TGIF -- and I mean it!

So many reasons to be thankful for this particular Friday...

It was my last Friday to work for this year! Well I didn't quite get everything done to have the whole day off but I did get to work from home and am basically on vacation except for a few things next week that should take less than an hour. I still say I am officially on vacation until next year!

Since I was at home, I got to enjoy the very special annual Golden Mass at Assumption High School. It is a nice service held in the gymnasium, which has been transformed to a beautifully decorated and lit winter wonderland. The music -- performed by both the band and choir -- is exceptional and the grand finale Hallelujah Chorus is a special treat. It is performed by the band, choir and any alumni who want to join.

I took a video of that. The visual quality isn't that great since the gym was dark. But you can hear the song. Feel free to sing along in the comfort of your home!




After Mass, a group of us went out to eat lunch. Carter was included since the high schoolers were dismissed after cleaning up the gym. Then it was home to get some work done and a tiny bit of grocery shopping for the weekend. I figured I better have everything set for the weekend before we could do anything tonight.

This evening, Carter had to work but Jim and I went to the girls' basketball game versus Marathon. It proved to be one heckuva game! At one point in the second half, we were down by 9 points and it looked like we could lose our first game since sometime in February. But we somehow rallied hard and quickly in the last few minutes and pulled ahead for a narrow victory. Pretty exciting!

Afterwards, we picked up Carter from work an all of us went over to some friends' for some post-game pizza, holiday treats and general B.S.

Now it's nighty-night time so we can hit the road at a decent time in the morning to head up to my family Christmas gathering Up North.

Just need that electric mattress pad to warm up a teeny bit more!! G'nite!