SKATING in Philadelphia on the Delaware Waterfront! I love skating ... and Joshua is getting more used to it. (He's always such a good sport and a quick learner.)On Saturday, we drove up to Schroon Lake (or as Joshua calls it, Schroot Farms) in New York's Adirondacks for some snowshoeing with the dog.

Simon loves the snow more than anything and is enjoying our long daily hikes. He is such a good pup -- hiking off-leash, wearing lots of silly clothing (mainly a bright yellow "horse blanket" that helps us to see him in the snow and also booties that protect his feet), and riding patiently in the car while we look for trail heads.

We haven't had a non-visiting vacation since our honeymoon so this was a much-needed trip for us to recharge, reconnect and remember what trees look like. It has been wonderful.

Parishioners Target Vacant Lot

By DEBORAH HIRSCH • Courier-Post Staff • December 26, 2008

CAMDEN — Members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in South Camden are spending the holiday season praying that city officials can help them do something about a nearby vacant lot that has turned into a de facto meeting spot for drug dealers and dumping ground for trash.

Starting today, members of the Camden Churches Organized for People community group affiliated with Sacred Heart said they will take turns calling their city councilwoman, Dana Burley, each of the next 22 days to remind her of their mission to improve the abandoned lot at 438 Emerald St. in the Waterfront South neighborhood.

Cassie MacDonald, 43, who lives about two blocks from the property, said the calls are intended to be a simple, heartfelt way of making sure that their concerns aren't forgotten.

"We can see it right under our nose what was happening there," she said. "If a place is neglected then it will continue to attract further degradation. We're offering our energy and our creativity and our willingness to do the work. We need other parties to meet us."

Sacred Heart members said they began cleaning up the lot this summer, putting up a small fence and asking police to keep an eye out for criminal activity there. Two weeks ago, they met with Burley and other city officials to offer their help maintaining the lot until something is built there.
It sounds like a logical idea, but there's one major obstacle: the owner of the lot, who went missing at least a decade ago. Now the property is tied up in thousands of dollars worth of tax liens that are held by a private corporation. The city can't afford to pay off those liens, which means it can't acquire the property until it goes through a lengthy, complicated foreclosure process.

Burley said she supports efforts to keep the neighborhood clean but the city can't give them permission to do anything to a privately owned property.

"Tomorrow the owner could come and say, "Why are you on my property?' " she said. "I understand their frustration. It's not that we're pushing this aside or washing our hands of it. It's just that we're limited in what we can do."

It's the same story for thousands of other abandoned lots in the city. Because those properties are privately owned, the city has no legal authority to do anything to them unless they present a hazard to the public, such as a home that could fall apart at any time, said Public Works Director Pat Keating. In those situations, he said, the cost of the city's board-ups or demolitions are added to the liens on the property.

If a neighborhood group wants to clean up an abandoned property, Keating said, the city won't stop them. But other than picking up bags of trash, he said, the city can't get involved.

Sacred Heart Camden Churches Organized for People members said they were impressed that the city took their concern seriously, but didn't believe there was no way to work around the legal complications.

"This issue isn't disappearing just because they don't want to look at a creative way to make a positive change on Emerald Street," said Sacred Heart member Sean Dougherty, 50. "We just don't accept that. On almost every block there's at least one abandoned lot. We've had enough inaction and it's time now for some positive change."

Dougherty and other members vowed to investigate how tax liens work to see if there was some way to do something about abandoned properties without opening the city to lawsuits. If that's not possible, they said, they'd lobby for changes to speed the foreclosure process on abandoned properties.

In the meantime, the group plans to continue calling attention to the issue.

On Saturday, they processed around the block singing Christmas carols, handing out cookies and talking with neighbors about their hope for a better neighborhood. Andrea Ferich, 28, said the event was intended to be a joyous way to begin reclaiming the lot.

"We just needed to get together and pray because we don't know the answers," she said. "You can be as powerful to bring about change through prayer as you can through action."

Reach Deborah Hirsch at (856) 486-2476 or dhirsch@camden.gannett.com

Chisompson

Don't know what it is about this week but I've gotten five Laura CHISOLMS, two Laura CHRISHOLMS and now a Laura CHILSCHOLM. Really, Chilscholm?!?!

I'm going back to Thompson ... or maybe Tomson ... or Thomson ... darn it!

I guess I'll stick with Chisholm. Ha ha ha.

At last!

At last, our computer is fixed! It took only 30 minutes but it was 30 minutes with the right person. That last part was key. Now I don't have to rush off to school to write all of my papers or send emails. I can go back to lounging around in my pjs and playing with the pets all day! (I wish.)

So on to the photos and stories!

Right before Halloween, I was able to carve a pumpkin with my neighbor who is in third grade and has never carved a pumpkin before. Can you believe that!?! Obviously the Philadelphia school system is failing our youth!

