Presents

Didn’t really sleep in on Christmas Day.  I was providing the baked ham for our Volunteer Village Christmas Dinner here at Okefenokee.  I got the ham ready by scoring it to put in the cloves, and pat the brown sugar on it Monday afternoon, so it was easy to just slide it into the oven in the morning.  The holiday dinner would be shared by 12 volunteers, staff, and friends.  Santa’s gift to me on this day was a visit from two folks that many of you may know and follow.

Fellow recent fulltimers and bloggers, Erin and Mui joined us for our meal.  Erin writes the Two to Travel Phaeton’s Journey.  Since they were spending some time near Jacksonville, Florida, I emailed her and invited them to join us.  Knowing that they were early risers, I suggested they arrive at the refuge in the morning so I could give them a tour before dinner.  The refuge was closed for the holiday, so we had the whole place to ourselves.  I believe they had a good time visiting the Chesser Homestead.

Eventually, all 12 people showed up for dinner, and the food was everything it should be.  What a grand time we had.  I just wish I had asked Erin and Mui more about their trips to Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands.  I hate it when the constant pain from my hip means I’m just not on top of things like I want to be. 

As I was sitting outside early this morning with Emma for her first outs, apparently the incoming storm knocked out the electricity to the village.  I waited a while, and then cranked up the generator just before the skies really opened up.  It was more than three hours before power was restored, so the genny got a good workout for the month.

My second present for Christmas came in the mail today.  I normally only get mail delivery Monday through Friday, since the gates to the compound are closed on the weekends.  Well, because of the holiday, we haven’t had open gaits since last Friday.

Along with a Netflix disk, I received my annual calendar from my brother Carl.  He chooses pics from my posts of the previous year, and fashions a hanging calendar for me each year.  Each month I get to reminisce about happenings in the not too distant past.  Cool beans!  I look forward to its arrival each year.

Tomorrow I’ll take the calendar into the VC to use a hole punch so I can hang it on my fridge.  Then I need to line up the kennel for Emma to stay at while I have my surgery and begin recuperating.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy