One of the cool traditions that my friend Matt does on Christmas Eve is have a scavenger hunt for him and his family somewhere in Greeley. The first four people that find him win $100 gift cards to 477…everyone else leaves with a bottle or some swag. Matt had been giving clues for several weeks leading up to Christmas Eve. For the 4th year in a row, I found him! Sadly I was #6…a bottle of Orange Barrel for me. And also pancakes and breakfast cocktails at the distillery. Thanks Matt.
We attended Christmas Eve service and Journey. Bumped into quite a few good friends, sang some beautiful songs, and enjoyed the message from Arron. Then we enjoyed some meatball subs Jen made, played a few games, opened one present, and watched “Spirited” before calling it a night. Santa is on his way.
And with this post, I have hit 200 posts (and counting) for 2023…the highest number of annual posts in a decade. I’m so pleased I reopened my blog a few years ago. There still aren’t very many people that know about this corner of the universe…I’m kinda pleased about that. So, if you are a regular reader, thanks for checking in. Big things are coming in 2023 so check back often!
Here’s a few pictures from Christmas Eve Eve and the opening of the Secret Santa gifts. You will notice from the last picture that a certain someone is still in Portland. So are Noah and Sariah. Their flight was a casualty of the miserable weather that descended on most of the country this week. Sadly, they will not be in Greeley for Christmas. We are all pretty bummed,
Happy Christmas Eve Eve Eve! Jim and Janet arrived safely from Oklahoma for the week. Than and Ruthie were here most of the day. Little Andrew was in and out. Had Welch’s over for Grandma Betty’s open faced enchiladas. Just awaiting the arrival of the PDX kids early Christmas Eve. Also, set a record for the coldest high temp in Greeley since 1990: -2.
Another successful event I was able to put together for our ALLO team last Saturday. I hired Taste food truck, and set up outside one of our business customers. It was a thank you event for our current customers in various parts of town. Wish it wouldn’t have been so cold, but it is what it is. Ended up serving a free lunch to about 55 people over the course of 5 hours. Would like to repeat this event again in a different area of town in the spring!
Found this little gem on the Instas while scrolling through this week. It was fun to stop by 1310KFKA and drop off some goodie bags to the radio personalities. They are good dudes. I’m happy that ALLO is continuing our sponsorship.
Another year-end wrap up dropped over the weekend. This time is was Goodreads! If you remember (or care to look back to around 2015 or so), I was finishing 50-60 books a year. I was in 5 different book clubs at one point, both in person and virtual. Well, here is this year’s accomplishment: 1. And it wasn’t even a good book or one that was especially memorable.
Congratulations to the 2023 Frontier Charter Academy commencement speaker, who was announced this past week. It’s been a goal of her’s since she moved to the high school a few years ago. She will be speaking in front of Sarabeth’s original class.
It’s holiday party time at the Greeley Mob Mixer! We added a DJ this month who played some tunes, directed some games, and generally made the atmosphere a little more jolly. Another great turnout for our little event, which will turn 2 in March. We are off to the Boomer House in January, and have a full slate of events planned for 2023.
Had a pretty cool opportunity arise this week from my friend Tommy at TightKnit. He had applied through his bank to be selected as a hometown business to be featured in one of their national commercials. And guess what? He won! He asked if I wanted to be apart of the taping, and of course the answer was yes. So on Monday, my friend Paul and I made our way to the brewery.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn’t what happened. I thought we would be sitting around for a few hours, drinking a few beers, and being recorded. What it actually was, was a full-blown production, with over 100 crew flown in from New York City, LA, and Denver. We had to pass a rapid screen COVID test just to get on set. There was wardrobe, make-up, and holding area for the “extras” that showed up, and lighting and cables everywhere. What an experience! We finally called it a day at 7….10 hours and not a sip of beer. Hopefully I make it in as an extra. I’ll let you know if it ever goes live!
Posting a few activities from out in the wild the past few weeks. There were a couple of ribbon cuttings with the Greeley Chamber: Austins and the new blood donation center at UCHealth. We also had our end of year party for all three of the TableTop’s. Somehow I was volunteered to be stuffed with balloons while in a Santa suit (of course my team won). Finally, I’m at a little over a gallon in blood donations and was sent a text letting me know my blood was on the way to help someone! We were also able to attend a reading of a pretty cool play. Paul’s friend Rob is the writer-in-residence this year and performed it live for the first time.
We have our first college graduate in the family! Ruthie Roth entered the class of 2022, and is now an official alumni of the University of Northern Colorado! Go Bears. It’s been a busy year for her, that’s for sure…and especially the past month as she finished up UNC, put in her two weeks notice at Dutch Bros, and started her new job at Northern Colorado Youth for Christ. Proud of you favorite daughter-in-law!
