RV Travels With Huggy

I've had about as good of a Christmas Day as I could expect, considering the very important empty chair we have here this year. Bob, DJ and all five of their kids arrived about 10 last night. The kids slept all the way up here in the car so of course they were not ready to go to sleep, so we all watched the movie, "Daddy Daycare." I was the first up this morning about 8 but all the kids where up soon after, followed by DJ and finally Bob. We had orange juice and sweet rolls, what Annie always liked on Christmas morning (it was quick and she also wanted to get to those packages under the tree.) Then we had to keep them occupied until Mike, Joyce and Katie could get here, shortly before 10.

I played Santa, distributing the packages. I like to do that as I can enjoy watching everyone opening their packages and then have all of mine to do when I have finished the Santa job! I think everyone enjoyed what they received but I forgot to tag some of them as being FROM Santa and Kimmy at least noticed the absence of a visit from the old gent. They all wanted to play with the new games and other gifts but we were concerned about loosing or mixing up pieces if they were all opened here, so some limits were placed, like one at a time. Happily the weather was warm and it was not raining so they were able to play outside some, too. We had pizza for lunch and Mike, Katie & I took a drive and found a mocha drive through stand open so were able to get the daily mocha. Joyce used my digital camera and took some photos.

Mike & his family left about 3 for Joyce's family gathering and DJ started fixing dinner. It was great to have a real home cooked meal that I didn't have to fix. My cooking abilities are pretty much limited to things like Nally's chilli and Papa Murphy's pizza. Ham, scalloped potatoes, peas & onions and dinner rolls, with pumpkin pie for desert, was a real treat.

Dinner is over now, the kids are playing games or watching videos on TV so I decided to take a few minutes to write something in my new blog. This way there will be an entry made on Christmas Day. Some of the presents given out today had actually been picked out by Annie before her death on July 23rd so she really participated. I feel that she is still with us, guiding and observing us through our days, so she really was here this Christmas, just in a different way than in past years. One year ago we were not with family but with our neighbors in Bullhead City, Arizona on our Snowbird trip and we went for Christmas dinner to Harrah's Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. This year there will be left overs to enjoy.