On the second day of Christmas

You think Santa has a fan club? Well he's got nothing on Pop Pop, whose most ardent fans, Griffin and Jackson, storm the gate awaiting an encore appearance.

And so it goes in beautiful (thank goodness for 40 degree weather) Wentzville. Pictures from the first day of Christmas are pending ... 

Christmas Day

Christmas in Wentzville, MO.

Santa arrived

The train was a hit with Griffin and Jackson

Griffin opens a present.

Donna shows the boys the Bear in the Box.

Meghan and Melissa share an inside joke.

Guitar man.

Here comes Santa Claus ...

Hurry ... take a picture ... Santa came!

Oops, the picture's a little blurry, but you get the idea. The family tradition of Christmas Eve PJs has continued on to the next generation.

In a calmer, although still somewhat off-balanced moment, Griffin and Jackson share the Christmas spirit with Aunt Liss and Aunt Meg (aka Melissa and Meghan).

Something old, something new

In keeping with a long-standing family tradition,
Santa delivered Christmas Eve pajamas to the Ws' new house

And a Texas version of Alfie began a new family tradition
(While Melissa and Meghan read, notice what Jackson and Griffin are enjoying most)

Winter wonderland

"Is that ice?"

Oh yes it was ... miles before we reached Oklahoma City. At first it was a sparkling wonder, but as we drove through mile after mile, it became depressingly dreary, enough so that we congratulated ourselves on having the foresight to change our original reservation from Joplin to Tulsa.

Of course, finding someplace to eat on a Sunday was tricky. I managed to pick a Hampton Inn in a not-great part of town (not bad, just not great) and virtually every restaurant in the area was a franchise. Except one ... 

This is the entrance to The Tropical ... ironic, huh?  But the Thai-fusion menu sounded promising, so we made reservations. Only to find only one other table occupied. Uh oh.

We needn't have worried. This beautifully prepped lettuce wrap for two was a meal in itself.

Followed by rainbow trout cooked to perfection, with a gutsy ginger garnish ...

and Pad Thai the way I suspect it's supposed to be made, with a spicy sauce lifting tender rice noodles and chicken up a notch above anything I've had before. 

The portion was so large I couldn't even come close to finishing,  but with temperatures forecast in the teens tonight, I decided to put the leftovers in the car. With any luck, they'll thaw by the time we get to Wentzville.

Makin' a list, checkin' it twice

The presents are wrapped, the tortillas, Salt Lick sauce, and Alfie are ready to go, and the laundry is (almost) done.

Come tomorrow morning, we'll be Tulsa-bound. By Monday afternoon we'll be in Wentzville, the good lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

Hayes Carll is on the TV, in search of a standard pentatonic scale and singing what I'm thinking:

"I'm grateful for Christmas this year!"

All aboard

Today was Griffin Day (aka Friday), which is always special, but today it was especially so since Pop Pop and I took him to ride the holiday Zilker Zephyr. If you look real hard you can see us toward the front ...

No? You can't see us? Well, you're right ... we're not actually in this picture because we were having so much fun we forgot to take one. But it really looked like this, except that it was cloudy and we sat in the back. The important thing was that Griffin had a blast ... which really was important because if he hadn't liked it we would have had a very long 25 minute ride.

The coolest part was seeing the Trail of Lights ... well they weren't actually lit, but you could see all the scenes like Candyland and Where the Wild Things Are. We were going to go back tonight, but we ended up doing the Ann Arbor Avenue trail of lights instead ... 

Meghan

So Griffin, what did you think of our day?

Where's Griffin?

Where'd he go?

There he is! 

Looks pretty happy, don't you think?

Have yourself a merry music Christmas

What with the trip to St. Louis this year, we decided to downsize our Christmas tree ... significantly! 

But YD still decorated the hearth (note the classy Shiner poinsettia holder) ...

and our traditional bell display is as it always was.

Now we're hunkered down at Susannah's Kitchen concert in the Wimberley Methodist church for our annual Christmas music tradition: The Welch Family Sing Along (two years makes a tradition in my book).

Dustin Welch

Kevin Welch (Dustin's dad) and sister Savannah

The day is not over yet

I'll bet you thought I wasn't going to post today ... oh ye of little faith.

Ah ah ah ... yeah yeah yeah ... sound check with Ray Wylie at the Armadillo Bazaar after a 70 degree day at the ranch. 

Check check check ... Saw a black crow on a fence post ... I believe I'm gonna count my blessings!

No time like the present

Last January I wanted to keep things simple, so my New Year's resolution was a single word: Create.

That worked out pretty well, so I decided to come up with a new single-word resolution for 2014: Blog.

And since there's no time like the present, I'm starting today. Which leads me to the tale of the traveling palm tree.

As I went out to buy a Mega Millions ticket, the palm tree that your dad put out in the sun followed me down the driveway. Seems he had leaned it against the front bumper of the van ... which I guess I should have noticed before I backed out and set it free to roam. 

Oh well, I guess we can hire someone to repot it after we win the lottery tonight.

Surprise!

We went to Matt's for dinner last weekend, when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but Santa and his camera-toting elves. 

Okay, that totally doesn't rhyme. The good news is that Griffin actually sat on Santa's lap with nary a tear ... 'though he does look a tad bit mystified by the whole thing, don't you think?