Each week we have been sharing a meal with our neighbors, Dottie, H, their young son Owen and their pup Sampson. Since they couldn't come to Joshua's birthday party, they had us over the day before for an awesome dinner and fun presents. They are great and we are so blessed to have them as neighbors.
Simon has begun having play dates with Sampson. They are such good dogs and both are part lab-pit bull. Sampson is older and just wants to play fetch. Simon acts like the younger sibling, wanting to get in the way and show Sampson all of his toys. Here they are playing with an invincible ball. They once played tug-a-war for four hours straight!

Patrick and his fiance Carrie threw a fun child-game inspired 30th birthday party to celebrate his entry into adulthood. Among many others, we played SPUD, freeze tag, red-light-green-light and with a parachut. Hooray for Patrick and Carrie's creativity! And hooray for Patrick always being older than me!

Joshua's best friend Scott came to Philadelphia to visit. Scott seems to always be chocked full of "interesting" -- he just moved back to Chicago from Australia, outbid Tim Meadows on an awesome condo and, when we saw him, he was on his way to NYC to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Rockettes and his family. It was really fun to hang out with him. We cannot wait to see him in Chicago and crash in his beautiful home.

We went to Carlisle to my folk's house for Thanksgiving. This was the grandbaby's first Thanksgiving. Mr. Grandbaby was as wonderful as always. He is so snugly and sweet. Joshua and I are continuing to falling more and more in love with him. Brian and Bridgette are such good parents; it is really fun to watch them with him.

It was also Simon's first Thanksgiving. Generally he was a good pup. He proved himself as a great hiking dog; we were able to take him off-leash on a few hikes. He also demonstrated his speed by stealing some meatloaf, turkey and even some Poviticia from us.

[It is nice to have the computer back and share all of these photos! I have to admit that I missed it. Blogging may be passe these days, but I like sharing photos with friends and family.]

To Celebrate Our 2.25 Anniversary

The first dance at our wedding was Clem Snide's Bread. I love this song. Joshua introduced it to me one rainy day in Seattle when we had only been dating a month or two. Our Saturdays used to be spent making bread from scratch. It was always so neat to watch Joshua's love for making fresh bread for family and friends. And it was nice to laze around his apartment while we waited for the bread to rise.

When we had to choose a first song for our wedding, this was the obvious choice. It told of how we wanted to live. Off the cuff, in a relaxed manner and with some quiet days being together around the house. Granted, with how I pack our schedule, it doesn't happen as often as it should.
My favorite times and my favorite memories from our first 2.25 years of marriage consist of these quiet moments. And every morning when I walk downstairs to the mis-matching wonderfulness that has become our sense of decorating, the goofiness of our time together and the amazing energy I get from being in such loving relationship, I fall more in love with Joshua and our life together.

Bread

‘Coz you are the bread
And it’s never work
And warm, buttered is good
Oh, let’s just digest

And the dishes are fine
They’re not goin’ nowhere
So keep your hands soft
For high fives and shakes

And the bathroom’s a mess
Tomorrow we’ll clean
And my window won’t shut
But the breeze does feel nice

And the stove can be used
To light cigarettes
Oh, let the tablecloth burn
It’s pretty that way

‘Coz you smell like bread
And now the pillow does too
Has everyone left?
Where they even here?

Listen to the song to understand how these somewhat silly lyrics can be a sweet love song.

More/our photos from the last month of excitement

Patrick and Carrie got engaged! Hooray! Patrick asked me to part of the wedding party, which is totally awesome. That is going to be such a rockin' good wedding because they are so totally in love and excited about everything.

Here they are opening their first official engagement gift when they came for Joshua's birthday party.


Joshua's birthday party was super fun. The house was a wreck from a crazy week and the dog was nutso (as usual) but we have wonderful and tolerant friends and family who helped us to celebrate Joshua's first 30 years.

Joshua really wanted to make his own birthday cake. In the tradition of funny birthday cakes, he made a beer bottle cake. Very impressive, right?! And super tasty thanks to Hershey's chocolate!



I know that we already reviewed this on the blog, but we have to touch on it again: the Phillies won the World Series! It not like other towns that win big games. This is Philly and their 25+ year streak of not winning ANYTHING major. And South Philly is where all the fanatical fans seem to be located. It has been great to be here for all of the excitement.

The night of the second half of the final game, everyone in the bar went crazy with every little thing that happened. Once the game was done, everyone went outside to celebrate. Tons of high-fiving and hugging as people seemed overwhelmed with emotion for their team and fellow Philadelphians. Even little kids were standing outside of their homes in their PJs and jumping up and down. It really was a cool thing to witness.

This Halloween proved to us how blessed we are to live on our street. Our neighbors came out in costumes with tons of candy and alcohol. One of the most beloved ladies on our street, Marie, who is over 80 years old, dressed up as a Native American so that she could go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Evidently her costumes are well-known and very anticipated each year. Our best friends on the block, Dottie and H, dressed their little boy up as a penguin, which was overwhelmingly cute. Randy and H put on wrestler masks and sipped wine through straws. Overall a very fun night although we cannot believe that we did not get dressed up this year. Next year ... next year ...



