Merry Christmas

This year is a bit tough for me. My family and I are staying here in Lake Charles. It's the first time in my entire life that I'm away from extended family on Christmas Eve; Mom and Tom, my sisters and brothers-in-law, nieces, and nephew. And I'm missing both family and friends. We did go to Houston yesterday and visited with Bob's sister Cathy and her family, and that was nice. This evening we attended a wonderful Christmas Eve service at our church, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Charles. Heavenly music, an inspiring message, communion, candles. It was quite emotional for me. Bob and I made gumbo for dinner. I was able to see my family gathered at Mom's house for a little while with the use of Skype on our computers, and that was great. The four of us watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which was pretty funny. The boys and I had never seen it before. We're trying to make the holiday special, but it's so oddly quiet. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed joyous New Year.