A Joyful Noise!

Well, here it is. Our 2009 Christmas video. I wasn't even planning on finishing this thing today, but everything just kinda fell in my lap and it all felt right, so I went with it. Hope you like it.

Merry Christmas!

"And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men."
Luke 2:12-14


From the Mattia Family to yours, Merry Christmas!

A Journey To Bethlehem

Friday night, we made a "Journey to Bethlehem". Well, Angola actually, but you get the idea. Conley's "Living Nativity" is something we try to go to every year. If you want to learn, or maybe just need a refresher, on the true meaning of Christmas, this is a must see. The kids really love it. A shephard/tour guide leads your small group of about 10 to 12 through the journey. You stop at several different scenes and actors tell you a story and how it relates to the birth of Jesus. From the threshing floor of Bethlehem, to the visit of Gabriel to Mary, to the wise men and King Herod, to the birth in a manger. It's all there and very well done. They even have Roman soldiers, who occupied Bethlehem at the time, collecting taxes and swearing their allegiance to King Herod. I'm glad we went Friday and didn't wait until Saturday to go. We wouldn't have made it with all the ice and snow. I've included some pictures of the manger scene and the three crosses. I've also included a picture of the other "angels" that visited Bethlehem. As you can tell from the picture, the Bethlehem Wawa has a thriving business this time of year. I'm pretty sure I saw the three wise men in line in front of me. Gold, incense, and pumpkin spice cappuccino. God IS good.

Football Banquet

On Friday night, we attended the Cape Sharks Pop Warner Football banquet dinner. It was a really good time. Outback Steakhouse provided all the food, and just like last year, it was excellent. When the server at the buffet asked me "steak or chicken?" I said "yes, thank you". It was great! There was Caesar salad, baked potato, rolls, drinks, dessert. Oh, yeah, and there was also awards for football, or something, whatever. But seriously, the Mattia boys were all over it! They both received a trophy for playing. Collin was one of the players called up on stage to be recognized as a candidate for Scholastic All-American. (maintaining a 96 GPA) We go to Philadelphia in May to find out if he was selected to 1st team, 2nd team, or honorable mention. Matthew received the Carl Walls Award for maintaining a 93 GPA. That is his second year in a row for that one. He was not eligible for the Scholastic All-American because he is only in the fourth grade. You have to be in at least 5th grade to qualify. And to top it all off, they both got their names drawn for door prizes. Collin got a Cape Sharks jersey signed by Raleigh Makenzie and Reggie Branch. For those of you who were not Redskins fans in the eighties, they were both Superbowl winning players. (back when the Redskins didn't suck, but I already discussed that in a previous post) Matthew won the best prize of all, in my estimation. He received 25, count em', 25 Wawa gift certificates good for 16 oz. hot beverages! Matthew has taken a liking to the pumpkin spice cappuccino. He also hasn't slept since Saturday. The only bad side, if there has to be one, is that they expire on December 31st. That's a lot of cappuccino in a short amount of time. My guess is that Santa will not come to our house this year because nobody will be sleeping for a while! In fact, as I'm writing this, the boys are bugging me to make a Wawa run. Well, gotta go! It's going to be a long night.

Christmas Parade

Matthew and Collin, with their football teams, marched in the Lewes Christmas Parade on Sunday and the Rehoboth Christmas Parade on Monday. I've attached some pictures. We had a great time at both. We are really blessed to be living in an area where some old fashioned values and traditions are still on full display. Both parades were very well done. They included various marching bands, local fire departments, local businesses, and several "Little Miss ( fill in the blank)" riding on convertibles, waving to the crowd. They even had several (are you sitting down?) mobile nativity scenes. That's right. Christ in Christmas! What a concept. And the Cape Vikings High School Marching Band was actually playing "Hark!, The Herald Angels Sing". Everyone was smiling and wishing "Merry Christmas". No "Happy Holidays" here. The true meaning of Christmas
is alive and well in lower, slower, Delaware! Merry Christmas, Y'all!


P.S. Thanks to everyone for making the maiden voyage of Matthew's Print Shop a huge success! You guys are the best.

Matthew's Print Shop

Matthew has started a new venture. It's his own printing company. His first products available are these handsome, self-stick, and very timely, Christmas tags! He has five to choose from. Two large designs which come ten to a sheet, or three small designs which come 30 to a sheet. Each sheet sells for $1.75. But wait. There's more!! Order now, and he will print YOUR name in the "From" line.(or whatever name you want; Santa, Tiger Woods, you get the idea.) for no additional cost! One satisfied customer was heard saying, "$1.75 for these Christmas tags? What a bargain! That is a bargain for me!" ......You said it, brother! (wink) So pick yours up today! You'll be glad you did. Merry Christmas!