This past weekend, David and Jess got married! It was a beautiful ceremony followed by a kickin' party with (what felt like and might have been) 300+ of their closest family and friends. It is always so much fun to see the Whelihan side of the family and hang out with all of my cousins.

Even more good things happen!

1. Obamarama = Hooray!

2. Kate, Neal and Matt visit with Rio, the puppy! Simon taught Rio all the important stuff, like how to clean the dishes after brunch. Yum!

(Please note that after all of these years, Kate and I are still able to avoid doing the dishes by claiming to practice playing the piano! Success!)

This upcoming weekend: David and Jess' much-anticipated wedding! I have a feeling that it is going to be overwhelmingly fun.

Phillies are the ___ Champs!!!

Things around here have been crazy:
1. Joshua turns 30!
2. Phillies win the World Series less than a mile from our house
3. Halloween wonderfulness with the greatest neighbors ever
4. Fall colors are almost here!
5. Simon cuts open his face ... the big scar is forming now. Poor puppy.
6. The computer breaks: we are forced to delay blog posts and borrow photos of these events.

PHILLIES MADNESS (2 million people flock into the city to celebrate at the parade):


The beginning of the Fall colors with a classmate, Cathy and Simon:


More coming soon!

Happy 30th Birthday, Joshua!

One of the best parts of Joshua's birthday: The giant chicken/singing telegram Emily sent

Happy Halloween!

Because we do not have children and that is becoming the theme of this blog ("Things You Do Before Children!"), we spent Saturday morning at a dog Halloween party at the park where we walk Simon.

For lack of a better costume, we dressed him in a boa and peacock feather. (S)he got lots of compliments and friendly glances from other pooches.

The afternoon was spent napping in the living room. Too cute!

Ladies Weekend at the Beach

For the second summer in a row, I spent a relaxing weekend at the beach (Ventor, NJ) with my college girlfriends. It was great to hang out with them: watching silly videos on Heather's computer, having Amanda absolutely school us in a game of hearts and hearing about Donna's adventures in NYC as a social worker. I'm blessed to have the support of their friendship.

Weekend Trips: Carlisle and Ragnar

Last weekend included a trip to Carlisle for Flickr Francis' Meet the Thompsons Party. The party was scheduled because his extended family is just too large to all fit in one house. So we split the family up so that each "branch" could have their own party to celebrate.

What a freakin' cute kid! So active and loving. It is always so awesome to see how great Brian and Bridgette are with him. Being in Carlisle with the entire family was really fun. It doesn't happen as often as we would like, so when it works out for all of our schedules, it is a really happy time.

Simon came along and did well with the baby and all the children he encountered at the party. He was super tired because the morning before we drove out to Carlisle, we went to Freedom Park, which includes a 20-acre off-leash area for dogs, and visited my friend Amanda and her dog Jake. Here's a photo of tired-out Jake (an 8 year-old dog) and Simon (the one year-old) in Amanda's back yard.

(Unfortunately, we didn't snap many photos in Carlisle, so you will have to take our word for how fun it was!)

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This past weekend, we participated in Ragnar. It is a 183-mile relay. Twelve people, two vans, 183-miles from Columbia, Maryland to Washington, D.C. Fun stuff. Not much sleep, but it was super fun to hang out with friends and run through the county side. Our half of the team (as seen above -- l-r, Allison, Laura, Joshua, Mike, Carrie and Patrick) started running at 9am on Friday morning. We were finished with our legs around 2pm on Saturday afternoon. Joshua and I both ran 15 miles. Below is Joshua starting his last leg along the C&O canal. Too beautiful.
Lots of adventuring: getting lost rather often, seeing signs like the one below, Mike and Allison helping a gal who broke her ankle while running, all the rain we endured, sleeping in an extremely smelly van, .....

Our group, DON'T WAIT UP!, was creative with our van decorations. Can you tell the theme of the decorations? I'll give you a hint about what the pictures are showing: cave man in an ice flow, Heinz Ketchup, Tom Brady, an amoeba, The Pokey Little Puppy, snail.



Yeah, we are all slow things. Just jokin' about how fast we were expecting to run. Although, our team rocked each of our legs. Patrick is such a consistent well-paced runner, Carrie is the most determined, Allison looks the most chill for how fast and far she can run, Mike is just plain fast, Joshua is able to get through anything and I was told by another team that I run "elegantly but with a big smile, like a hostess at a party who is about to serve some lemonade."
Here we are during one of the night legs.

Heather was kind enough to watch Simon for the weekend. They both seemed happy and relaxed when we picked him up. It was really great that she was able to do that for us!

Next weekend: Beach weekend with my college girlfriends! Joshua is excited to enjoy another weekend at home with the pup and the kitty.