Merry Christmas
Happy birthday, Jesus!
I worked the morning shift yesterday and got to work at 4:30am. It was nice to get off early as I had some last-minute running around to do before getting some steaks on the grill and getting to church for the 3:00pm service. I couldn't believe the traffic in Apple Valley...it was nuts! Total gridlock like I've never seen in that city before. For the most part, people were being very courteous and where traffic was merging together, drivers were taking turns and meshing lanes nicely. I was in a long line of traffic trying to get out of the Target, Best Buy parking lot onto the main road. The traffic on the main road was relentless and people in front of me weren't being given much chance to pull out. When they did go they had to be aggressive. So this guy a couple cars in front of me pulls out and in the process, the oncoming traffic has to brake so this guy can get out and merge into a lane which is stopped. It doesn't matter that all the traffic is stopped 30 feet ahead, a guy comes up and blares his horn on this poor guy trying to pull out and doesn't seem to realize that he's not going anywhere anyway in 20 feet. Cool your jets guy, good grief, it's Christmas Eve!
Tammy had everything all set at home when I finally got there. I got the steaks on the grill and we had a very nice dinner, Rachel, Tammy, and I. We decided to open a few gifts before church but we saved most of them for when we got back. Church was nice but I was so tired after dinner and having been up since 3:15am that I was struggling to stay awake for part of the sermon. I caught my head nod a couple times and looked over at Tammy and Rachel and got the 'busted' look from them. They understood and smiled.
Rachel was very happy with her Christmas haul...it was a Justin Timberlake Christmas at our home this year. It was also supposed to be a very Paul Frank Christmas too but we were a bit thin on his stuff. She did get a couple of Paul Frank things but for the most part, we took a pass on the stuff as it was too expensive.
Jackie and Jerry came by with Kelsey, Cole, and Cassidy around noon to see the pups before we all headed over to Moms for the afternoon. Toby and Allie were so excited to see them. It was a very nice time. Tim was already there when we arrived and Erin and Clayton showed up a little later. Great food and great company.
I gave Mom a photo album I put together of various photos from over the years. The album had different size cutouts on each page where the photos went making it a bit putzy at times to size the photos to fit. It turned out very nice. The opening photo is one of her mother when she was about 19 years old and the final photo is of Mom's great-grandchild, Cassidy. All the photos in-between sort of flow from earlier to later years. I know she liked it because she was crying as she paged through it.
Jackie drove with me as I had to head up north to pick up Rachel at her Dad's home about 40 miles away and only a few miles from her home. It was nice to spend some time with her and not be on the phone doing it. We've grown so much closer the past few months and I'm so thankful for that. Our whole family is much closer than we were a year ago. There are still some issues which may never be resolved but I think we're all intent on moving forward and putting our differences aside.
Tammy and Rachel leave for her parent's home tomorrow. I'm still struggling with the headaches (which I thought were done a week ago) so I'm going to lay low. I still haven't been on my bike yet either and that's weighing on me. Every day I lose more of my fitness and I don't like that. I intend to get on it tomorrow though, in fact, I will be back to my blog then to write about my workout.
Merry Christmas!
I worked the morning shift yesterday and got to work at 4:30am. It was nice to get off early as I had some last-minute running around to do before getting some steaks on the grill and getting to church for the 3:00pm service. I couldn't believe the traffic in Apple Valley...it was nuts! Total gridlock like I've never seen in that city before. For the most part, people were being very courteous and where traffic was merging together, drivers were taking turns and meshing lanes nicely. I was in a long line of traffic trying to get out of the Target, Best Buy parking lot onto the main road. The traffic on the main road was relentless and people in front of me weren't being given much chance to pull out. When they did go they had to be aggressive. So this guy a couple cars in front of me pulls out and in the process, the oncoming traffic has to brake so this guy can get out and merge into a lane which is stopped. It doesn't matter that all the traffic is stopped 30 feet ahead, a guy comes up and blares his horn on this poor guy trying to pull out and doesn't seem to realize that he's not going anywhere anyway in 20 feet. Cool your jets guy, good grief, it's Christmas Eve!
Tammy had everything all set at home when I finally got there. I got the steaks on the grill and we had a very nice dinner, Rachel, Tammy, and I. We decided to open a few gifts before church but we saved most of them for when we got back. Church was nice but I was so tired after dinner and having been up since 3:15am that I was struggling to stay awake for part of the sermon. I caught my head nod a couple times and looked over at Tammy and Rachel and got the 'busted' look from them. They understood and smiled.
Rachel was very happy with her Christmas haul...it was a Justin Timberlake Christmas at our home this year. It was also supposed to be a very Paul Frank Christmas too but we were a bit thin on his stuff. She did get a couple of Paul Frank things but for the most part, we took a pass on the stuff as it was too expensive.
Jackie and Jerry came by with Kelsey, Cole, and Cassidy around noon to see the pups before we all headed over to Moms for the afternoon. Toby and Allie were so excited to see them. It was a very nice time. Tim was already there when we arrived and Erin and Clayton showed up a little later. Great food and great company.
I gave Mom a photo album I put together of various photos from over the years. The album had different size cutouts on each page where the photos went making it a bit putzy at times to size the photos to fit. It turned out very nice. The opening photo is one of her mother when she was about 19 years old and the final photo is of Mom's great-grandchild, Cassidy. All the photos in-between sort of flow from earlier to later years. I know she liked it because she was crying as she paged through it.
Jackie drove with me as I had to head up north to pick up Rachel at her Dad's home about 40 miles away and only a few miles from her home. It was nice to spend some time with her and not be on the phone doing it. We've grown so much closer the past few months and I'm so thankful for that. Our whole family is much closer than we were a year ago. There are still some issues which may never be resolved but I think we're all intent on moving forward and putting our differences aside.
Tammy and Rachel leave for her parent's home tomorrow. I'm still struggling with the headaches (which I thought were done a week ago) so I'm going to lay low. I still haven't been on my bike yet either and that's weighing on me. Every day I lose more of my fitness and I don't like that. I intend to get on it tomorrow though, in fact, I will be back to my blog then to write about my workout.
Merry Christmas!
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