December and a Merry Christmas!

Time has flown by!  We celebrated Josh’s birthday on December 12^th with a special birthday cake, made and decorated by Lorisa to look like his favorite video game.  Since Ashley worked that night until 8:00 p.m., we waited to have his birthday dinner the next evening at Texas Roadhouse.  

My sisters and their families gathered at Lorisa’s on the 18^th for our big family Christmas party.  It was a fun day, but we missed those that couldn’t be there.  Only 23 of the 34 of us were able to make it this year but, with that said, we still had a full house. 

 

Ron had   talked about registering with VA for a long time but never got around to doing it until this month.  He had his first appointment with a VA doctor last week and was impressed with the facility and with the doctor.  I doubt that things will always go as smoothly as they did on his first visit, but we’ll see!  If nothing else, this will allow him to save money on some of his meds, Another thing was checked off of our ‘to do’ list when I found a new physician.  I have been without a doctor since spring when mine moved to Oregon.  I’m hoping I’ll feel better about the change after I get to know her better. 

We were disappointed to hear today that Gary and Peggy won’t be joining us in Texas after all.  When they left Pigeon Forge, they went to Florida to take care of some business and to see Gary’s primary cancer doctor.  She referred him to a doctor in Tampa who specializes in his specific type of skin cancer.  The new doctor wants to change and monitor his chemo med before weaning him to an oral medication.  He will have to stay in Florida until he is on the maintenance medication.  They have also had some problems with their motorhome that will cost them $$$$.   As much as we’re going to miss them, we are happy that Gary will be under the care of a specialist who has experience with his type of skin cancer.  We’re praying that this new treatment totally eliminates Gary’s cancer symptoms and the maintenance program keeps it under control!

Lorisa also hosted our family’s Christmas.  Paul and Holly arrived on Christmas Eve and we all had a nice dinner together at Emmett’s Restaurant in Fayette.  As we all waited for our food, Paul kept us all laughing with a game that we played at the table.  We had to be observant to come up with the answer to Paul’s puzzle.  It kept us guessing for quite awhile, but a few of us finally recognized that the answer had nothing to do with the visual puzzle that Paul was showing us on the table.  Justin was still trying to figure it out when our dinner was served.  It was a fun evening!

The rest of the family arrived after we got home from church on Christmas day. It was a joy to see the little ones’ faces, still beaming from the excitement of Santa’s visit!   I'm so thankful for my beautiful family!   We had a wonderful Christmas!

Our traditional Christmas dinner was followed by an assortment of pies, candies, and cookies for dessert.  In addition to the pies, I made these little penguins from olives.

Ashley got a Wii and a Dance Party 3 game for Christmas and the girls had fun dancing along wth the dancer on the screen.  

I was able to get a picture of everyone in the family except Jessica and her boyfriend, Jeff.  They had to leave early so they could have Christmas with Jeff’s dad and sister.

Abigayle in her little Christmas outfit

Ashley, Lorisa, David, Justin, and Bryce

Ashley and Josh

Erin and Chris and daughters, Megan and Natalie

Jeremy and Kelly, with kiddos, Abigayle and Lukas

Paul and Holly

...and Ron and I!

Thanksgiving and family time

We drove 275 miles our first day on the road and stopped for the night at a Walmart in Clarksville, TN.  We had two days to get to Topeka for Thanksgiving, so we had plenty of time the next day  to stop at one of our favorite places, ‘Lambert’s Cafe (The Home of Throwed Rolls)’ in Sikeston, MO.  If you haven’t been to Lambert’s yet, you are in for a treat.  In addition to the meal that you order, there are waiters who continuously make their way around the restaurant, serving ‘pass-arounds’ of fried potatoes & onions, macaroni & tomatoes, black-eyed peas, fried apples, fried okra, hot rolls & sorghum.  Don’t have a plate yet?  No problem!  Tear off a paper towel and someone will plop down a big mound of fried okra!  Ready for a homemade roll?  Wait a minute or two and you’ll hear someone yell ‘hot rolls!  Raise your hand and a hot roll will be launched in your direction.  Each day 518 DOZEN rolls are baked and served at Lambert’s!

