Christmas Dinner with Neighbors

Many of our neighbors in Arizona return home or to their grandchildren for Christmas.  We have done that numerous times, as well.  This year we remained in somewhat sunny and warm Arizona for the holiday.  (It rained off and onTuesday and Wednesday.)

On Christmas Eve we worshiped at Our Savior's Lutheran.  Christmas day some neighbors invited the "left behinds" to join them for dinner. Rose, who is Italian, made a delicious lasagna.    Susan and Randy were two of those attending. Rebecca was across the table from them and somehow I cut her out of the photo. 

Rose and John are near the windows.

We shared a table with Helen and Steve.

With only 9 of us, we had a quiet afternoon and the chance to talk at length.  In fact, we were there for 4 hours.  What a good opportunity to get to know other snowbirds better.

Christmas Is Coming

And that means we need to pull out our much loved Christmas decorations and find places in our winter home to display them.  We have quite a few nativity sets.  One is carved out of olive wood, another is a puzzle. When the pieces are taken out of their frame they can be arranged with Mary, Joseph, the wise men, a shepherd and animals surrounding the baby Jesus.

Other sets are made of wood, glass, or pottery and one I shaped out of clay.

We also have a large collection of Santas.  The red plastic Santa on green skis I received as a child.  Five wooden ones John carved.  Two are antiques we found.

We have a small tree--just right for our small house.

John carved a larger nativity scene we display in front of our home.

Soon we need to go find some good Christmas light displays somewhere in the area.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, full of the joy of celebrating our Savior's birth,  and a happy and healthy new year.

San Antonio Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. We hope you are having a blessed holiday. We are spending ours in San Antonio. Here are a few of the things we have seen.

It seems we weren't the only people interested in walking around the Japanese Tea Garden on the Sunday before Christmas. The weather was nice and we even saw a wedding being performed. The garden was built in a former limestone quarry used to mine limestone for Portland cement.

On Christmas Eve we walked on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. Again, that was a popular activity.  Many people were riding these barges on the river.  The barges are like taxis--they allow people to get on and off to stop for shopping or a lunch.  We walked instead.

We checked out LaVillita.  It is a shopping area with many local artisans showing their wares. 

On Christmas Eve we attended Holy Eucharist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church downtown.  The choir and liturgy and sermon we all inspiring.  The church is decorated with candles and red roses.  Beautiful.

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

Looking for a little Christmas spirit, we went to Mesa Monday evening and had bbq sandwiches at Waldo's.  John had the brisket sandwich on the left and I had the pulled pork on the right.



The food was good and filling.  The we were ready to set off for the Christmas light display on the Mesa LDS temple grounds.

There were the 3 wise men.

Lights around the reflecting pool in front of the temple.

The trees were lighted, the gardens and walkways.  It was truly beautiful.

As we were taking pictures, one of the volunteers offered to take our picture.

And more lights on the grounds.




Here is on last photo of the wise men and their camels with lighted palm trees in  the background.

So Many Memories

It's that time of year again, time to put up the Christmas decorations.  For us, and probably for many of you, it is also a time to rejoice over a lot of good memories.  The decorations on our little tree bring back memories of Christmases past.  We talk about where the ornaments came from.  Some belonged to my mother, some remind us of why we bought them--like the small US Marine in dress blues, bought when Doug went into the Marine Corps.  There is a Santa in running gear to remind us of when we both ran for exercise.  The Santa wearing a priest's color brings back the many years John served as a priest in Colorado churches and here in Arizona

We have been traveling in our RV since 1988 and some of the ornaments were purchased as souvenirs of places we've been.  Even one from England--obviously we didn't get there in our RV. We have a canoe and a lighthouse from the Maritime Provinces of Canada and 4 small RV trailers recalling our mode of travel.

I collected Santas for years.  One of these I had as a child, 2 belonged to my mother, 4 are Santas John carved and others were purchased on our travels or at garage sales.

These 4 snowmen were made--or dressed--by my mother.  They represent John, me, Doug and Eric.

I also have a small collection of nativity scenes. This year is has been joined by this great scene that John carved over the past couple of years. We set it up in front of our house here in Arizona.

Going to Gruene

Gruene (read "green") is an old community in Texas that grew up during the cotton boom in the 1870s. Today is it part of New Braunfels here in Hill Country. We have been there before but enjoyed another visit. It is full of shops and restaurants and bed and breakfast inns, all located in old, really old, buildings. Some have been restored, some have not.

This is Gruene Hall, the oldest continually operating dance hall in the state, built in 1878.

You know you are near Gruene when you see this iconic water tower.

John took a number of what he describes as "artsy fartsy" pictures during our visit, including buildings

Then were were the trees--live oaks with massive branches, sometime so far extended from the tree they need to be supported or they will break off.

This one had the largest set of wind chimes we had ever seen.

This old truck is a great item in the town. We also saw one about this age that was actually still in use.

Some stores and restaurants have more modern things.

I spotted these plants (weeds?) growing in a rain gutter.  You sure wouldn't see that in Colorado.

It isn't long till Christmas. Look at the ropes around this tree, they aren't made of tinsel or popcorn or cranberries, they are lariats.

This will be the 7th year we have been away from Colorado for Christmas but looking at some of the antique decorations for sale in Gruene made me long for the days when we had children or grandchildren to the house for the holiday.

Snowbird Christmas

'Tis the day after Christmas, so what did we do to celebrate the holiday? We decorated our tree right after Thanksgiving.



And we walked around Valle del Oro, looking at the lights people put up.



One of our neighbors had a small party for the RVers on our road who have been coming to the same place for several years.

We enjoyed spending time with Larry and Barbara and Vern and Jane



with Pat and Lois and Hollis



and, of course, with Isabel and Joe, who brought us all together.


Christmas Eve, we attended the 6 pm service at Epiphany in Tempe. Before the service began, I took a photo of the chapel.



John was the celebrant at that service. Usually, I don't take pictures during the worship service, but the children of the congregation had portrayed the Gospel reading and lots of people were using the cameras. So I took one a few minutes later of the whole worship party.



This is the nativity set at the front of the church, as well as the manger where baby Jesus slept during the children's play.



Christmas morning, John and I opened our gifts. Here he is with a musical CD sent by our cousins in Sweden.



We talked to both our sons' families, then we joined with several hundred other residents here for Christmas dinner. Here is our empty table after we put out our dishes.



And the crowd beginning to gather.



And the friends we sat with. Sam and JoAnn



and Vern and Jane



It has been a good Christmas, though we miss seeing our children and grandchildren. Hope you all had a good Christmas, as well.