Christmas Travels & A Happy New Year

What a wonderful holiday season we had this year!   We traveled to Texas to be with our family and friends over the holidays.  It was a great trip for the most part with some challenges along the way, but overall a truly blessed time. 

We had a dusting of snow on the ground the day before we left.  A huge snowstorm was predicted for the day we left.  Our plane left at 5:15 a.m., which meant we had to get up at 1:30 in the morning to drive to the airport.  It was already snowing, and the roads were quite treacherous, but we safely made it there. 

It took the airline crew 40 minutes to de-ice our plane! They went over it three times with 2 different kinds of de-icer. 
The stewardess apologized for the long wait, however,
we didn't mind the wait, safety at this point was more important than time!

Once above the clouds, the morning sunrise was enthralling to see! 

We arrived at our first stop, and waited to board the next plane.  While in line to board,
the gate attendant announced that our flight had been cancelled! 

As everyone flooded the local gate attendant to rebook their flight, my children and I walked down several gates to an attendant who wasn't busy, and she reserved for us the last three seats on the next flight out, which was six hours later that day.  We were thankful to get on that flight, and I know the Lord guided us to not wait in that line like the rest of the folks who were trying to rebook their flights, and further that there were exactly the amount of seats left on that flight for us! The hand of the Lord was with us even in the unexpected turn of events.  

We had six hours to spend in the airport, and after getting up at 1:30 that morning (and not really sleeping well the night before - you know how the anticipation of waking up that early messes with your sleep, lol) - we decided that we would make the best of our time at this airport, regardless of our weariness. 

I found a window overlooking the bay, and enjoyed the beautiful view. People watching is always fun too, and we did some of that. I also walked the entire airport several times.  Six hours passed pretty quickly for us, thankfully. 

Finally we were on the plane to our next stop, and now, the sun was setting in the sky. 

Beautiful doesn't really describe the scene outside our window as we traveled. 

As we descended into Los Angeles, we could see the terribly destructive wildfires burning below us. 

Night descended as we arrived at our next stop, Los Angeles.  We just stayed on the plane, and soon we were on our way
to our final destination, San Antonio. We had been up at this point close to 24 hours, but a quick stop at Whataburger on our way to my parents home was a nice welcome to Texas.

The next morning, our first stop was to visit Bill Miller BBQ for breakfast.
In my opinion, they have the best fast food breakfast you will ever eat! I got the bacon, egg, cheese and potato taco,
and with their amazing hot sauce, it was a great way to start the day. 

I soaked up the beauty of flowers blooming.  The roses were stunning. 

We went to visit my sister and her family.  They treated us to the  most amazing BBQ experience,
at the Salt Lick BBQ.  It is all you can eat BBQ, unlimited meats and sides! 

The meat is cooked in this huge pit that is in the entrance of the restaurant.  I highly recommend visiting this
restaurant if you enjoy Texas style BBQ... we were filled to the gills as we left, and my sister remarked that
many people feel "salt-lick sick" when they leave, because of the amount of food they bring you to eat! 
Lots of leftovers returned home with us. 

 

My nieces (2 and 4) showed me this gingerbread house that my mom helped
them to decorate.  The 2-year-old just helped herself to the candy on the house while we visited, lol! 

We enjoyed a magnificent sunset over the river one evening. 

Texas-style mountains graced the horizon as we traveled to be with my husband's family. 

If you didn't know this already... my family loves Texas style BBQ! LOL...
and so we found another amazing BBQ pit to eat at.
This is one style of food that can't be duplicated where we live,
as they use mesquite wood, which we don't have, to get the amazing flavor in the meat. 

This BBQ pit does not use plates, rather it uses large pieces of freezer paper
on which you dump your meats and sides.
Plan to get a little messy as you eat, lol! 

Another beautiful sunset. 

I helped my mother prepare for the large Christmas dinner she was putting on. 
I took pleasure in helping her set out her
finest china for the meal. 

Food just tastes better on china! We made sure our parents got their food first to honor and respect
their efforts at hosting such a large gathering. 

After the delicious meal, the girls sat down to a cup of hot tea together,
before we had our annual Christmas white elephant exchange, and then game time and snacks later.  We were happy to have the youngest generations join us, as they enjoyed the tea time with us. 

My mother has had this china for 45 years, gifted to them at their wedding, and she has not ever had a piece broken!  It is the Royal Albert Lavender Rose set, and it is in remarkable condition. We sipped King Cole orange pekoe tea. 

Because our nieces enjoyed the tea party so much on Christmas Day,
we planned another tea party a couple of days later.  

We kept it very simple, with ham salad sandwiches (made from leftover ham that was ground and mixed with mayo and dill pickle), icebox cookies, shortbread cookies, Mom's Boston Fruit Cake and other assorted chocolate snacks. 

Mom was given the recipe for her fruit cake by an family friend many years ago, and it always
graces her table at Christmastime.  It is moist, delicious and just amazing! 

Some time ago, my mother lost one of her brothers in a tragic accident, and since then her family has used butterflies as a way to remember his amazing life. This past summer our family helped our parents renovate their home, and this wall was left open because my mom's idea was to turn the wall into a garden scene where she could hang 3D butterflies.  My sister found this gorgeous mural online, and for my mom's birthday this year, our family worked together to hang the mural on this wall.  Our parents both just sat and looked at the beautiful mural after it was hung, and their hearts were so grateful to have this big project completed and for them to enjoy. 

All too soon, it was time for us to return back home.  While we were gone, there was hardly a day without snow here.  We had a friend plow the driveway, and another friend who came at night to stay at our place and keep an eye on our animals.  We were very blessed to return home and find our animals happy and fat,
and our home and driveway welcoming and waiting for us.  

 

The next few days were busy for us after being gone for almost two weeks.  There were storage building roofs that
needed to be shoveled, and I couldn't wait to get outside and explore the snowy wonderland. 

My garden sits quietly under the heavy blanket of snow, beautiful in the early morning sunshine.  Apparently the sun was hardly seen while we were away, but it came out in its full glory for four days after we got home.  I will save those pictures for another blog post.  It was such a blessing to be with our family over the holidays, but truly there is no place like home! :)

It is hard to believe that another year has come and passed so quickly.  As I look back on the past year of 2017 and into this year of 2018, I know that every day with the Lord is special, blessed and in Him our hearts can rejoice regardless of what life circumstance we find ourselves in.  

Whatever a day, a week, a month, or a year may hold, 

when our hope is in Christ, 

we can rest assured that we are safe in His care,

no matter what situations life drops in our pathway.  

I look with anticipation into the days ahead, because as we walk day by day with Him, while the world around may be tumultuous and filled with uncertainty, despair, sadness and misery... and our own circumstances may at times mirror those things... still we can look up beyond this world, into His face, and be comforted in knowing that He sees it all, and nothing will befall us that He is not aware of, in control of, and working in us, and through us for our greater good.

I'm reminded of this verse today as I write this post, and I want to share it with you, praying that the everlasting goodness of our Lord will be with you, regardless of what life circumstance you may be encountering, or facing this year. 

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

In Him, all is well!