Christmas Eve Open House

December 26, 2006







In the first of what is destined to be a holiday tradition if we are in town, we hosted a holiday open house on Christmas Eve and tried to invite just about everyone we could to join us. It seems the word got out as we had a packed house and yard for the entire evening. I have no idea how many of our friends and family showed up, but one keen eyed observer who was paying closer attention than I , estimated about 150 people were there over the course of the evening.

Bethany, Richard & Jeremy

Dar, Kathy, Kathy & Carrie

Marilyn, CoCo, Lois, Ted & Jim

All I know is that Kathy & I were thrilled that so many people joined us for such a special gathering. It was overwhelming to us. It was especially fun to have so many children around. Being a teacher at the Key West co-op means that seeming every child in Key West knows “Miss Kathy” and they all seemed to show up with their parents in tow, making the early portion of the party a virtual playhouse of scampering happy kids, eagerly enjoying the holiday spirit.

Kelsey, Alexa (front) Lisa & Debbie (back)

Sy & Florrie

As the evening wore on the child to adult ratio shifted towards the adult side, but the exuberance and excitement generated early on never really dissipated. It was so crowded that at times, we barely had a chance to say hello to all the people there. There were a bunch of folks I never realized were even there until we were saying goodbye and even more who I had greeted, but never made it back to talk to before they were off.

Gretchen & Marna

David, Fiona, Tallulah, Ali & Jack

The weather could not have been more perfect and we had a wonderful, wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who joined us to share the happiness of the holidays, we hope to make it an annual tradition. If you missed it, we hope to see you next time, if you somehow did not get an invitation, it doesn’t mean we didn’t want you around, no it just means we don’t have your mailing address or e-mail in our database. Drop us a line and we’ll get you added. Happy Holidays to All!- Love Kathy & Michael

Dianne & Kathy

Gil with his daughter January

Having ourselves a Merry Little Christmas……

December 26, 2006

Alex, Kathy, Al, Kathy, Michael, Judy & Phil



The holiday season has continued to whiz along, Christmas was a wonderful celebration at the Blades/ Kilroy homestead with family visits, holiday parties and all sorts of holiday cheer. Christmas week began with the arrival of two sets of Kathy’s Aunts and Uncles from Massachusetts. Kathy & Al Needham and their son Alex arrived from Scituate and on the same day, Judy & Phil Thibeau and their cats arrived from Marston Mills via their winter home in Barefoot Bay, Florida.

The Needhams

Judy & Phil

Having family in town during the holidays is great. In addition to all the regular holiday festivities, we get to play tourist and go out to nice dinners, head to the beach and generally do the sort of fun stuff that we often forget during our day to day lives. To that end we spent a great day at the beach, taking in the sun and sand and enjoying libations. There was a jellyfish warning posted, but we failed to see any and had a wonderful and relaxing day.





Saturday night, we all headed out to Rick’s bar to celebrate the going away party of our friends Kevin & Rachel Kelly. They are headed to upstate New York and Saturday marked Kevin’s final night at work after 20 years of tending bar at Rick’s. Kevin is a talented artist and we were fortunate to obtain a few of his wonderful originals. While it’s sad to see more of our good friends departing the ever more expensive and changing Key West, I know that they will create a great life in New York. We wish them well- thanks for some great times.

Kevin, Rachel & Dylan

Kevin's artwork

The rest of the weekend was spent in final preparation for Christmas and the big open house party we hosted on Christmas Eve. The party was such a huge success that it was deemed worthy of its own separate blog posting complete with photos.
Christmas day dawned bright and sunny and we all joined together at our house to exchange gifts and enjoy Bloody Marys. We made all the requisite phone calls and greetings to our far off family and friends and enjoyed a great morning of celebration before heading out to the Westin Resort to take in their incredible Christmas brunch. After gorging ourselves to the point of exhaustion, we made it home to spend the rest of the day digesting, napping and relaxing.

Kathy's favorite shirt.


Aunt Kathy gets the shot.