The cloudy, chilly weather continued throughout today.  We had to bundle up once again for our walk and even wore our heavier clothes to church this morning.

When we returned home from church, we had some nice hot soup for lunch while we watched the Eagles get pounded by the Giants.  Rodger called as the game was ending and invited us over to his place.  Gene and Jeanne Bevins were already there and we spent some time visiting and making plans for tomorrow night's gathering at our house.  Everyone is to bring snacks and games to play.  Not sure if anyone else is coming, but we'll squeeze them in.  

We spent the rest of the evening watching the Dallas/Washington NFL game. 

We had a cloudy and cold day here with temps only reaching into the mid 50's.  It was 31 degrees this morning so John and I bundled up in winter hats and gloves for our walk.  Today was the first Saturday morning breakfast of the season at the RV park, so as soon as we got home from our walk, we gathered up our plates and utensils and headed over to the RV park.  They had a pretty good crowd this morning as many of the winter Texans returned this past week.  We ate with Theresa and as we were finishing up, Gene and Jeanne Bevins came in, so we moved to an empty table to visit with them while they ate.  We also visited with a couple from Utah who are staying at the fort for a couple of days.

When we returned home, John decided to brave the cold weather and play a round of golf.  He had to play this morning as this afternoon was the end of the month scramble.  I opted to stay at home, keep warm, and take down some of the inside Christmas decorations.  I did manage to get most of them down and boxed up--still have the tree to take care of and will probably tackle that job tomorrow or Monday. 

John Skyped with Matt for a while this evening as they discussed today's basketball game--the Bears won with Sam scoring 16 points  in the JV game and 10 points in the varsity game.  We ended our day watching another movie.

We had a nice sunny day, but the winds were pretty strong until late in the afternoon.   John and I skipped our walk as he had an 8:15 a.m. doctor's appointment in Uvalde.  This appointment was for a blood pressure check up and I took advantage of our time with the doctor to discuss in more depth the results of my MRI.  I'm still waiting for the back doctor's office to call and set up an appointment to see me.  Our next stop was McD's for some breakfast and then we made a quick visit to Wal Mart to pick up some 50% off Christmas cards and a couple of other items.

As we were traveling home from Uvalde, Rodger called to ask if we wanted to meet for lunch and we said "Yes".  We stopped home to drop off our Wal Mart purchases and then headed to Burger and Shake.  We ran into Everett and Darlene who arrived back on Tuesday and visited with them for a few minutes as they were going out the door.  Bill and Linda were there so we invited them to join us.  Before long John and Libby came in, and our lunch group grew to eight.  We had an enjoyable hour or so visiting and catching up.  Our original plan was to play a round of golf with Rodger and Tootie after lunch, but the winds became so gusty that we decided to play another time.

As we were heading home, John B. called and wanted to know if John wanted to brave the high winds and play some golf.  Of course, he didn't turn him down and off he went.  While he was gone, I started some laundry and worked on the finances.  

We spent a pretty quiet evening just relaxing and watching another movie. 

 

It was another chilly morning when we left the house for our morning walk.  Notice I said "we".  That's right, I felt good enough to give walking a try.  We took the shorter route and I was able to complete it with only a little pain down my leg.  It sure felt good to get some exercise after four weeks of inactivity.

John and I spent some time this morning visiting with John's brother, Gus, and his wife, Katie, via Skype.  It was fun to see each other and catch up on what our families have been doing.

After lunch we headed down to the clubhouse for couple's golf.  Once again we got paired with Wes and Shirley.  We ended up with a score of 4 under par with John chipping in a shot for an eagle.  Since we played best ball, I didn't have to do anything but putt and managed to make one for a birdie.  Our team came in second place--we missed first by one stroke.  

This evening we watched the third film of the Lord of the Rings Triology--The Return of the King.

 

The temps took quite a drop overnight.  The thermometer showed 31 degrees this morning when John left the house for his walk.  Needless to say, he bundled up.

This morning was men's golf, but only a few hearty souls showed up to play--John was not among them.  We spent our morning just hanging out around the house and doing nothing of any importance.

John called Mark L. and John B. after lunch and they headed out for a round of golf.  John said the course was pretty empty.  Not too many cold weather players around here.  Everyone likes to play in the warm temps.

We were out of bread again, so while John was gone, I baked another loaf and did some straightening up in our storage area.  JD's family Skyped us early this evening so we were able to see what the kids' got for Christmas and visit for awhile.

This evening was the second installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy--The Two Towers.   

Our weather today was nice and sunny but high winds throughout the entire day kept the temps on the cool side.  We are expected to drop into the lower 30's overnight with the cold air hanging around for several days.

When John returned home from his walk, we ate breakfast and then got busy with the final food preparations for dinner.  I finished up the Jello salad I started last night and then made the stuffing for the turkey.  Around 10 a.m. we put the turkey and stuffing into the oven to be reheated.

This morning we Skyped with Hanna and Rachel and then Amy's family in Wyoming.  We heard about everyone's Christmas gifts and even saw a few of them.  It was fun talking to the kids and hearing them talk about their gifts.

We finished up Skyping just in time to get everything out of the oven, loaded into the car, and head over to Sandwick's where we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner and fun conversation.  Following several hours of visiting we started home and, much to our surprise, as we passed Rodger and Tootie's place, saw that they had arrived.  We immediately pulled into their driveway and visited with them.  They had arrived around noon this afternoon after two and a half days on the road.  We spent about half an hour visiting and then left to let them get settled in with promises to get together sometime over the next few days.  

This evening we decided to start a Lord of the Rings marathon with watching the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring.  We'd like to watch all three films in the trilogy before seeing the new Hobbit movie. 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.   

We had a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine and temps reaching into the upper 70's.  Following his walk, John made us a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, potatoes, and toast.  When we were done eating, we got busy prepping the Christmas turkey for roasting.  We wanted to get the turkey done this morning so we could have our afternoon free.  While the turkey was in the oven, John headed into town to pick up the mail and then did a few errands around the fort.

Once the turkey was out of the oven, we decided it was just too nice to stay indoors, so we headed off to the golf course.  Even though the course is technically closed today and tomorrow, there were quite a few folks playing.  I rode along and watched John play and then helped out with the putting when he got to the greens.  He missed one putt, but I made mine which gave him a birdie on that hole. 

Stan M. stopped in for a visit around supper time.  After he left, we got changed and headed off to church for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service which was followed by cookies and other goodies in the fellowship hall.  

Once we got back home, we spent the evening watching our two favorite holiday movies--It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story.  John and I watch these two movies every Christmas Eve and never get tired of them.

We'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!