# An early Christmas Surprise



## jobe05 (Dec 20, 2007)

There have been a few things in my life that have made me so happy, or was so heart touching that it brought a tear to my eye.........

Like when each of my children were born, The day the love of my life said "I Do" and became my wife,................................................

And today when I came home from a horrible day at work, greeted on my front porch by yet another brown box and thinking "What in the world is that woman spending money on now..............

As I kicked the box in the house (since I had a Box in hand with a 22# turkey, 8# Ham, 5# of grapes and other stuff), I notice the label as it got closer to the hall light........ Alexander., Arkansas.........

Could it be! From the Mid-Atlantic Pole! Santa?

As I hurriedly through to put the box with the Turkey in it on the kitchen table, I grabbed a knife as I ran back out of the kitchen and nestled down on the love seat with my box, as I carefully cut the tape from the seams (I reuse shipping boxes) 

As I opened the flaps to reveal the contents, This is what I was greeted with:







Immediately, a big smile came across my face..... My day had been wiped from my memory... and all was about to get better.

As I took each item out, I could feel the smile get bigger, much like the heart of the Grinch..... it grew, and grew, and grew............

Here is what was in there:






I'm not sure how Wal........ UHMmmm,........ Santa knew...... But let me tell you about each one:

The Jelly: Although they are not labeled, Iam sure tht they are Muscadine and some type of hot pepper. I have locally purchased Muscadine jellies, but found they have no flavors. I have been dying to try Waldos...... UHMmmm... Santas.... Now I can.

I follow all of Waldos........ Santas post.... Having had his muscadine wine before, just makes my mouth water for more at the very thought of it. This is one of the bottles remaining from his tailgate party post and I am very proud the be a recipient of one.

And The Raspberry-Chocolate Port......... My mouth watered every time I read that post. I looked at the ebay site he posted but couldn't afford the $140 right now for the kit and shipping, but was hoping they would still be there after the first of the year. Even today, one of my employees brought in these chocolate covered raspberry and chocolate covered orange things . I tried one of the raspberries and was chewing it funny, the employee asked what I was doing and I said I was trying to think of how this would taste at 18% ABV.......... Now I will know.........

Then there is a green apple Riesling........ In a very special bottle. My first thought was I'd have to drink this and get the bottle back to Wald...... UHMmmmm Santa.... But I think I'm going to hang on to it for while...... It looks nice on my wine rack in the dinning room. The picture doesn't do it justice, it's a beautiful bottle.

Then there was a wooden box:






It was a cute little box and it had me intrigued ............






Was there just bubble wrappers inside.... I know waldo.....UHMmmmm Santa knows how much I love bubble wrap.... but to box it up so special....... Nah...... there's got to be more......

And there was........ this is what really brought a tear to my eye.........

How special is this........






How special is that............. 

An offering of something vintage, old fashioned, shared by a dear friend, tells me that he wants to make wine with me, the way "they use to do it", and the way we do it now. The old and the new........

I love it Waldo, Thank you, thank you very much.

I am very proud of the piece of "time" that you gave me and will treasure it more than you know.

Thank You my Dear Friend 

You truly are my Santa



























*Edited by: jobe05 *


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## Wade E (Dec 20, 2007)

Very cool and now my eyes are a watering up. Knock it off you 2 and just get a room!


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## NorthernWinos (Dec 20, 2007)

How wonderful....I believe this is the season of miracles and love.


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## Waldo (Dec 21, 2007)

.Glad everything made it intact jobe.Sorry about the poor print quality on the card but I was running out of toner, it was getting late and I had to get to work. The jams are Blackberry and Muscadine. Didnt turn out that good "looks wise" but they taste pretty damned good on a hot buscuit with butter
...Merry Christmas my friend.*Edited by: Waldo *


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## Bert (Dec 21, 2007)

Waldo; You are the best...seeing every thing you do and give to others is great....I hope the feelings you get from giving to others will carry on to others....And it is more fun to give than receive...


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## uavwmn (Dec 22, 2007)

Great Christmas story. Brings a little tear to ones eye.


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## grapeman (Dec 22, 2007)

Santa sent me a bottle also. He does such a good job packing and the shape is always a surprise. I can tell you the picture Waldo and Jobe posted don't do the bottle justice. Nice tall slender bottle and the colors he picked were perfect. Too bad he couldn't use his first label, but this one is GREAT. I am really looking forward to tasting this one in a few months!
Thanks again Santa!


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## jobe05 (Dec 22, 2007)

Did he send you the Port? I have been dying to try it.

Your gonna have to send me your address someday so I can send ya some as well........ I don't think I have ever sent you any have I? It's about time!


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## PolishWineP (Dec 22, 2007)

Wow! Isn't wonderful to know Santa as well as you do? What a happy day!


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## jobe05 (Dec 23, 2007)

I thought I would keep my good Christmas cheer going with a nice dinner and a glass of wine to compliment it............

What a find...... A bottle of Barolo from Wade. It not only went good with the meal, it's fantastic even after the meal. 















Oh Yea...... The meal was Bacon wrapped fillet minion, Tuna (awesome Tuna) and baked Potato.......... I'm not into veggies tonight.... sorry


This is a tough wine to describe....... Definite Berry to the nose, berry, plum, coffee and pepper across the tongue, with tannins very forward, yet, it's not a heavy red.

