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| My early birthday celebration. Carrot cake and we're all together...….real good stuff! |
This Christmas was unlike any previous Christmas for Beth and I. Although we have often traveled on Christmas day, it was the first time that we hadn't spent at least part of Christmas day in Florida.
It was also the first time in several years that our entire immediate family was together on Christmas day.
To make this happen we traveled 3,000 miles cross country on Christmas eve to California to be with Sarah, James and Joey. As usual, we relied on our favorite, mostly domestic airline, Southwest Airlines to get us here. Which also as usual, they did efficiently and with smiles on their faces.
Our route was through Dallas, where we were joined by Ben, who had driven from Pennsylvania a few weeks earlier to visit with friends.
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| Food, Family and Fun! |
Christmas mornings are so much more special when there are small children. We all enjoyed watching the festivities unfold as James enjoyed opening packages with unbridled excitement. It was wonderful to experience through his eyes while we were all under one roof.
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| No lumps of coal for this guy! |
Ben was with us until early morning on December 31, when he flew back to Texas. I'm a little behind in my blogging. He has since made the drive safely back to Pennsylvania. We were grateful that he had a friend join him and his dog Allie for the ride back.
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| Ben teaching James the finer points of running the bases |
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| Boxcar Fried Chicken in Sonoma...…...it's excellent! |
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| Ben instructing Sarah on the fine art of Chalk Couture...……...he had plenty of previous experience |
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| Mimi and James making playdough pizzas! |
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| Three Amigos! |
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| Downtown Petaluma |
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| Sunday morning stroll through Sausalito |
The days were so special. They were mostly filled with just simply spending time together...…. laughing, eating and waiting on a very special delivery!
