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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

We are back in our cozy home after spending Christmas Eve and yesterday in St. Pete with family. Brian, Michelle, Brian’s Dad, Bill, Tristan and his dad, Julian (my ex) five of the six kids (Lance flew to Atlanta to his dad’s on Christmas eve) and Lily the dog.

Fun, fun, fun. We had to take turns opening our gifts and the kids love that.
They are center of attention for a minute.

Gary and I received a new tire cover for our jeep which needs to fit our new tires we will be getting next year,
and East and West Mountain Directories which show dangerous mountain passes, their grades and locations in the mountains. We now feel more confident as to which roads to take and, more importantly, not to take. We also received The Next Exit - a publication that shows what’s available at every interstate highway exit from coast to coast. Need a drug store? Exit 54. Need an Office Depot? Exit 72. Cool, huh? Wish I had thought of this. Gary's favorite gift was new eyebrows with a little mustache thrown in for good measure.

The weather was a perfect NORMAL winter day in Florida – 74 and sunny. The kids were running around in shorts and barefoot on their new bikes.

The mega deal was a trampoline that we needed to put together.
Foreign directions. Whew. It took a little longer to decipher part from part, but being DIYers for many years, we can almost read Japanese now.

I must say a trampoline is a great babysitter. All the kids can get on at once, and hopefully won’t crash too hard into each other. But that is part of the fun. Of course, big presents come in big boxes, and as usual, like magnets to steel, kids love big boxes. Here they are hard at work constructing their sky scraper.

The biggest surprise gift (besides the trampoline) was the entrance fee paid for Tristan to run in his first marathon in January.
We will all be there to cheer him on. Typically Tristan, he immediately began to research what he should be eating to get in the best shape, and scrutinized all the Christmas goodies. Now this was not a gift out of left field, so to speak. He has been running 10 miles regularly for a couple years. So he was very excited about this challenge. Another best gift was that Gary and I gave Michelle and Brian a coupon for 24 hours alone. They jumped for joy. Anticipation is the best thing, isn’t it??? With Henry being just two months old though, we hope they wait just a little while to redeem that coupon. We are kinda used to a good night’s sleep.

Last night was not one of those good nights, though. The wind started kicking up around 3:15, and so we decided to put in the awning. That entails removing the Christmas lights, extension cord and timer, unhooking the guy wires, replacing the fuse and pushing a button to roll it up. It took about 15 minutes, but then I had a hard time going back to sleep. The wind was whipping up and the temperature was dropping. Tonight it will be 26 degrees again. What is with this weather??? Where did Florida go?? My only comment is Bah, Humbug Mother Nature.

However, I am sitting here enjoying a Bloody Mary while Gary plays his guitar, so all is OK. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and here’s looking at a Happy New Year for everyone.

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