We spent the first week of this month taking care of dental and doctor appointments. Dick has had problems with his right knee for many years and this summer the pain finally got to him. He has decided to see an Orthopedist. We got an appointment with Dr. Hoover and on the appointed day we went to see him.
After talking to Dick and a brief exam, the knee was x-rayed. Sure enough, part of the cartilage in the knee is worn away. We were given an explanation regarding replacement surgery and decided this was to be the plan of action. We would like to have had it take place ASAP, however no surgery spots were open for December and Dr. Hoover will be out for the entire month of January, so surgery was set up for February 10. It was a big relief to us to know that something can be done and Dick will be able to resume some activities that he has found painful.
We spent the next week getting the Christmas decorations up both for us and for Ann. Dick also spent some time at Dualco helping with their computers. Millie also had some shopping to finish.
We got a phone call from Robert and he had decided to come to Houston and spend Christmas with us. We were so glad to have him, yet we felt bad for Lacey having to spend the holiday alone. Robert said they had talked it over and since she couldn’t get any time off from her job, she needed to stay in Dallas. She is going to spend the holiday with a friend of hers.
Millie got all of the gifts wrapped and the boxes shipped that were going out of town. We also ran errands, etc. Millie did a lot of cooking baking this year and also made a couple of batches of fudge. We also made a trip to Camping World for a few supplies.
We picked up Ann the Saturday before Christmas and went to Katy, TX to see Richard’s new home. Robert was there also. Richard and Diana have a nice home and have it nicely decorated.
We attended church on Christmas Eve and then went to Mary and Frank’s for the family get together. It was really quiet this year as none of the little kids were in attendance. We exchanged gifts and had a good visit. Everyone was glad to have Robert with us.
Christmas day Dick and Millie opened gifts from each other. Dick gave Millie a great new set of knives and a knife block. In the course of unwrapping the knives to put them in the block, Millie cut her finger. She is not really used to nice sharp knives. She is really going to have to be careful using these!
We had ordered a ham from the Honey Baked Ham Company and Millie fixed the side dishes to go with it. We had Ann, Robert, Richard and Diana for dinner. Following the meal, we all had a nice visit. Robert is staying with Richard and Diana, so they all headed back to Katy and we took Ann home. It was a nice day and we enjoyed having our family with us.
RV friends Dave and Nancy Croasmun were staying at Shiloh and we met them for dinner one evening at Chili’s. We had looked for them when we were at Rainbow’s End, as they have an ERPU space there, but were told they were out of town. We knew that most likely they were in this area, as they are from here and still have family and doctors here. We haven’t seen them in quite some time so we had a lot of catching up to do. David and Nancy sold their home and moved into their RV about the same time we did and we met them at the RV park we were staying in before we retired.
A few days after Christmas we learned that we will be great grandparents for the first time in 2008. It was really quite a surprise but we are excited to have a new little one in the family. It has been a lot of years since we have been able to buy baby things and Millie is already making plans.
The rest of the month was spent just hanging out at River Bend RV park.
As we end another year of fulltime living we offer the following statistics;
Miles driven – 18,188.6
Fuel Costs- $4,864.64
Campground fees – $3,575.23
Next month – more time in Richmond
(Lots of new photos in the gallery, take a look. We couldn't link to all of them.)