Christmas by the sea

My class in Winston Salem earlier this week was good. I learned some important information that I will need during the upcoming tax filing season, and got the usual surprise information that will not be too good for my clients. One important item this year is that because of Congress' inability to get anything done on the issue of the alternative minimum tax, the IRS will probably not be ready to process tax returns until the first of March, or so. That will definitely have an impact on those folks who expect a large refund, and need it for something important early in the year.

But, I'm glad my business traveling is over for this year. This trip was especially tiring, and I was really glad to get home. I drove straight through to home from Winston-Salem (about a seven hour drive) after the session was over, simply because I couldn't stand the thought of spending another night alone in a hotel.

The weather was quite cold early this week, and on Thursday when I started my monthly work seeing remote clients it was very cold and windy. Gassing up the van on Thursday morning with the temp and the wind both in the high 30's was a challenge. On Friday morning, however the sun came out and it warmed up nicely. The weather for the tree lighting in Manteo on Friday night was pretty nice compared to previous years.

Hilda, Jenni, Sean, Phoenix and I went together to Manteo last night for the start of Christmas by the sea, the lighting of the community Christmas tree. As I said, the weather wasn't bad, with the temp hovering around 50, but the bonfire in the middle of the street still felt good, and the hot chocolate hit the spot, too.

We left the program a few minutes early and went to Ortegas Restaurant for dinner. The restaurant in in the building that was the Green Dolphin for many years, and has just been completely remodeled. It is beautiful, and a wonderful addition to the downtown Manteo scene. Because we left the program a little early, we beat the huge crowd that surged in later, and got a seat as soon as we arrived. Late comers were treated to a considerable wait to be seated. The food was very good, and the service good, also, considering the crush of business because of the downtown celebration.

For those who haven't been to one, the town of Manteo just closes down it's downtown area to traffic a few times a year, and turns the entire area into one big pedestrian mall. A stage is set up on the steps of the historic courthouse, and entertainers perform, sometimes all day, but in this case just for a couple of hours to kick off the Christmas celebration. Today, they will do the same thing over again for the Christmas parade. And yes, as far as I know they still unabashedly call it Christmas by the sea, and the Christmas parade.

I've been informed that today, we will go Christmas tree shopping. This is an annual ritual that Hilda enjoys immensely, and I have to admit that I think it's fun too. We'll most likely bring the tree home, and sit it in a tub of water in our outside shower and let it soak up water for a week or so before bringing it into the house to be decorated. Once inside, the tree will be decorated with our collection of ornaments that have accumulated over the past 50 years. A few of them are from our first Christmas tree, and the boxes still have price tags on them showing that we paid 29 cents for a dozen glass ornaments made in Ohio! Many of our ornaments commemorate important times in our life together, and decorating the tree is always an event that brings back floods of memories. I can't imagine not doing it.