Merry Christmas from Jim & Judy

We had a great Christmas this year. Family is the most important thing during the holidays and Jim and I are blessed with a great family. Dawn came down on the 22nd for Kim's birthday and then went out to lunch on the 23rd with some of her old high school friends. But the best was the grandchildren. I read an old Egyptian proverb that says, "The only thing more precious than our children are the children of our children." I can relate to that.

This is a picture of the whole gang. From left to right is David, Dawn, Sean, Crystal, Sara, Caleb, Kim, and Donald. What a good looking group!

It seems a lot of the day revolved around food, and there was plenty of it. Here are Kim, Crystal, and Sara with the Monkey Bread. David, Dawn's husband, makes the Monkey Bread every year and it is always a hit.

Here are Caleb, Sara, and Sean. The picture may not be perfect but getting three young children, on Christmas Eve, to sit still for a picture is not as easy as it sounds.

This is Jim and I with our girls. I love this picture.

Sara and Grandpa...youngest and oldest (don't tell Jimmy I said that)

Here is a picture with Jimmy's mother, Rose. Pictured are 2 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Merry Christmas from Jim and I and a very Happy New Year to all.

Christmas in Ocala

I just wanted to show you some pictures from the Christmas decorations in the "city square" in Ocala. Yes, Ocala has an actual city square and it is beautiful this year. They had a line to talk to Santa and a young girl singing Christmas songs and talking to all the children in line. The girl must have been a professional singer because she sure did have a great voice. The city of Ocala also had a "tractor ride" to take everybody around downtown for free. The Christmas Tree was really beautiful this year. It changed colors every couple minutes. Ocala is a nice little city.

The trees wrapped in green lights with red lights at the top are all the plam trees planted around the square. They are higher than a three story building. Notice that there is no snow on any of the trees. Oh yes, that is because it is 75 degrees! I love christmas in Florida.

Visit with Dawn and family

Jim and I spent a few days with Dawn and her family. David, who works for IBM, went to Australia on business. That is a 22 hour flight! Dawn began decorating her home for Christmas and we helped.

Sean worked hard trimming the tree...

...and he did a great job! It was the "most beautiful Christmas tree" he ever saw.

(and me too)

Sara's job was to look cute...

...and she did that very well.