We continued driving and didn’t stop until we reached Columbia, a total day’s drive of 402 miles, which is about twice as far as we usually drive in a day.  The next morning we picked up a few things in Walmart and then drove on to Topeka, where we spent a wonderful thanksgiving weekend with our family.  Holly’s mother was there, and our granddaughter’s new fiance’ came, too.

 

Paul and Holly were terrific hosts and the meals were all delicious.  We did some ‘Black Friday’ shopping on Thursday night.  I went along to help everyone get the things they wanted.  What an experience! 

 

Paul picked up tickets for everyone to go to a hockey game Friday night, so that was fun.  Jeremy made little drums for Luke and Abi and they had fun beating on those in support of the Topeka team.  We also spent some time at the park while were in Topeka.  Erin and Lorisa each took engagement pictures of Ashley and Josh, and the younger grandkids had a good time playing on the playground.  

Ashley and Josh

Josh and Ashley

Megan

Megan and Lukas

Abigayle, Jeremy, Luke, and Megan

Abi and Kelly

Megan and Luke

Megan, Natalie, and Luke

Justin, Natalie, Megan, Ashley, Josh

Natalie

 

Ashley wanted to have her birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory, so we ate lunch at the one in Kansas City on our way to Lorisa’s house on Sunday.  It was still a few days until her actual birthday, but there isn’t a Cheesecake Factory in Columbia and we didn’t want to have to drive back to Kansas City on Friday.  

It was dusk when we got to Lorisa’s, so Ron quickly unhitched and plugged in to electric, but waited until morning to connect the line to our large stationery propane tank.  Since we were going to be here for awhile, he also used heat tape on the hydrant and water hose.      

Lorisa’s family returned to work and school on Monday, and we spent our first week checking things off of our ‘to do’ list.  I purged closets and cabinets while Ron did the same with the storage area beneath our fifth wheel.   We went to Walgreens to have photos of our trailer printed and a passport picture made to send in with my gate guard application.  (Ron already has his security guard license).  We dropped a donation off at Salvation Army, picked up a few groceries, and got a few other errands done, too.

Ashley’s birthday was on Friday.  Ashley opened her gifts after dinner and then we all went bowling.  Ron and I hadn’t bowled in about 20 years, so our scores were nothing to brag about!  We had a good time, though, and would like to do it again sometime. 

Ashley watching her dancing penguin

Lorisa made this cake for Ashley

Ashley

Finally!!  A ball that's not going in the gutter!

A get-together with friends was planned for Saturday night at a restaurant in Fayette.  Unfortunately, a few of our friends had to cancel, but we had a nice evening with the couples who could come.  Hopefully, we’ll have another opportunity to get together before we leave. 

We have dinner with Lorisa’s family every evening, with us contributing a meal now and then.  It has been nice to have that time with family and to get to know Ashley’s fiance’, Josh, better.  I’m looking forward to the holidays when our other kids and their families will be here, too!

Sunday we went to church and then spent a quiet day at home, but had a busy day on Monday.  We had stops to make at the credit union, the VA hospital for Ron to sign up for his benefits, and at Ron’s old office to get information on our new insurance plan.  We still had a few gifts to buy, so the rest of the day and evening was spent Christmas shopping.  We didn’t get home until 9:30 that night.

We woke up to snow on Tuesday morning.  Although there was barely an inch of snow , it covered a layer of oil and ice, making the roads treacherous.  There were 199 accidents in the Columbia area!   I spent the day wrapping gifts and then took them over to put under Lorisa’s tree.  It was nice to regain some space in our fifth wheel!

We finished our Christmas shopping on Wednesday and then stopped by the pharmacy to see when my prescriptions can be filled.  One of my prescriptions can’t be filled until the day after we had planned to leave for Texas, so that will delay our departure by at least a day.

 

Jessica came out to Lorisa’s for dinner yesterday and to spent the evening with all of us.  It was good to have her back home!  Tonight is home movie night.  Josh is picking up ‘The Help’ and bringing it for us all to watch.  I read the book and can’t wait to see the movie!