THE NEW YEAR HAS ARRIVED

JANUARY 2 – Well, after several days snow delay, Marsha made it to Houston on Saturday.

Marsha was up and at the airport by 5:15, only to sit on the tarmac for what seemed like forever. She could see nothing out her plane window.

It took 25 minutes to deice the plane.

Where is the runway?

High above all that snow.

The day after Marsha landed in Houston, we traveled to Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. We arrived on December 30, just in time to welcome in the New Year. We attended the New Year's Eve party at the Activity Center here in Leisure Valley Ranch with many of our long time friends.

We had a brief “warm-up” at Angie and Rick's home renewing friendships with them and Susie and Chuck. After that social, we headed over to the party.

The New Year's dance was a great time. We danced, enjoyed time with friends, and had the traditional champagne toast at midnight.

Rick, Angie, Paul

Another year where the hat won't fit on Paul's head.

Leisure divas…Marsha, Merrilyn, Angie

Ringing in the new year.

On New Year's Day, it was football time. We pretty much hung around the TV watching football. Marsha did prepare our traditional New Year's dinner. We were surprised that South Texans do NOT have pork and sauerkraut for dinner on New Year's Day. They eat tamales. As a matter of fact, we had a little difficulty finding a pork roast at the grocery store. We ended up settling for a pork shoulder. Regardless, the dinner was delicious.

Unfortunately, cool and wet weather arrived with us to the RGV, and we've been forced indoors for the first week on the new year. We did stop at the Visitor's Center in McAllen to pick up several brochures on different sights to see, so we'll be “out and about” soon. So stop back and check out what interesting sights we've found.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

December 31

We wish all our family and friends a HEALTHY, SAFE, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

DREAMIN' OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS

Thursday, December 27 – Between flight cancellations, furnace issues and no Internet, this blog is a bit outdated. But better late than never.

The family all arrived in Canton, Ohio, for the Weaver gathering to celebrate Christmas together. Marsha – believe it or not – hustled to have the entire family and a couple friends over to the house for Christmas Eve. What a great time!

Yep, we had a white Christmas.

After stuffing ourselves on wonderful hors d'oeuvre prepared by the “wonderful Weaver women,” we enjoyed reminiscing, chatting, and even sat the table up for some friendly poker. We are pretty cheap poker players but really enjoyed ourselves around the table. Grandpa cleaned house taking home much of the “loot..”

Carrie, big winner, grandpa, Kelly

We had a great Christmas Eve and finally ended the festivities early Christmas morning. We decided we better get to bed so Santa could make his stop and not pass us by.

Christmas morning was great with the family exchanging gifts. Once again, it was decided Marsha spends toooooo much on Christmas. The Weaver girls also got into the Christmas spirit showering us with tooooo many presents. Of course, we decided to cut back next year.

When we get back in the spring, we will be making wine again.

Dave, Kelly's boyfriend, is easy to buy for. He loves very dark pretzels.

By noon, the family was gathering at our house again for the traditional Christmas celebration and dinner. Marsha a prepared a huge and delicious ham dinner. Everyone brought items to add to the buffet table. Italian Wedding soup, homemade bread, pumpkin pie, green beans, rigatoni, and, of course, Christmas cookies helped fill everyone up. We also had the annual family gift exchange and enjoyed watching the younger kids open their gifts.

We kids bought dad a new TV for his kitchen. Boy was he surprised!

The color of the day was red.

The Wadsworth Clan

With a SEVERE WINTER WEATHER WARNING for up to a foot of snow for Wednesday, Paul and Carrie changed their airplane flights for early in the day hoping to flea Ohio before snow covers the roads and runways and everything is shut down. Poor Marsha decided it best to remain behind and clean up after the Christmas parties. We did help take down the tree, fold up tables and chairs, and clean up the dished before heading to bed.

Early December 26, Paul and Carrie headed to the airports. Paul flew out of Akron/Canton, and Carrie flew from Cleveland. Paul had only a 20 minute delay, but Carrie's flight was canceled due to no crew…really…forcing her to find a standby flight. Since she flew direct, she beat Paul to Houston. Paul had a layover in Atlanta. Of course, Paul had to change planes in Atlanta due to a malfunction.....jeesh!

Oh yeah, Carrie's luggage was lost with all her new Christmas gifts tucked inside. Luckily the airlines found it and delivered it to her house later in the day.

Marsha in Ohio during the snow storm.

The next morning.

After landing, Paul hurried over to Carrie's place to pick up Bella. One of Carrie's roommates stayed in town for the holidays and had volunteered to watch Bella. She was sooooo happy to see Paul and was sure happy to get back to her home in the 5^th wheel.

Well, as you might expect, Marsha's flight for December 27 was canceled. She is stuck in Ohio until Saturday, December 29. Hopefully, things will get back to normal and she will escape the grasp of Old Man Winter in time to return to Houston before Paul heads out to Mission, Texas. He would sure hate to have to leave without her!

So, be sure to check back and see if Paul will be basking in the sun alone in South Texas, or if Marsha returned in time to catch the trip south.

Here is wishing all of our family and friends a very Happy New Year.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.