We're Out of Here

The house is cleaned, gifts distributed here in town and my clothes are out on the bed. I have used all my "transfer" bags from the RV to pack the presents and things I am taking to Florida. Terry & Carol's children are all coming into town so both their house and ours will be full through New Year's. Their son's family arrives today. This has worked out well for everyone.

I met Jody for breakfast on Saturday and besides treating me to breakfast she gave me a lovely set of note pads with my name on it. They're awesome. I'm always looking for something to write a note on and end up with an ugly yellow pad for lack of anything better. What a great gift. I gave her a Pottery Barn candle, brown bread Ted made and fudge that I made. I hope she and Dave enjoy it all.

Ted had gone shooting in the morning and right after he came home the doorbell rang. It was my neighbors again with a dish of homemade turtles. I love these type of Christmas presents. It is what Christmas was like before Best Buy and Amazon.com.

We met Rick and Brenda at Dickie's BBQ for dinner Saturday night. I didn't have their gift last week because the fudge I promised Brenda was not made. She didn't want the evaporated milk or marshmallow creme kind. She wanted the sugar, cocoa, milk, cook to 234 degrees kind that is on the Hershey's Cocoa can. And that's what I made. I also brought her two dishtowels from Germany (that I found out were made in China!). When I had my pictures from this summer put into albums, I had one made of all the photos I had of them. They fulltime in their motorhome so space is always a consideration. The fudge will get eaten, the towels are necessary and the album is not bulky and won't take up room.

From there we went to the Texas Opry Jamboree in Magnolia. To our surprise there were almost 40 people there from Rayford Crossing including Jay and Stella. They were all eating in the cafe and their seats in the theater were right in front of us. When the group was announced from the stage, we whooped and hollered right along with them.

The show was so enjoyable. It was a totally politically incorrect production and Joel Brewer who owns the Opry said if you come to the Opry you are going to get a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, that's what Christmas is. He got a rousing round of applause. The nativity scene and songs at the end were heartwarming and done so beautifully. It was a wonderful end to our celebration here in Texas. Now it's on to Florida to celebrate with our immediate family.

About my eye ... It is getting better each day but I am supposed to use it for reading and it's not quite there yet. I see the doctor at 8 a.m. tomorrow and we'll leave right from there. Since we'll be in Conroe we're going to travel east over 105 into Beaumont and avoid all the interstate traffic during rush hour. We have reservations at one of the casinos in Biloxi. Do I dare hope to win enough to finance this trip?

We will meet up with Kara and family at Old Key West Resort for two nights at Disney. Kelly's family arrives the same night and will be at Kristin's house. We're doing Epcot Wednesday and on Thursday (Christmas Eve) we are taking all the kids and grandkids to brunch at Park Fare in the Grand Floridian Hotel at Disney. We plan to all attend our former church in DeBary on Christmas Day, have dinner at Kristin's and then Kara's family flies back home. The rest of us are staying on but I'll save that for another Post.

So there you have it - our Christmas 2009. God's blessings on you and yours. Travel safely wherever you go. I'll see y'all in the new year if God's plans match mine. Feliz Navidad.