Colorado Christmas with Mom

Someone once said that Christmas is a time of year when you get homesick - even when you're home. Well, this year my mother came out to Colorado and helped us celebrate the season's yuletide cheer. She spent a little over a week with us and I was able to secure my favorite childhood recipes (fried chicken, beef stoganoff, pork and ham roasts). These were more than meals, they were feasts...as Alice might say.

The Saturday before Christmas, I performed at the Black Crown Piano Lounge while mom nursed a Manhattan. It was nostalgic to reminisce Christmas stories of the past with everyone and I think at one point we broke into the chorus "Almost Heaven...West Virginia". Oriana and Justin came over Christmas Day and we shared presents and got caught up on each others life's.

Strangers on Thanksgiving?

For some people Thanksgiving signifies the start of the shopping season, but for me I'm always reminded to break out the Holiday tunes and get ready for the Christmas festivities. This year I ended up down at my favorite Denver piano bar playing all sorts of fun songs. It's funny, I know it only comes once a year, but by the end of December I'm always ready to put the music away again.

Mike went home to visit mom and they had a traditional West Virginia Thanksgiving. I really missed sitting down with Mom and everyone from our family, but they'll be in Colorado for Christmas this year so I'm sure we'll all get caught up then. Being with strangers on Thanksgiving was a new experience for me, but somehow the seasonal music and all the voices made it really special too.

California Vacation with the Burguns

Every year my friend Patrick comes to the United States from Germany to participate in the Esprit CAD/CAM conference and this year I decided to meet up with him and his wife in California. I've had a couple of residences in California over the years and have always believed that every place has something to offer. I know Los Angeles pretty well and I offered to show them around the area.



Our home for the week was in Manhattan Beach, it is mostly central to the places I wanted to show them and close to the airport. Each day we went to a different area and took in the sites. It's funny how you appreciate things in life more as you get older. Hollywood, Universal Studios, the Queen Mary, the Beaches and all that comes with them. We had a lot of fun, but I found out the my best friend's birthday was on the same day as my late brother, that seemed bitter sweet.