December 2013

  Welcome Christmas 2013

 Once we recovered from all the wedding festivities the Christmas holidays arrived in a splash of color.  The second weekend in December marks the officially opening of the holiday season.        

     A camping club called the Happy Campers arrived throughout the week.  Buy Friday every site in an entire street is decorated with lights, inflatable Christmas figures, trees and candles. Each member of the club has a little fence that connects one site to another.   

 

Some sites even have edible treats out for the taking. 

 

 

  

Loved these gnomes!  On Monday I was in the pool, and this couple was hooking up their tow car to the rig. I needed a second take on the car. These gnomes travel down the highway sitting in the driver’s seat, the passenger seat and the back seat.  Can you imagine them passing you on the highway? The trio is about 35 years old.

 

 

The Happy Campers set up warming fires and lamps and sit in the middle of the street to enjoy the passerby. Holiday music streams from speakers. I find it all very magical. On Saturday Santa, elves and reindeer walk around the park and distribute candy canes to people and dog treat to the pets. When night descends visitors from inside and outside the park, come to see the holiday lights.

Several park guests, besides the camping club, put up displays.

Saturday night offers these visitors a Chocolate Extravaganza in the club room.  The room is filled with tables and tables of chocolate treats including fudge, brownies, chocolate cookies, pretzels dipped in chocolate and colored icings, Reese-like peanut butter cups, peppermint bark, etc. This year I baked four recipes to add to this event. 






 Door prizes are drawn. My ticket was the first one drawn, and I won a big popcorn holiday treat box! You can hardly help but catch the holiday spirit

The next week I baked 8 kinds of cookies…one of my holiday traditions.  Then we delivered big trays to the park workers, the office staff, and our neighbors. Of course I made a tray for Jason and Desiree too. With the baking done, my friend Karen and I went to lunch for a nice long visit.

We adjusted our Christmas celebrations this year.  Desiree’s traditions include Christmas Eve at grandpa’s house with about 25 family members.  After that, her immediate family returns to their home in Orange County so they can be there for Christmas morning with her 13 year old siblings.  With both Jason and Desi working all week except Christmas day, our first plan of having Jeff join us seemed questionable. Then Jeff’s meniscus surgery got scheduled for Dec. 23^rd. We’d just seen him at the wedding, and considering cost, schedules and surgery, we agreed that he stay home this year.  Jason and Desiree did come down for dinner on the 23^rd and we opened our gifts then.

 

 

 

 

Christmas day we joined about 50 people at the RV Park Christmas potluck. Although the group was significan Again we had a really great time.

 

Someone snapped this photo of us.  Looks like a candidate for next year’s Christmas Cards.

 

This turned out to be a very special Christmas holiday with time to reflect on what is really important about this holiday.   2014 promises us some interesting possibilities to come!

 

May 2014 be very good to you!