My compliments to the Vintner, Wade..... Good job on this one








*Edited by: jobe05 *


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## Wade E (Dec 23, 2007)

Glad you liked it and if wanted would be happy to send another in the next shipment! And there will be another shipment!!!!!!!!!


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## jobe05 (Dec 23, 2007)

wade said:


> Glad you liked it and if wanted would be happy to send another in the next shipment! And there will be another shipment!!!!!!!!!



There better be............ You've got the shipping box.........LOL


I suspect there will be many shipments over many years to come...

This is a good wine though..... I'm not much of an Italian wine drinker, at least I didn't think I was, but this one and the Barbera that I made, I really enjoy.


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## Wade E (Dec 23, 2007)

Ive got your box and your peanuts!
*Edited by: wade *


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## PolishWineP (Dec 24, 2007)

Nice looking meal there! I'm so glad to hear that you two are keeping those peanuts and shipping box out of a landfill and being sure they are kept in use!


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## jobe05 (Dec 24, 2007)

And it just keeps getting better.........

We had friends over for a Christmas eve dinner and a small gift exchange.....

They were also here on Thanksgiving when we had Wades Watermelon Merlot...........

He liked it also, so he got me one...... He is probably expecting a bottle or two:






Along with a gift from my sweet heart........

This is a Johnson Brothers Turkey platter named "His Majesty".... I have wanted one of these for years....... she got one for me:





This is a huge platter and is very heavy. The picture doesn't do it any justice at all..

Johnson Brothers also has a set of dishes that I want thats Called "Friendly Village" that I would like........ Maybe next year....





*Edited by: jobe05 *


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## Wade E (Dec 24, 2007)

Jobe, I upped the abv on the Watermelon to around 11%, cant remember exactly but pretty sure I added a 5lb bag and then the whole f-pack at end. Thats a nice big serving plate.


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## jobe05 (Dec 24, 2007)

THanks Wade, I was going to get up with ya when I get ready to make this to see what you did. I remember you saying you brought the ABV up, but I forgot to what level. 11% is about were I would like it.

The Turkey platter is awesome. I have an old, family heirloom Platter and hate to use it, and I love this pattern for the holidays. It's a huge platter, we put a 20 pound turkey on it (stuffed) and it didn't come close to touching the sides of the platter, I'm talking the side that go upward, with the print.


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## grapeman (Dec 24, 2007)

Jobe if you use that platter with the kids, it will become their heirloom platter for their holidays. I have a plain old stoneware platter from my Grandmother from about 1910. It's not worth anything, but to me it's priceless.


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## jobe05 (Dec 24, 2007)

Thats my plan appleman, give the kids something they can remember.

My old platter is the same, just a simple platter with some colored fruit shapes on the outside rim. I think my mother got it at Kmart for $4.99 when I was about 7. I remember how happy she was to have such a dish, and proudly displayed it at our holiday meals. Moms been gone since 79 and Dad in 93....... Anything from them to me is priceless.......... 

I hate not using it anymore..... but if something happened to it......... I don't want to think about it...........


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## Wade E (Dec 24, 2007)

My mom bought us a big crystal serving plate and a big plain white 1 also. My wife is really into crystal so that is a display model and the plain 1 gets used.


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## jobe05 (Dec 25, 2007)

What a wonderful day we are having so far..........

Here's what we had to start with:








In that mess..... Santa brought me a new Fujii S700, 7.1 megapixel camera, Garman GPS, A new air Framing Nailer, a Spa N A Box.... Kind of a hot tub and a lot of small toys and stuff. Wine wise, he brought me a Cellar Classic Old Vines Zin with skin Pack and a Orange Chocolate Port kit. Equipment wise, a new clock/thermometer for my wine room and a new Rabbit cork puller.

The family enjoyed themselves tremendously :






I hope everyone had a great day!


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## Wade E (Dec 25, 2007)

Holy crap, you guys had a good year huh! God bless yeh! We had a good time and all family has left now so it is finally settling down but there is still wide spread toys for the kids everywhere. The wife and I dont exchange gifts though and just concentrate on the kids.


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## jobe05 (Dec 25, 2007)

It's not really about the stuff....... We just like to have fun.

We don't run out and buy stuff as we may need it, instead we wait (at least try to) till Christmas, then we get all that we think we are going to need. Becca said the dishwasher wasn't working well anymore along with the washer so I got her a new one...... Her laptop screen stopped working so she needed a new laptop............ Gonna need to but it anyways....... Same with the stuff that I need or the kids need. Timmy with his flight lessons, he needs a lot of stuff like head set for the plain, Flashlight that can be seen from 3 miles away, Knee board etc....... Johnny, with is new engineering job needed a bigger flat screen that shows better detail and quicker response times. So although it's fun, most of it is stuff that we would have ran out a purchased at some point this year.

And the wine kits......... well......... you know I would have bought those!


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## Wade E (Dec 25, 2007)

We are just the opposite, we get them as we need them and that helps us follow a budget better, especially during the winter when we have to watch the oil tank's gauge and figure out when we can fill it or just top up as it would cost about $1020 to fill it right now and thats not in our budget so so we'll throw in 100 gals and then another 100 gals in about 3 weeks and then fill it.


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## Waldo (Dec 26, 2007)

What a great day it was, with family, friends, lots of good food and some very good wines.


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