The Condo Days

Thursday December 4, 2008
Thursday we busied ourselves with boat preparations and putsed around the marina. I had time to do laundry and Dick took the extra battery out to recharge. When we were almost done packing things away in the boat my mom came walking down the dock. We were stunned to see her arrive before 4:00 pm and since they had not turned their cell phone on we had not been able to get a hold of them or give them the correct address for the marina. Apparently non of that was essential as they found their way on their own. When they took us to the van there were a load of gifts from some of our friends at Hutton House and Mom Foster's box. Wow. We found a place for mom and dad to stay and went out for a Turkey dinner at Bob Evans. Dick and I kept the van and when we got back to the boat we sorted threw our mail and then temptation won out we could not keep our hands off those Christmas gifts from Hutton House. We promised we would leave mom's box until Christmas Day. My tea time buddy Ray had sent me two bags of tea, Nicole had filled a Grace C bottle with her own recipe and there were stockings and decorations (sluck from by gone door decorating contests). Thanks for the tea Heather and my quilt book devotional from Kelly who thought I might be missing my Ladies Guild in Port Stanley. We laughed and laughed and laughed. The gig was up. We could put up a few decorations now and somehow even though he boat would resemble “Trailer Trash Decorum” we knew it would be the best Christmas ever. Many thanks to LifeWorks for the beautiful cards and one card especially warmed our hearts. The people responsible will be hearing from us later.
Thanks so much you guys. It has been so hard to get into the Christmas Spirit but the real deal is the people you love and without that Christmas is not the same. This will be high in the memory banks for years to come. God Bless you all.
Friday December 5, 2008
Today we left our little boat home for a week. We picked mom and dad up at the Hotel in Palm Coast and spent the day getting groceries and shopping on our way to New Smyrna Beach. Having a car is such a thrill. Dick and I had to get the dinghy up on deck and pack things and get to the hotel by 11:00 am. We stopped at an out door market in Flagler Beach and picked up some oranges and veggies. The vendors are there on Fridays and Saturdays. I love the drive down 1A along the coast. The weather was sunny and warm. We were permitted occupancy at 4:00 pm. Mom and I made a delicious roast beef dinner. This is the first oven made food in three months.
Saturday December 6, 2008
Relaxing day in the Condo. Had “Toast” for breakfast and brewed coffee. Mom and Dad and I went to Wal-mart to pick up some sewing things I needed to finish my handbag. Dick and I went for a long walk on the beach in the afternoon and when we got to Breakers (Restaurant on the Flagler Ave \ beach) there was a Christmas Parade in progress. We got to watch it for about an hour and it was very interesting to connect bikini's with Christmas themes. My favorite part was the high school bands and the Little Majorettes. When we tried to log on to the wifi we discovered there was no service as they had had a power surge and their boxes had gotten fried. Little b logger is not to happy about this.
Sunday December 7, 2008
We got up and had breakfast and headed out to Christ Community Church for the morning service.
The church was packed and we headed to our seats. The pastor came by to welcome us. It was a beautiful service and reminded me of our church back home. During the final prayer a cell phone went off and I thought how annoying why don't people shut those things off. It seemed to be coming somewhere near our pew. I kept my eyes closed and head down. When we got back in the car we discovered that my brother-in-law had called us a few minutes before and so the annoying cell phone person was none other than my own mother. It was good to hear Bill's voice and learn that he temperature was -10 and 8 inches of new snow. When we got to the condo they were serving hot dogs for lunch and we relaxed in the afternoon and headed to a Live Nativity at St. Paul's Episcopalian Church.
Monday December 8, 2008
Woke up to the sound of surf. The windows had condensation from the cooler temperatures. We packed up the van and headed out to Palm Coast to return to Grace C. Dick had left a document on board from the mail mom had brought and to remain a retailer he had to get his pin number by December 8, 2008.
I guess we will squeak in under the line.