Thanks Brian and Jen for hosting this year’s Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!
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Listening to Burning Down the House by Talking Heads.
Nicole and I visited the Williamsburg Winery this weekend for their annual Christmas Holiday Open House. Providing the proper mix of pleasure and business to your life allows your creative mind and ideas to regnerate themselves. Let’s all make a concerted effort during this holiday season to let your family know you love them, do an extra thing for yourself, and take an extra moment away from business to refresh your mind.
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Related information:
http://www.history.org
http://keithparnell.com
http://williamsburgwinery.com
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Listening to Praise You in This Storm by Casting Crowns.
I was honored to receive an invite from PNC Mortgage to attend their Holiday Luncheon & Open House Celebration this morning in Newport News. The food and drink was wonderful and I met a few new friends. Thanks Kandace for the invite!
There’s nothing like mixing social networking with the holidays. 
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Listening to Rock On by David Essex.
Contact Nicole for more details.
Please join The Junior League of Norfolk-Virginia Beach for an exciting shopping event. This is the perfect opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done before the holiday season starts. Merrytime Market: Pre-Holiday Shopping Bazaar formerly Silver Bells and Sea Shells, will be held Saturday, October 31st & Sunday, November 1st at the Virginia Beach Convention Center . The event will be Saturday from 10-5 and Sunday 10-4. Tickets will be $5 each.
Contact Nicole for more details.
Our softball team is off to play in the National Championship Tournament this weekend.
I’ll be out of the office for a few days having fun, relaxing and enjoying my buddies. I’ll miss the girls of course but it’ll be a good time.
Say a prayer for us that everyone stays healthy.
I hope you guys have fun and relax this Labor Day weekend! Stay safe!
To those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for my family’s freedom - I thank you, I thank you, I thank you!
Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I hope you have a safe and fun day cooking out and enjoying the festivities with friends and family.
Happy Festivus for the rest of us, my (Seinfeld lovin’) freinds! Sorry I’m a day late with greetings.
For those that do not know the Festivus history, here’s a glimpse into the offbeat holiday.
Festivus is an annual holiday created by writer Dan O’Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a scriptwriter for the TV show Seinfeld.Although the original Festivus took place in February 1966 as a celebration of the elder O’Keefe’s first date with his future wife, Deborah, many people now celebrate the holiday on December 23, as depicted on the December 18, 1997 Seinfeld episode “The Strike.” According to O’Keefe, the name Festivus “just popped into his head.”
The holiday includes novel practices such as the “Airing of Grievances,” in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year. Also, after the Festivus meal, the “Feats of Strength” are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, with the holiday ending only if the head of the household is actually pinned. These conventions originated with the TV episode.
The original holiday featured far more peculiar practices, as detailed in the younger Daniel O’Keefe’s book The Real Festivus, which provides a first-person account of an early version of the Festivus holiday as celebrated by the O’Keefe family, and how O’Keefe amended or replaced details of his father’s invention to create the Seinfeld episode.
Some people, influenced or inspired by Seinfeld, now celebrate the holiday in varying degrees of seriousness; the spread of Festivus in the real world is chronicled in the book Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 ” ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
I know most of you may have off a few days next week for the Christmas holiday and tomorrow may be your last day at work. So I wanted to send you a sincere, joyful holiday wish before you skate out to be with your family.
During today’s trying economic times it is often tough to be the rock for your family and children and to hold your faith in God unwavering. But he will guide us through these tough days. I pray for all of us to be successful and have the opportunities to achieve our goals in 2009.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family from the Parnells.
We have a big weekend on tap starting this afternoon. Nicole’s work holiday party, then a good friend’s birthday dinner at Catch 31 at the oceanfront in Virginia Beach.
Saturday morning (9:00 AM, ugh) is Jennifer’s graduation ceremony from Old Dominion University at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Did I mention she got engaged this week?! Saturday evening is our (extended) family celebration for her educational accomplishments.
With Sunday comes morning church services at Tabernacle Church of Norfolk, lunch at Mom’s in Newport News and cheesecake (Nicole’s favorite!) for Nicole’s birthday with the family. Sunday evening we are attending a Christmas choral presentation at Mom’s church, Menchville Baptist.
I think by that time we’ll be beat. But looking through these plans makes me think how lucky I am. I have a loving family and cherished friends and I have Jesus in my life. I am truly blessed to be who I am. God is good!
I’m thankful for my loving family.
I’m thankful for my wonderful friends.
I’m thankful for having the opportunity to learn from my Father for 36 years.
I’m thankful. Period. And I love my life.
We just made total elves of ourselves. Check it out by clicking the link below.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9594715899
This elfin’ greeting brought to you by OfficeMax.
Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord; bless his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
Thank you for your dedication to fighting for our freedom that we enjoy every minute of everyday. We will never forget your sacrifices! Honor our Veterans.
A member of the Tuskegee Airmen stands with his hand over his heart during the National Anthem Thursday, March 29, 2007, at the U.S. Capitol where he and his fellow airmen were bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by the United States Congress. White House photo by Eric Draper
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