Decking the halls..... RV style

Can you guess where we are?  If you followed our blog last year, this will look familiar. Lake Medina Texas, where the deer roam... in the hundreds ... eat out of your hand ... and drive the dogs nuts. There is one difference this year from last. There is water in the lake. This is a man-made lake, for agricultural irrigation. Last year the drought was so bad that the lake at this end was completely empty. This year it is down about 10 - 15 feet but there is plenty of water and it is huge and beautiful.

The weather has been warm, in the high 60's to low 70's during the day and in the mid 50's at night. We have not needed any heat. It is raining today, Christmas eve, but this is the first real rain since September so the locals are very grateful.

We have been here for 5 days and have done a few things. We participated in a Hobo Stew lunch. Everyone brings a food item to the Activity Center at 11AM and the staff throws it into a stew pot for an hour and we all come back at noon and have lunch together. It's amazing how good this turns out and how many different ingredients are in it. We also attended a Christmas Cantata. Last night was the "Jam Session". Everyone who plays an instrument in the park, join some of the local musicians for a music session. What fun... the local talent as well as the TT (Thousand Trails) member talent was a hoot. It was mostly country with a little bit of Christmas.  Today is the Ladies Tea and Craft afternoon and tonight is a cookout around the campfire..... if the rain stops.... which it is suppose to do. Tomorrow, on Christmas, we will join the other park members for a Christmas Dinner.... turkey, ham, potatoes , dressing, gravy provided by the park and we all bring a side dish or dessert. Tomorrow evening is a gift exchange and sing along. We all bring a $5.00 gift to exchange.

When we were in Orlando Florida I collected pine cones and over the past several weeks I have been making our Christmas tree. Last year I did the easy thing and went to Walmart and bought a Norfolk Island Pine and threw some lights and bulbs on it. Since the only place to set it is on the dash, and Sydney has claimed that for himself, he kept knocking it over and I cleaned up dirt and redecorated it at least every other day. This year I decided to forgo the dirt part, but I still wanted something natural as opposed to artificial, so I decided on the pine cones. It took a while from start to finish but I'm happy with it, and Sydney hasn't knocked it over yet. All the ornaments are glued on, so he can't mess them up either. There is one problem however.... I haven't figured out where I am going to store it after the holidays. Here it is....

Also while in Orlando, I picked up a palm frond while on an excursion with Millie and Ray. Millie had spoken to a man who makes planters out of them. We found a couple of large ones on the side of the road and we were going to make something with them but never got around to it. I was going to make mine multi-functional. I started with a basic design that I could adapt depending on the season and or holiday and then added the flowers and accoutrement's of the holiday ( Christmas lights and ribbon). Here is a picture of what I ended up with...

Unfortunately, a passing dog thought it was a good place to relieve himself so I will not be bringing it any further. Did you ever see yellow Poinsettia before? The positive side is I don't have to worry about storing it.

Remember the sand dollars I picked up at Jekyll Island Georgia. I worked on them too. 2 of them are now little decorations hanging inside the RV. What do you think?

I hung lighted garland around the slide edge which goes around the couch and kitchen. It gives us some holiday mood lighting as well as greenery inside.

The front of the coach has some holiday spirit also. Santa hats on the mirrors and some garland with battery operated lights across the front completes our holiday decor this year.

Time to start making Cranberry Salad for tomorrows dinner. It's surprising how few people remember cranberry sauce for a holiday dinner. I add gelatin, raspberries, pineapple and pecans to make a tasty dish. There will be many good dishes and lots of friendly people to share them with.

John and I hope everyone has a joyous and healthy Christmas.