A Quiet Christmas

How is everybody doing today? Did Santa Claus bring you everything you wanted for Christmas? If not, maybe it’s because you are not a good little boy or girl. But then again, being naughty has its benefits, too. Right?

We had a quiet Christmas here at home, just the two of us. The morning started out with a group video call from my daughter Tiffany and her family in Arizona and my son Travis and his wife in Alabama. That was a lot of fun, and we got to see all the grandkids and just had a good visit. It’s not the same thing as getting together in person, but we do what we can given the current situation.

I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to work yesterday, so I didn’t. Instead, I spent some time doing an online jigsaw puzzle, chatted with a couple of friends on Facebook, and basically just goofed off. Sometimes it feels good not to do anything.

For most of the years that we were on the road as fulltime RVers, our Christmas tradition was to go to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner. But since we haven’t been to a restaurant since March, we didn’t see any reason to change now. It’s kept us alive and healthy to this point. So instead, we decided to cook some steaks on the grill. Terry had gotten a couple of nice ones at the local meat market, and I wheeled our big stainless steel grill out of the garage and fired it up. The steaks came out perfect and were absolutely delicious.

Terry also made some of her amazing cinnamon rolls, and a couple of hours after dinner we had them for dessert, and that’s exactly what they were, amazing. I took a plate of them across the street to our neighbors Jesse and Jennifer, and a little while later Jennifer sent me a message raving about how good they were.

We ended the day watching the Christmas special of Call the Midwife on PBS. Like I said, a quiet, laid back Christmas.

And while we may be in Florida, the cold front that came through this area had me thinking we were someplace much farther North. The 11:00 o’clock news last night said the temperature had dropped 28 degrees from the same time the day before. I don’t doubt that for a minute.

Terry and I don’t usually exchange Christmas gifts, because when we want something we just go get it. However. I did buy her an AeroGarden kit that included the Bounty Elite Artisan indoor hydroponic gardening system and a separate smaller Sprout system, along with plant food and seed pods. which actually arrived a while before Christmas. People have been asking me how the stuff she planted is doing, so here are a couple of pictures. The first ones, from left to right, are thyme, Genovese basil, and chives.

And these are cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and Italian parsley.

And, last but not least, are the strawberry plants. They have already gotten several flowers on them and are doing great.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Big Lake Lynching, the second book in my Big Lake mystery series. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – If my wife bought me a Taser for Christmas I would absolutely get curious to see how it feels and taze myself, which is why my wife didn’t buy me a Taser for Christmas.