Monday, January 2, 2017

Christmas 2016

Chris, Kelsey and the kids had a very different Christmas this year. For 12 days, they camped at various state parks, on their way to and from Kelsey's folks' home in Pecos, TX. They spent Christmas Eve and Christmas there, in Pecos, and then headed back east, camping at Inks Lake State Park - west of Austin - as their final camping spot.

On Tuesday, December 27, Dan and I packed up our car with a hot meal - pot roast with vegetables and gravy, pasta salad, green bean casserole and apple crisp for dessert - and with our gifts, and headed out to the camp ground. We got there around noon, and the dinner was still hot, thanks to a new casserole caddy that I bought just for this purpose. We ate first thing and then opened all of our gifts.

Dan got a new windbreaker, from our kids/grands, that he'd been needing, and I was happy to open a wind chime that is tuned to the sounds of Pachelbel's Canon in D.  I love it!

Sadly, Chris was suffering terribly with juniper/cedar allergies when we arrived. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before. Not long after we got there the same pollens attacked me, as well. I thought I'd be fine when we got back home, but apparently the juniper is doing its thing all over Central TX, because I've been fighting it ever since. Chris got so bad that they had to cut their camping vacation short and head back home on Wednesday.

I was so busy having fun that day that I didn't take many pictures. Thanks to Kelsey, who was better at playing "photographer," I was able to swipe a few photos from her blog to post here.


Kelsey shared an idea with me, a couple months ago, for a gift she thought the kids would like. They have been watching the old Gilligan's Island TV show, and have fallen in love with it (Robert even dressed as Gilligan for Halloween). She thought they would like to have some little peg dolls, painted as the Gilligan's Island gang, since they've been building "sets" with Legos and playing some of the scenes from their favorite episodes. And so, I took on that project. It was great fun, and I think the kids like them.


Left to right: The Captain, the Professor, Mary Ann, Gilligan, Ginger, Mr. Howell and Mrs. Howell.


We added to Robert's Modarri car collection, and he was thrilled to get them. We also got him a storage case for all of them.


We gave to Clara - our girl who is all into owls - a yard flag holder and a set of owl flags for all the seasons. This is the winter one.


It was a Christmas like none other for us. It seems it doesn't matter where we are for the holidays, as long as we're with our loved ones, it's GOOD.

Speaking of loved ones, Tim wasn't able to come for Christmas this year, and we missed him! But he's looking forward to a spring visit with us, and we'll make sure he gets over to the Houston area to see his brother's family.

And now we can start the countdown again. According to christmascountdown.org, there are only 356 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 39 seconds left until Christmas Day 2017! Better start shopping.

No comments: