December 25, 2004

Christmas Day, 2004

TEXAS

DAY 190

 

Merry Christmas to all y'all !

 

Daniel, Joanne, Teddy, & Bo

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Besides the obvious, this Christmas was special in at least 2 different ways. Firstly, this is the first Christmas in my life that I did not have waffles for breakfast. Having waffles for breakfast, served with jam and ice cream on top, was / is an annual Christmas tradition in my family. Secondly, this is the first time since 1987 we have had an opportunity to share a Christmas dinner table with other people.

It was a beautiful day to be in Texas for Christmas. It was sunny, and warming throughout the day. No snow, no wind, bright sunshine, green grass, and warming temperatures. Dreaming of a white Christmas ? ? ? I don't freakin' think so ! ! !

We got up, fed Teddy and Bo, walked Bo, and went back to bed. When we finally got up, I made pancakes for breakfast. Not waffles, but similar enough. After a late breakfast, we unwrapped our gifts. The only surprises were the 2 small gifts we received last night at the gift exchange. Teddy's main gift was a bust. A catnip sack from Wal-Mart. I guess Teddy's taste in catnip is quite refined, after our years in the pet supplies business. Wal-Mart catnip apparently isn't good enough for Teddy. I suppose the differences between high quality catnip and lesser catnip must be similar to the differences between B.C. Bud and North Dakota Ditch Weed. Did I really just say that ? ? ? Bo's package of Wal-Mart rawhides, on the other hand, was a huge success. We gave Bo one of the little rawhide bones, and he spent the next two and a half hours devouring it, scarcely coming up for a breath of air occasionally, until it was gone.

Early in the afternoon, we phoned our sisters. Cell phone reception here at Rainbow's End is poor. We lost our call to Sharon about 3 or 4 times. We never lost the call to Lorri, but the reception was pretty bad.

I had to go outside to do a bit of maintenance. Yesterday, while I was emptying tanks, the handle broke off the kitchen grey water holding tank drain valve. I had to fix that today.

At 3:00 P.M. we went to the communal Christmas dinner. It was very pleasant. Lots of good food, lots of good company.

After Christmas dinner and chatting with our table mates, we came back to the trailer, put away leftovers, and took Bo for a walk. We walked with Bo over to George and Doris Cantelon's motorhome and visited with George for awhile. Doris was out for a walk. On our way back to our trailer, we met Doris walking home. Joanne and Doris went over to the Club House to each pick out a video from the video library, and I went home with Bo. Teddy wanted to come outside, so I put Bo in the trailer, and took Teddy out for a short walk.

Today we listened to the "smooth jazz" radio station. Very mellow Christmas music all day.

We spent the evening watching a movie ... by candle light. A "feel good" movie about a boy and his dog. I felt more relaxed tonight than I have felt in ... I don't know ... two decades ?

DSK