Between the Holidays

So, what have we been up to?....traveling again, but without the motorhome.  We took an airplane ride back to see the family back in Minnesota.  At least the weather and lines were endurable, but flying only has one thing going for it: a fast way to go a long distance.

We were able to do some shopping with the granddaughters, and have dinners with a number of friends.  Christmas Eve was spent with part of the family and Christmas Day was spent with more family.  

  

We also got back to a service in our home church in Crystal.  Then there was more time with family on the 26^th as well.  Whew, did we miss meeting with anyone?  All family is special; this is a good time to reconnect with everyone.

We have another ten days or so to catch up with more family and friends here in Arizona before our next NOMADS project starts in January.  Paige’s Mom is staying at Paula’s also and it’s good to spend time with her, Phil, and Elsie as well.  We’ll be quietly celebrating New Year’s Eve here.

The weather in Phoenix has been perfect!  Sunny and in the low 70’s now.  We’re looking forward to our next project in Buckeye, about 40 miles away.

Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

It is getting closer to the holiday time of year so we’ve been doing more seasonal activities.  Here is what we’ve been up to the past week:

Last Monday we went across town, to Mesa, in order to visit with a hospitalized friend who is not likely to get home for the Holidays.  She is recovering from a medical condition and it was good to see she’s doing well and in good spirits.  We wish her well!

On Wednesday we went to a local church’s seasonal social activity which was a dinner and a wonderful music program.  It had a great variety of musical forms: traditional choir, small group vocal jazz, and audience participation.
On Thursday we drove around the local suburbs to view over a dozen holiday lighting displays with Paula and Tomie after going out to dinner.  This was a fun Christmas activity.  The best were the lights that were synced to music.
On Friday we flew to Minnesota to spend a short time with family and friends.  With the lack of snow up here, it may not LOOK like Christmas, but with family around, it FEELS like it. 
Today was spent with our 4 granddaughters, shopping and cookie baking, two of our traditional and favorite activities.

We expect to be busy with a lot of social activities right through Christmas Day and then some.  We will try to post again before returning to Arizona.

Glendale Glitters

Our past posts have shown some Interior Decorating.  Saturday we viewed some Exterior Decorating by going to the historical Glendale downtown area and wandering around a local festival of lights and activities.

The trees were all decorated with lights, and the streets were full of booths with something for everyone: food booths, petting zoo, carriage rides; even a zip-line. 

The sky looked threatening as we arrived just before dark, and sprinkles started to fall by the time we left.  Here in southern Arizona light sprinkles are considered a major rain event, but it also turned out to be their coldest night this season.  Sunday morning we needed to wait for the defrosters to take the ice off the windshield (we’ve packed away the ice scrapers so far that we can’t find them).

Decorating Differences

In our last post, we showed the start of Paula’s decorating with Dept 56 miniatures (34 buildings plus too many to count assorted people, vehicles, trees, etc.)  Here is a picture of the completed village after 3 nights of setting up:

Although we have limited storage space, we brought a couple of items with us to use as Christmas decorations.  Here is what we have done with them:

Our dashboard –

Our dining room–

 Our hall mirror -

 Our coffee table –

As you can see, we have a much more minimalist style – mostly due to space limitations!