As I worked on the 2005 Time Line in our Christmas card, I found myself wanting to create links… which do not work very well on a paper card. So I put them here. Some FAQs on the card:

Q: How was the front done? Who did the front?

A: Claire created this acrylic painting in her art class. She gets credit on the back. Kathy thought it would make a good Christmas card, so I photographed it. The browns and dark reds did not work too well with inkjet, so I experimented with sending the photo to Sam’s photo center via www.samsclub.com, which did the painting better justice.

The original painting does not have the same proportions as a 4 x 6 photo, so I copy pasted the left and right sides to make it wider. You may spot a repeat in the snowflakes and bells.

Grandad got out his magnifying glass to see if he could read the signature. He thought it said “Cassius Clay.” It doesn’t.

Q: Did Claire start 6th grade? I thought she was in 5th?

A: My mistake. I often forget these two peas-in-a-pod are three grades apart.

Q: Is Kelly sad in the net picture?

A: No. She is afraid. She was very worried she would fall through the net into the water below. She’s thin, you know.

Q: The colors in Merry Christmas on the front match the lightbulb colors on the front. Was that intentional? What font is that?

A: Yes, the coloring was intended. The font is Chalkboard and comes with Mac OS X Tiger. The card was composed in AppleWorks.

2005 Time Line

Jan:

Claire leads her basketball team to a championship. Jeb abandons Las Vegas business trip to beat ice storm in Atlanta (barely.)

Feb: Kathy and Danny work with Missionaries of the Poor in Kingston, Jamaica.

Mar: Danny pitches season opener for Brookwood. Kelly, Claire, and Danny all sustain sports injuries.

Apr: Danny

awarded half

academic scholarship to

Spring Hill College in Mobile.

May: Nicole graduates from UGA. Danny graduates from Brookwood. Danny pitches exciting playoff game against Lassiter and goes to prom.

June: Kelly and Claire drama camp and tennis camp. Danny vacations St. George Island. No summer swim team because of vacation schedules. Nicole and Psychic Hearts play Music Midtown on 99X stage.

July: Jeb and Danny evacuated from freshman orientation by Hurricane Dennis. Sleep in Wal-Mart parking lot. Cashin-Ettensohn family vacation Perdido Key. Grandad retires FOPAB newsletter, another victim of the Internet.

Aug: Kathy takes us on Windjammer barefoot cruise (see photo.) Kathy and Jeb take Danny to Spring Hill. Kelly starts 8th, Claire 6th.

Sep: Kelly and Claire play church softball and soccer. Danny evacuated by Hurricane Katrina and Spring Hill shuts down for a week. Kathy volunteers with Red Cross to help Katrina victims. Kelly joins

running club.

Nicole and

Psychic Hearts play in the CMJ Music Marathon at the Lincoln Center in NYC.

Oct: Kathy and Jeb join RCIA. Kelly in district honors chorus in Athens. Harley (parakeet) dies after a long life.

Nov: Jeb in Callaway for management meeting. Nicole gets raise as manager of UPS store.

Dec: Kathy starts new job in real estate. Gramalie treats us all to a wonderful visit to the Georgia Aquarium and a

delicious

dinner. Danny

goes to work

for Grant in Athens.

Kelly and Claire went through altar server training and assisted in their first mass on November 27th. There was much discussion and concern about the three different duties: bell ringer, book handler, and cross bearer. Claire set up a pretend altar at home and had me play the priest so she could get the timing of the bells down. The trickiest is the first, single ring as the priest extends his hands over the gifts. This is a relatively new ring for our parish, having traditionally had the two 3-bells.

The more experienced altar server took on book duty. Claire ended up being the cross bearer, and Kelly handled the bells. Because it was the start of advent, there was a little change in sequences, so the time for ringing the 1-bell came early, but Kelly did some quick thinking and handled it smoothly.

Both girls did very well, and sat very still. Claire managed to only wiggle her feet a few times, which was probably only noticeable to her dad.

I accidentally took a flash picture of the altar at the beginning of mass. (I had turned off the flash, but when the camera powered itself down and I had to turn it on again, the flash reset.) Father Bill noticed and said something to Kathy later, but I am not going to be ex-communicated.

Bill Marten announced that this was the two girls first mass and they got a round of applause