December, 2003
The
holiday season arrived once again. And although we were in the land of sun
and palm trees, Santa and his elves found their way to decorate for the
season. There just wasn't a lot of that white stuff we grew up with
surrounding the holiday. The month of December brought the usual
activities here at Palm Creek....fairly "quiet" and a basic routine of
golf, tennis, bikes and water volleyball. The annual Casa Grande Light
Parade was held on December 6 and was quite impressive with its 75 units.
The golf car parade in the park was much smaller, but had the same holiday
spirit! We attended some holiday "get-togethers" hosted by some
of the tennis players and at the home of Tom's bridge partner. The
temperatures were "cool" by Arizona standards that night, so we were bundled up
for the weather. (None of the residents here have large homes, so
most of our gatherings need to be outdoors!)
Friends
provided us with taxi service to the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport on Saturday
December 20 and we flew to Toledo by way of Atlanta. It was a good trip
for Mary and her luggage while Tom's took an extra day to arrive. We spent
three nights with Mary's brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Beth...always a
great time! Also while in Toledo we had too short visits with good friends
Dick and Liz Lehto, and Jacques Everhart, Tom's mother and Mary's grandmother,
some doctor appointments and went on a three day quest in search of
"Hokey-Pokey Elmo."
We headed to Marysville and the granddaughters on Tuesday, December 23. (We had left our second car in Toledo last summer.) We made our last stop on the Elmo quest in Bowling Green, OH on the way south, and lo and behold...there was one lonely "Hokey-Pokey Elmo" on the shelf. Unfortunately, he didn't work. So, we convinced Customer Service to give us four new batteries and the hardware clerk to use his screwdriver to replace them and Elmo began to sing and dance. In the process of waiting and repairing we realized that all of the writing on the packaging was in Spanish. So, when Elmo finally started doing his routine...guess what??!! He sang in Spanish! That didn't bother the granddaughters, however, and we all enjoyed Elmo.
The
weatherman was kind to us while we were in Ohio. We had a nice dusting of
snow on Christmas Eve, but otherwise it was in the 40's and 50's during our
stay. From what we were told it was much the same in Arizona during that
time...so we didn't miss a thing. Meanwhile, in Ohio, we "enjoyed" dealing
with Chicken Pox and Strep Throat.....we passed those germs around the family in
Marysville for over a week. For the most part, the germs didn't dampen our
spirits and we had a memorable holiday. We spent plenty of time baking
Christmas cookies, playing "Cootie" and "Chutes and Ladders," reading
books, playing card games, working with Play-Doh and giving "horseback
rides." Our big family outing was a car ride around town to see all the
pretty lights. I think "low-key" holidays can be the best!
On
December 30 we returned to Toledo to stay with good friends Kathy and Dennie
Dew. We've celebrated New Year's Eve with them all but two years since
we've been married. We had a great visit with plenty of time to catch up
on what's been happening with all of us.
And so
ended another great year of Williams' Wanderings! We are blessed to
be living our fulltiming lifestyle, grateful for all the wonderful friends
we have and that our health has allowed us to continue our adventure! We
wish a Happy New Year for all!
friends Liz and Dick Lehto
Beth
and Bill Close (Mary's brother and sister-in-law)
Ann
and Matt's house in Marysville - all aglow for the holidays
Three
girls waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Matt
and Ann with Merrick, Coffey and Close
Merrick and Hokey-Pokey Elmo
good
friends Kathy and Dennie Dew
Our
Christmas tree on the dash of our Dutch Star.
