Holiday Season Events

Hello from Gautier MS. We are in recovery mode from all the holidays and other events in our lives.

After all our Thanksgiving travels, we rested the next weekend, well, at least we didn't travel too far. We watched the SEC Title game at home. At least Tom did, Sally doesn't watch Alabama on TV, she went to a MS Surge hockey game. She had a good time, Tom had a good time, Alabama won and life is good.

We went to New Orleans for the first celebration of Grady's (grandson) birth.

There was cake and ice cream and food galore. Grady took a while to get the idea, but eventually he ate most of his cake! At least, the part that didn't end up in his hair.

It was also a festival of young children. Several of Steven and Katie's freinds have small children, so there was a lot little folks. Thanks to the Murphy's for putting their house in such danger with all the little ones (and the older folks).

The next weekend was a visit to Gordo Alabama for the Hall family Christmas. It was held at Carol and Perry's. Their daughters did a wonderful job of decorating - very warm and inviting. They have a lot of talent!

Once again a lot of fun and fellowship with family. We are glad we can gather with our relatives.

We left the family gathering and headed down to Ft. Walton to meet with our friends from Dayton Ohio. It was fun to try to play a joke on Mike as we helped his wife set up a surprise visit from his son. The weather sort of messed up the joke, but the son's arrival was still a surprise.

Finally, we celebrated Christmas in New Orleans. The Murphy's host a large family gathering and graciously allowed us to tag along. It was a great day - warm and sunny enough for a pleasant walk. Grady had another big pile of presents. He was fascinated with his little spotted dog - when you put the ball in the dog's mouth it would spin around and bark. And he was very handsome in the cable sweater that Grammer knit for him.

Preparing Christmas brunch at the Murphy's.












After working December 26th, we drove down to Florida to celebrate a late Christmas with Sally's Dad in Florida. This time the, all the fruit was ripe. We carried back a couple of big boxes and shared it with the folks in Gautier, New Orleans and Anniston. There's still a little left, but since the big freeze down there, that's probably it for the year.

As you can tell, we did a lot of family and freind visits in the five week holiday season. Next is New Years. Perhaps we should make a resolution to stay off the highwasy so much. We do not think that will happen. It is so good to see everyone. We hope all had a fun and safe holiday season. Till next time...