Tuesday, January 6, 2009

My Christmas in Texas -- 2008

Just got back to Mexico from my 2 week trip to visit my brother Mike and his growing family in Richardson, Texas; my Dad and JoAnn in Longview, Cassie and Lauren, Joseph, Forrest and friends in Houston.

The time always goes by too fast. I can't fit in everyone I'd love to see and hope that friends will understand.

I got back to Texas on Monday night 12/22 and quickly shopped til I dropped for 2 days to get all the Christmas shopping finished. We spent Christmas eve with the Fowlers (Lauren, Joseph and Forrest) and I got to see Forrest for the 1st time (in person) since he was a week old. My goodness he's changed! He's crawling now (5 1/2 months) and sitting up alone and we all predict he'll be walking soon. Roy and I have discussed setting up an education fund for him -- but now agree that we should put an orthopedic surgeon on retainer cause there will be broken bones and stitches in the little man's future. He does not like to stay still!

Christmas Day we drove to Dallas to visit my brother Mike and his wife Willa and my nieces and nephews, their spouses, and children. Sergei and Max got a Wii for Christmas as we had a ball playing golf, tennis, bowling, soccer, dodging the soccer balls and panda heads, hula-hoops, aerobics, etc. It was a great Christmas! And of course, Willa fed us all with wonderful dinners and lunches! Thank you Willa for all your service to us to make our Christmases so wonderful.

On Saturday Roy, Mike and I drove to Longview to see Spence and JoAnn. He's 81 now and looks great. He's a bit weak, but much happier and hopeful. He's decided that he's not ready to die just yet (what a blessing -- cause he's been waiting for God for 11 years). We played a game together and Spence even tried to sort of cheat, kind of. He just withheld all the rules until after he'd played his hand! Gotta watch this guy. JoAnn is an angel on earth and I am and will always be so grateful that she came into our lives. She takes great care of Spence and all has a smile on her lips and in her heart.

On Sunday Roy drove back to Houston* and I stayed over a couple more days to visit my long-time friend, Cassie. We drove to Nocona (near Wichita Falls) to visit her Mom who had hip replacement surgery. She's home now and doing great. Cassie and I drank lots of coffee -- YEAH Tassimo! What an amazing appliance that thing is. Knitted, ate wonder food full of memories for me from my many years living in Dallas, shopped, drove around Dallas, and talked for endless hours. Of lest I forget -- I got to play with her new puppy Tipsy. What a cutie and such a mess! Love you Tips!

I flew back to Houston on Southwest (what a great organization that airline continues to be) on New Year's Eve and was in bed and asleep long before midnight. New Year's Day we went to the Fowlers and I cooked black-eyed pea soup (it's a southern tradition to have black-eyed peas on New Year's Day) and we watched football and played with the baby. I got to spend some time with my wonderful knitting family in Houston at Nancy's Knits and enjoyed our special day on Sunday Jan 4th. Thanks everyone for coming -- it was wonderful to see you all. I made a new friend (Maxine) and got to be with old friends too.

* This is another story I'll share in another post. Happy Retirement

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
maxine said...

Wow, looks like you got a spam comment here. Hate when that happens.

It was great to finally meet up. May your blog (and readers) be blessed with many tales of life in Mexico in the new year!

Glad you made it home safely.