RVing With a Purpose

Monday, December 25, 2017 – Christmas Day

We finally had sunshine this morning. It was cold, 30 degrees when we got up, but quickly warmed up a bit when the sun came out. It was a beautiful Christmas Day. You know you have been having a lot of gray days when everyone comments on the sun.

We started the day early, preparing for our big Christmas feast. Anne actually started by mopping the kitchen at 6:00am. Allowing a little time for the floor to dry and for us to have some Christmas Morning tea (“Christmas Morning”, actual name of tea), we then began meal preparation. We also decided to to a little more decorating before Mama Ruby returned. It was a busy day of cooking, cleaning, and visiting with family. We had 20 present for dinner and the only ones not able to be here this year was our Marine Joseph and his beautiful wife and 3 children. They are stationed in Pennsylvania and couldn’t make the long trip back to Alabama this year. They were here to see Mama Ruby in July when they returned from Okinawa. We missed them but so appreciate their service to our country. Before we had our feast we all joined hands and shared something that we are thankful for. After our Christmas meal we took some family pictures and then spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying our family time. Mama Ruby had a wonderful though tiring day.

We thank God for the blessing of this family day, but more importantly we thank him for his Son Jesus, whose birth we celebrated today. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 24, 2017 – Christmas Eve

We were up at 6:00 this morning and it was still cloudy, with misting rain at times. Temperature was 43. It never really warmed up and was a gray, cloudy, windy day with intermittent rain. So tired of gray days!

But there are blessings on gray days too. Looked out and we had a beautiful doe bedded down in the pine straw just off our bedroom deck, down by the pond. She was still there when we left for Tuscaloosa. So pretty. Last night coming home from Aunt Helen’s we saw a really big buck. He had the largest rack we have seen in a long time. Hope he survives hunting season.

We had a quick breakfast with Jennifer and David and got ready to roll. Jennifer was not feeling well this morning, cold type symptoms, so say a prayer for her. We said our goodbyes and we all left about 8:15. On the road again!!! Only a short trip but we are in FRED. We had an uneventful drive to Tuscaloosa and are mooch camping in Mom’s driveway for the next two nights. Nancy was already at Mama Ruby’s house when we arrived. We started helping get things ready for tomorrow. We got some Christmas decorations out and worked on getting some Christmas spirit in various rooms of the house. Also started on some of the food preparations for tomorrow. We left the house about 3:30 for the 4:00 pm Christmas Eve service at Tuscaloosa First United Methodist. It was a wonderful service and the sanctuary was packed. We sang carols, listened to the choir, and then a meditation by the pastor, had communion and closed with a candle light service. Really nice service.

Afterwords we went back to Mama Ruby’s house, prepared dinner then returned Mama Ruby to to the assisted living. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Today was cloudy all day with rain part of the day. No significant amount, but messy. The forecast is looking a lot better temperature wise and we may un-winterize tomorrow. We are going to have some 27-32 degree nights but FRED should be fine with that. We will check the forecasts again tomorrow before we make that decision.

Today was a really nice day – inside – at our Armstrong family Christmas gathering held this year at Aunt Helen’s house. We had all the surviving members of Max’s Dad’s family present today for the first time in a long time. Fourteen total present with Aunt Jean being the oldest member of the family at 94, soon to be 95. We usually do not do the traditional Christmas dinner at this gathering and this year we had chili, vegetable soup, sweet potato biscuits with ham and several delicious desserts. There was lots of good food for everyone to enjoy and we spent the time visiting and having a good time. We brought small items to place in stockings for each other, but the true focus is time spent with family. Our LOL’s were all pretty tired by mid-afternoon but all seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Juno kept telling us this evening, “this was a really good day.” Their joy made it all worth while. We thank God for the blessing of time with our family.