Merry Christmas - 2009

We wish all our family and friends

a very Merry Christmas - 2009

and a wonderful New Year - 2010

Snow in Celebration, Florida

The town of Celebration was originally built for people who worked at Disney World. Over the years, the town has remained an area of beautiful homes with a small downtown area of specialty shops and festive evening activities. Children, along with adults, come to the town center, Market Street, and wait for the "snow" to arrive. What a treat for those who have never seen real snow. Of course, this "snow", the 11th annual Now Snowing Event, was made with foam blowing from special bird houses with more foam applied to the street for the children of all ages to play in. Another interesting area is Old Town, where car shows have been held every Friday and Saturday evenings for over 20 years. There are also many shops, restaurants, and rides in Old Town.

Disney World in December

Orange Lake Resort gave us the opportunity to visit Disney World and the surrounding area. We spent quality time with our friends, Everett and Carol, from Illinois. They visited us at the farm in Iowa this past summer so it was fun to have them show us around the Orlando area. Several evenings during the week, Disney World lights the sky with fireworks at the different parks. We viewed two of them and what a sight. While in the Grand Floridian Hotel we saw a full-size Ginger Bread House. Take a look at the recipe for building this house. What a task that would be! Jo has decided to stay with her own great Christmas sugar cookie recipe. Everything was decorated with lights and ornaments making the entire grounds a Holiday extravaganza.

Celebrating Christmas Time in Florida

Our Christmas tree in Florida shows unique ornaments made from sea shells with ribbons attached. What fun decorating and putting the lights up with temps in the mid 80's. Our oranges are ripe and ready for squeezing. We freeze as many as we can and share the fresh fruit with our neighbors. We scheduled vacation time at the Orange Lake Resort near Orlando. The resort has 2500 units on 1400 acres. While on vacation the speed limit should be no more than 23 miles per hour as posted. Of course, always keep your eyes out for the duck crossings. With all the rain, the flowers are in full blossom, the lawns and golf courses are in their finest green, and the lakes and ponds are full. We enjoy the relaxation time and it gives us a chance to prepare for the Christmas Season.

Thanksgiving Day

We have been enjoying fresh oranges right off the trees in our backyard. Each morning we squeeze three oranges for breakfast. Hope the cold weather does not damage them. Even the cardinals like sitting in the orange trees waiting for Jo to put more bird seed in the feeder. We have added a new member to our Florida family and that is "Baby" the soft pastel yellow 1967 MGB. This year and model was similar to a car I drove while in England in 1967. Fun to tour in it. Tom, Denise, and Jo are shown with each of their cars as we drove to Pine Island Park on the Gulf for the evening sunset on Thanksgiving Day.

Time to relax

While at our resort in Lehigh Acres, we traveled to Bonita Springs to see the art festival and all the artists there. Tom and Denise have a great display of very colorful and useful pottery. We enjoyed seeing them at the show and all the displays. The resort was a great place to relax and get together with friends from Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, England, Germany, and Switzerland. A very International gathering. We enjoy participating in the many activities the resort activities crew puts together. This includes Putt Putt Golf, Boccie Ball, Bean Bag, Bingo, indoor shuffle board, and a very challenging outdoor shuffle board tournament. After the activities there is always the sweet taste of ice cream sundaes and floats. What a reward for a good time with friends. The flowers were in full bloom and the pool was always inviting people to relax. We did just that.