December 2013

 

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       DonÕt mess with Texas.  The family Christmas was great!  Non-stop action like a three ring circus. Six adults, four kids, a horse, two dogs and a big leather couch.  What could be more perfect?  The HartongÕs and the HastingÕs were all in attendance.  Jason and Betsy worked hard putting the final touches on their new addition and we all snuggled in together.  The cousins got to play together and would wrestle and jump on each other until someone cried.  There were squeals of delight and laughter throughout the house.  We all got to go to the famous StoneyÕs Dinner Bell in Van for their humongous hamburgers.  We made it to the East Texas Burger Co. in Mineola.  We visited a lot of shops in Mineola to include the local coin collector and just one of the local guns and ammo stores.     The kids got to see their first Texas longhorns on the hoof.  We cooked steaks on the grill one night and had homemade Lasagne the next.  Sean was carbo-packing for an endurance race he and the boys attended in Dallas on Sunday.  We had our family Christmas and I thank Sean and Stephanie for making the effort to make the drive all the way to Texas and back.  Thanks to Jason and Betsy for being great hosts.  The new addition is great.

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       After the Hastings departed, we went to the local tree farm and cut our own Christmas tree.  There is nothing like the smell of a fresh cut tree.  The kids, Jason included, had fun decorating the tree and sorting and hanging all of the ornaments.  It was fun to see all of the ornaments that we had given them over the years.  It brought back memories of Christmas past. 

 

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       After ÒtreeÓ day we celebrated ZimriÕs Birthday!  Zimri loves board games and one of his favorites is called The Settlers of Catan.  For his Birthday Zimri wanted to play The Settlers of Catan and have dinner at his favorite Mexican Restaurant where we encountered a light fixture made from beer bottles, Corona beer bottles to be exact.  The game and the food were both excellent.  Good Birthday Zimri.

 

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       We returned from Texas with colds so we spent the days before Christmas recovering and taking extra Vitamin ÒCÓ to speed our recovery.  It was a great trip and we look forward to seeing everybody in Hawks Cay.

 

       For Christmas we Skyped with the kids and played 18 holes of golf.  It was nice and quiet around here.  I like quiet.  I must be getting old.  Drats!