Christmas Day with Steve and Elaine

Steve and Elaine's Christmas Tree
Friday, December 25, it is 32 when I get up so we're glad Bob cut off the water last night. The sun is out but the clouds keep rolling over throughout the day. It only get up to about 50 degrees. We have leftover pancakes from yesterday. I assemble my Corn Casserole and wrap gifts. We get cleaned up and put on our Christmas sweaters and head to Steve and Elaine's around noon.

Steve and the dogs greet us at the door. Elaine is busy in the kitchen with some great aromas wafting throughout the house. Their Christmas tree looks so beautiful. I always like to check out their new bear ornaments; some Scotties too! Her table looks very festive. I plug in my crock pot (old brown is still working!)

Elaine seems to have most everything under control as usual. We chat, sip Italian wine and check out all of the Christmas decor and new bears. Soon the turkey comes out of the oven for Steve to carve. Elaine mashes the potatoes, I stir the gravy and add marshmallows to the yams. At last it all comes together and is served up on the buffet table. It is amazing how much her dressing tastes like my Mom's. She grew up in Kansas so that's close to Missouri! She adds sliced mushrooms to her green bean casserole which I really think adds a nice touch. And she has this savory sage bread from a local Elgin store that is heavenly. We stuff ourselves and go into a turkey coma.

Christmas Dinner Buffet

The gals clean up the kitchen and the guys lounge in the back room. Elaine generously divides up the leftovers and I take a 'go bag' out to the truck since it is 45 degrees out there. She also lends me a few detective novels. In due time we break out the Phase 10 cards. Darkness descends, the dogs sleep and we break out Death by Chocolate Cake and coffee. Time to exchange gifts. Elaine is always thoughtful about giving us expendable items (eat it, wear it, drink it, read it.....you get the idea.)

We are both pleased to see two loaves of that heavenly homemade bread she served for dinner; Maple Pecan Loaf and 9 Grain Bread. And two jars of preserves to go with it; strawberry and cherry. Not to mention Champagne Pecans and a Gingerbread Man. We'll enjoy them all.

Christmas Red and Green on the table

It's only 8:30 but our RV will be chilly as the temperature has dropped to 35 already. So we wish them a Merry Christmas and head home. We climb in bed to read as it is getting warmer in there within a half an hour. Of course once we get cozy our eyelids get heavy and we pass out. Another fine Christmas is behind us. We had an email from our RV friends Tom and Shirley who recently met us in Lampasas. They had quite a holiday adventure in Abilene near their daughter's. Snow closed I-20 so they couldn't travel the six miles west to Abilene from their RV Park to get to their daughter's for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Worse than that, their son and his pregnant wife were en route from Houston to join them all in Abilene and got stranded about 40 miles east in Cisco when they closed I-20. They thought they were going to have to spend the night in their car but a brand new church opened its doors to all of the stranded travelers on the Interstate for the night Christmas Eve and gave them breakfast on Christmas Day. What a story they have to tell about Christmas 2009. All is well now as the highway was finally opened and they had a glorious reunion in Abilene.

This group (Bob, Elaine, Steve, Lizzie and Shadow) is tired of waiting for Rita to find the 'timer' button on the camera without her glasses!