We hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas season. We pray that in the middle of all the hustle and bustle you have taken time to remember what is really important. And it’s not just that it’s Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace coming to earth. It’s the beginning of The Story, the fulfillment of prophecy. If you have been too busy, this evening would be a great time to sit down, take a deep breath and maybe pick up your Bible and read the Christmas story again.
We have spent our “vacation time” resting, reading, catching up on some work, working puzzles and watching Christmas movies. There have been lots of beach walks, and bike rides, eagle sightings and lots of good food. Most importantly God has blessed us by allowing us to spend this time listening to Advent devotions and enjoying the beauty He created here.
Our campsite this year
This heron has been a daily visitor to our campsite
We have taken several walks on the beach even though some days have been quite cool.
For most of last week the purple flags were out at the beach meaning that venomous sea life was present. They really weren’t needed because it was too cold to get in the water.
The pier is open again so we can walk on it any time. Since we are staying in the park, we don’t have to pay to walk it.
We see sharks every time we walk on the pier.
We attended a park presentation on raptors and got to see Archimedes the screech owl.
Of course, we have made several trips to the eagle nests. Yesterday we finally caught both of them on the nest at the same time.
On one of our hikes we stopped to watch this osprey eating a fish.
These grilled steaks fed us for a couple of days.
One day we took the afternoon to make Aunt Inez’s Tea Cake cookies.
We made them bite-sized this time because they are easier to eat on travel days. They probably will not survive another whole week to our next travel day.
Believe it or not, we actually worked our Advent puzzle the way it was intended – one small section at a time. We have really enjoyed it.
We tried a new recipe for for breakfast today – cinnamon rolls baked with eggnog.
Our traditional Christmas dinner of snow crab legs
As we have the last few years we took the time to watch our favorite Christmas movie again.
After a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in South Carolina, we drove to Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama to spend the month of December. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will have a wonderful Christmas. Cherish your family. Take time to share your love with family, friends, and people you don’t even know. We continue to ask for your prayers for our family members who are fighting serious health problems. We learned Friday of another cousin with possible cancer. That makes four. We know God is still healing and He is in control.
We really enjoyed this year’s Thanksgiving with family. And the smoked turkey.
December is a good time to be here. The weather is usually really nice although we have had a few cold (by our standards) days. And there are fewer people here than in the other winter months.
One of the first things we do when we get to the park is go pick up a pound or so of steamed shrimp and eat it immediately.
So far we have made it to the beach all but one day.
Since we arrived we have seen the Blue Angels practicing, the bald eagles, many other birds and this one gator who decided to brave the cool weather today.
The park has many miles of trails for us to hike and bike.
Earlier this year we bought a 1000 piece Advent puzzle. Inside the box are 24 small boxes, each containing a few pieces. We are supposed to only work one section of the puzzle for each day in Advent. So far we have held to that.
As part of our Christmas decorating we maintain a decades long tradition started by Max’s mother of filling the little mugs with Raisinets. And we like Raisinets.
RVing With a Purpose 