December trip to Phoenix and Christmas at Sebastian

The first week in December I took a quick trip to Phoenix to go to Marianne's annual Christmas brunch. When I arrived and was walking down to baggage claim looking out the window a warm feeling came over me as it has every time I've returned to Phoenix.  I thought, "This is where I am suppose to be!"

Cleo picked me up and and it was like we hadn't been apart. She is such a dear friend and I always feel like I am part of the family.  It isn't only Cleo who makes me feel that way.  Richard is a sweetheart and Amy and the kids came over, as well as Tina and they genuinely were happy to see me.  I thank God I have them in my life.

In the four days I was there I was able to see many of my friends.

What fun it was to see everyone doing so well.  I crammed a lot into a weekend, by popping in on a dinner the AFFAN group was having.  There were more than fifteen people at that gathering.  Of course seeing the brunch club together, well and happy was wonderful.  I also got to see a couple of my old neighbors.  I even spent a night with Heather.

BRUNCH CLUB -Kris,Jan,Marianne,Roberta,Cleo, Marcia and me.

Our humble Christmas Tree

T in his new socks holding Coleman Lantern

Christmas turned out much better than I thought it would. I expected to be sad, but I wasn't. T and I got up, had coffee and I put the orange cinnamon rolls in the oven. [For those of you who don't know.  Orange Cinnamon rolls have been our Christmas morning tradition for as long as I can remember.]  We opened a few gifts then took Molly for a walk, came back and opened a few more. T really surprised me. He started by giving me a gift wrapped box of hot tamales.  Again for those of you who don't know, I love hot cinnamon candies! T then gave me a jean jacket like I wanted and a riding shirt in pink and black. Perfect. But the best gift was a check for  half the cost of my trike. He said he just kept crumbling about it to throw me off and really surprise me and he did. I took Molly on my bike and rode for about an hour. It was a beautiful day. 

We have changed our mind about going south from here.  We want to go where it's a little cooler.  Call us crazy.  We will be leaving Sebastian Inlet the end of January and heading over to Marianna, FL on the panhandle.  We'll volunteer at Florida Caverns State Park for a month before heading west.  We are excited because we'll be meeting up with some of the folks who we volunteered with at Kartchner Caverns last winter.