December always seems to be such a busy month, and this one was no exception. We got all the Christmas decorations out and Millie got started. Millie has had the Christmas Party for her Sewing Guild group for several years, so we try to get the decorating done early. As Dick was down with a cold, the first weekend of the month we had lovely weather, but he was not able to get the outside lights done. Then, Millie came down with the cold and was out of commission for several days. However, by party night all was done and the party was a success. Dick left the premises while the party was going on; he says this group of women is too wild for him! We do an ornament exchange, with each lady bringing a wrapped hand made ornament. The range of ornaments is amazing!
After the party was taken care of, it was shop and wrap time. We got the gifts taken care of for Robert and the girls, as they had to be shipped this year. The girls spent Christmas with their mother in Arkansas and Robert didn’t have any more vacation time, so we had to ship their gifts.
The weekend of the 15th we went to the tree farm and cut our live tree. We have always had a live tree, but this may be the last year. We have also nearly always gone to a tree farm and cut our own. RV full timing will require a new set of traditions. Millie got that tree decorated and then it was on to the baking. We spent 3 days making cookies, pies and bread. Then Millie spent most of Christmas Eve day wrapping gifts.
We went to church on Christmas Eve for the candlelight service. This is always a beautiful and moving service. After the service, it was on to Millie’s mother’s house for gifts and food with all the family. We had around 30 family members this year. We exchanged gifts and had lots of good food to eat. When we first started this evening about 17 years or so ago, there were 8 of us.
Debbie, Russell, Chad and Rikki spent the night with us and we opened gifts together on Christmas morning. We fixed cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then watched Shrek.
Millie and Debbie fixed dinner, ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, etc. Richard and Diana came for dinner, also Ann (Millie’s mother). It was an afternoon of quiet visiting.
Everyone was gone by 7:00, so we cleaned up the kitchen and watched some TV before hitting the bed.
We had to work the last three days of the week. Millie had New Year’s Eve off, so we loaded up the 5er and headed to Lake Livingston on Friday evening. The campground was nearly empty. The section we set up in has about 36 spaces and there was only one other trailer besides us. It was like having our own private camping club. Saturday we went to Huntsville and got some groceries. It was a nice day, with temps in the high 60’s. We also had our first experience with setting up our satellite dish and system. It took us a while, but we finally got it going. The signal meter that Dick got from Camping World was a big help. Sunday was cooler, with temps in the low 50’s. We watched TV and rode our bikes. Dick drove back home Sunday evening, as he had to work on Monday. Millie and Missy spent the night and the next day alone at the lake. We watched TV, did needlework and just puttered around. It was so nice just to kick back. Dick got back about 5:00 and we went into Huntsville for dinner. We are not party people, so we went to bed early. They are forecasting possible sleet or snow for us tomorrow. We’ll let you know next month if it materialized.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (Another year closer to our dream!)