P.S. I fixed the comment board, so have at it.

BULLETIN! BULLETIN!

About a month ago, Collin made a poster for school about soil conservation. The posters were judged in the school, and then the winners for each grade moved to the county, state, and then national level. Collin already knew his poster won for the school. Tonight, while he was supposed to be doing research for another project, he googled his name and a page from the state website came up announcing the winners. Collin's won for Sussex County and he won the state! His poster is now being forwarded to the national level for judging. And the best part is, nobody at the school told him about it. He just found out tonight from the state website! I've included a link to the page he found.

P.S. The poster shown on the page is not Collin's.


http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/News/Pages/2009ConservationPosterContestwinnersannounced.aspx

Let The Madness Begin

Alright. I admit it. I've got the Christmas bug. Christmas Spirit, if you will. We set up our tree today. We usually wait until next weekend, but this year, we said what the heck. It's a little early for us, but everyone's in the mood, so why not. As you can see from the picture, we opted for the skinny tree this year. The big fat one we have took a beating last year. Cats and kids mainly. Half the lights don't work. Several branches are broken. You can also see from the picture, the cats already have their eyes on this tree. I think maybe this year, two of our nieces and nephews are going to get a cat for Christmas. But all kidding aside, I really do love this time of year. It brings out the kid in all of us. This year is going to be Aaron's first big Christmas. He really gets it now. He saw the tree and asked "Are we doing Christmas now?" "No, not right now, buddy. Santa's not ready yet. Be patient", I tell him. Telling a three year old to be patient waiting for Christmas is like telling me "Don't go back for seconds." It's really funny. As I'm writing this, Collin, Matthew , and Aaron are running through the house playing cops and robbers, or something. I just heard Aaron shout, "Freeze, fat boy!" Oh yeah. Christmas Spirit. Nothing like it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, here we are. Another Thanksgiving dinner in the books. Wow that went by fast. Up at 6 a.m. (actually, Linda was up at 4:30) Turkey in the oven by 6:30. Dinner at 3:00. Now we just sit here bloated, hating life. Until dessert, anyway. Speaking of dessert, Linda made a carrot cheese cake. It's half carrot cake, half cheese cake, with a cream cheese/pineapple icing. Nothing but healthy, low fat stuff here. I'm going to justify it by making the carrots my vegetable serving for the day. Lame, I know, but what the heck. We have a packed house this year. Eleven adults and eight kids. What we lacked in other areas of our life this year, God made up for in an abundance of family, food and Wii. The kids (and adults) played a lot of Wii today. Madden, Guitar Hero, etc. Lots of fun. Well, time to get off this computer and go get some of that cheese cake. Get the defibrillator ready (CLEAR!) Anyway, to all my family who I didn't get to spend Thanksgiving with this year, (Mom, Paul, Dad, Karen, Jerry, Sherri, Mike, Donna) Love you all and can't wait to see you soon! Bye.

P.S. Collin's video commercial (Halftime Ham) was voted best for the entire fifth grade!

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving all. Today we're preparing for the big feast. Linda told Collin and Matthew last week to pick out cookie recipes and they could make them today, so hense, the following pictures. This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful I have a wife who puts in the time and upholds some traditional family values. There's not nearly enough of that these days. Hope everyone has a safe and happy turkey day and don't forget to take time out to give thanks for your blessings. They're numerous.

Boyz In Da Hood

On Tuesday, Collin and Matthew brought home their first marking period report card. They both made honor roll. How cool is that? We are really blessed. I couldn't be prouder of them. Especially considering that they earned these grades while football season was in full swing. They were a bit distracted to say the least. Now Aaron on the other hand. He's a different story. Don't get me wrong. I' m super proud of him as well. He recently conquered the toilet and now sits proudly on the thrown. But his behavior? Yikes. One example. The other day, Collin wasn't doing something Aaron thought he should, so Aaron hit him and said, "That's what you get, you fat meanie!" But of course, he's only three, so with his three year old "dialect", it kinda reminded me of Elmer Fudd "going off" on Bugs Bunny. It's become a new catchphrase in our home. "Shut up, fat meanie!" "Whatever, fat meanie." It's a good thing for him he's cute. I have never seen a three year old be so independent and stubborn . He must get that from his mother. The cute part, that's from me. But I guess I can't blame Aaron. He's copying what he sees his brothers doing. Mainly, fight. Fight, fight, fight. Oh, my lord they fight. They're like the Hatfields and McCoys, minus the overalls and the inbreeding. You name it, they've fought over it. Probably more than once. But still, I'm glad we have three boys. It definitely makes life interesting. Loud, but interesting. No girl stuff around here. Poor Linda. She doesn't stand a chance. But I must say, even with all the scratching and the "pull my fingers", she still manages to keep a smile on. I think secretly, she wants someone to pull her finger. If you can't beat em', join em'. But you'll never hear her say that. I try to get her more involved in the "boy" stuff. You know, fishing the pond, playing football in the yard, playing in dirt. But for some reason, she always declines. I don't understand. I just shrug my shoulders. "Whatever, fat meanie".

Halftime Ham!

Collin's most recent school project (he has one every week, it seems like) is to create a commercial promoting something to eat at Thanksgiving other than turkey. Before you ask, it's not some environmentalist, vegetarian, whack job indoctrination. It's just something fun for the kids to do for Thanksgiving: "Save Thomas Tumbleweed" ( he's the turkey) Anyway, I've posted the finished product so you guys can check it out.

Nor' Easter

This is what it looked like today from the north end of the Rehoboth boardwalk. If you notice, there's no more beach. The road that I was standing on filming this was actually closed due to the water and sand covering it. So much for the beach replenishment project.

November Is Great

November is a special time of the year in our house. Football season for the boys has just ended. Baseball season hasn't started yet. Whew!... time for a breather. It's been non-stop sports since March. While I really enjoy being involved in the nurturing of their athletic careers, it's kind of nice to have a few weeks off. Between baseball and football, we haven't had a weekend off since opening day in April. Regular home maintenance took a back seat. Actually, a little further back than that. It was actually in a trailer behind us. It was reduced to grass cutting and an occasional pool cleaning. Our flower beds were so out of control, Bear Grylls dropped in by helicopter and filmed an episode of "Man vs. Wild" (queue the jungle sound effects) But now, all that is behind us. November is here, the pool is closed and the grass has pretty much stopped growing. Nothing to do now but enjoy the weekends off. Except, of course, for Collin's birthday, which he refers to as a "national holiday". "We should be off school that day", he says. Wow, he is way too much like his father, but that's a different story. Yep, November is great. They say summertime is "when the livin' is easy". I say it's November. Oh wait, Thanksgiving is in two weeks! NO!!!!!

To "Hail" With The Redskins

OK, I know I have never actually wrote anything on this blog, but I have to get this off my chest. The Washington Redskins SUCK!!! There, I said it. I have spent what I remember of my life supporting this team. The eighties and early nineties were admittedly good, but beyond that,...... Well ,let's just say it has not been a life enriching experience. I have elevated cursing at the TV to an art form. I think along the way I actually invented a few words of my own. Needless to say, Sunday afternoons are not a happy time in the Mattia household. Which brings me to the reason for this post. I am officially announcing that I am no longer rooting for the Redskins! Let me clarify. I will resume full "root" status when one of two things happen. 1. The current owner of the Washington Redskins, Daniel Snyder, sells the team. I know. Not likely to happen. Dan Dan the munchkin man is not going to sell his little profit making machine. Which leads me to #2. Danielson hires a "football guy" as GM of the team. A Bill Parsells type. A no nonsense "football guy" who will tell Dan "Leave me your checkbook and then leave me alone." Let him clean house, (including Vinny Cerrato, Dan's little whipping boy) utilize the draft properly, and rebuild the team from the ground up. Now, this will only work if Dan leaves the football decisions to the football people. I think this has been a BIG problem for years. Dan's philosophy has been to sign the big name "superstars" (I.E. Bruce Smith, Dieon Sanders, etc.) with the thought that they would generate big revenue in ticket sales and merchandise. Well, we all know how well that plan has worked. Dan, it's time to run this organization like an NFL team and not your high stakes fantasy team. The Redskins fan base are a smart bunch. They will be patient while the rebuilding is taking place, as long as they know that you're serious about rebuilding. Not just the typical revolving door on the Head Coach's office. That will be "hope and change" in Washington we can really believe in. So, to summarize. From this day forward, until my demands are met, I will be a Philadelphia Eagles fan! I know this will make absolutely no difference to Mr Snyder, but I had to take a stand and do something. Even if all it does is makes me feel better. I might even start enjoying Sundays again.

Hey all,

I know it's been a while, but here is a new video we made from Memorial Day.

Enjoy!

It being cold and all, it got me longing for some summertime fun. Check out our video. It'll put a smile on your face.

Stay warm!

Hi all.

I posted a Christmas video we made. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Let us know what you think.