Florida Christmas
We left behind our long, dark days at work in the Pacific Northwest winter to spend the holidays on the beach and with family. Our hotel was lovely and the beach was beautiful.
Red tide kept us indoors beachside, unfortunately, but that left plenty of time for gift-wrapping, cooking, talking, hanging out by the pool, and spending time with family.
Dinner at the Charthouse with dad.
Ken and me on our balcony at the beach. I am wearing running clothes but could not breathe and therefore running might have been difficult. So I had a bloody mary instead.
Hunting for manatees and egrets on a rainy Christmas Eve with our host and tour guide extraordinaire, JTM.
In Clermont, trying to figure out which of these beauties is my neice...
Santa brought the girls Pop Singer... we witnessed the burgeoning of stars here.
K and Em singing the blues
In the kitchen... muffins anyone? Great with beer!
Finally... the gift exchange!! With much angst and consternation, our clan drew names to give a single gift to one other member of the family this year. A first! "The parents" did the honors back in November, and the rest of us spent weeks trying to figure out what to give one another. (Some worried more than others!) So here we are, enjoying the fruits of our labors..
K loves her new pillow
Mom and the famous gold earrings from Den, which he spent approximately 2.5 hours selecting and deciding on. Nice choice! The diameter was perfect, and Mom was thrilled.
Jo's gift to Michael... a personal wine cellar. Question: useful or landfill? It came with a Costco receipt in case the answer was the latter.
Em skips out of the festivities to try out the new 3-D markers from Aunt Jo.
Ken gets a DVD burner.... box...
The actual gifts were two lovely selections of shirts he'll actually wear. Good on ya, mom!
D appreciates the pink bandana (from REI!), which will go nicely with the sage crop-pants... Ken never lets people off the hook. A Samurai blade was found in the bottom of the box, for the fine chef in Dennis.
Ken gets another gift... who cheated?!
Modeling the necklace from Penny.
K takes a picture of herself with her new digital camera.
John wonders, What did I get? This better be good with all the crap I put up with!
Julie and Den bask in the glow of their successful gift ideas.
Off to explore the lakes nearby with our host and tour guide again...
Me and JTM at the boat ramp
Ken and me enjoying the swamp. Hey, nice watch!
Thanks to all for a fun and relaxing Christmas in Florida!
Red tide kept us indoors beachside, unfortunately, but that left plenty of time for gift-wrapping, cooking, talking, hanging out by the pool, and spending time with family.
Dinner at the Charthouse with dad.
Ken and me on our balcony at the beach. I am wearing running clothes but could not breathe and therefore running might have been difficult. So I had a bloody mary instead.
Hunting for manatees and egrets on a rainy Christmas Eve with our host and tour guide extraordinaire, JTM.
In Clermont, trying to figure out which of these beauties is my neice...
Santa brought the girls Pop Singer... we witnessed the burgeoning of stars here.
K and Em singing the blues
In the kitchen... muffins anyone? Great with beer!
Finally... the gift exchange!! With much angst and consternation, our clan drew names to give a single gift to one other member of the family this year. A first! "The parents" did the honors back in November, and the rest of us spent weeks trying to figure out what to give one another. (Some worried more than others!) So here we are, enjoying the fruits of our labors..
K loves her new pillow
Mom and the famous gold earrings from Den, which he spent approximately 2.5 hours selecting and deciding on. Nice choice! The diameter was perfect, and Mom was thrilled.
Jo's gift to Michael... a personal wine cellar. Question: useful or landfill? It came with a Costco receipt in case the answer was the latter.
Em skips out of the festivities to try out the new 3-D markers from Aunt Jo.
Ken gets a DVD burner.... box...
The actual gifts were two lovely selections of shirts he'll actually wear. Good on ya, mom!
D appreciates the pink bandana (from REI!), which will go nicely with the sage crop-pants... Ken never lets people off the hook. A Samurai blade was found in the bottom of the box, for the fine chef in Dennis.
Ken gets another gift... who cheated?!
Modeling the necklace from Penny.
K takes a picture of herself with her new digital camera.
John wonders, What did I get? This better be good with all the crap I put up with!
Julie and Den bask in the glow of their successful gift ideas.
Off to explore the lakes nearby with our host and tour guide again...
Me and JTM at the boat ramp
Ken and me enjoying the swamp. Hey, nice watch!
Thanks to all for a fun and relaxing Christmas in Florida!
posted by jade rhino at 10:13 AM
1 Comments:
OMG! So nice to see photos of your family and they haven't changed at all. Your Mom & John look great. Dennis hasn't aged, Michael still has the biggest smile! Your Dad - what a cutie he still is :) I enjoyed reading your entire blog and now on to why you named it Jade Rhino. Will email soon.
Take Care, Love - Cher
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