Christmas Future?

 After celebrating Christmas a week early with our family, we were anxious for the long Christmas weekend to arrive so that we could once again venture out into unknown territory.  Since Governor Scott gave state employees an extra day off for the holiday (in lieu of raises), we were able to head to our Christmas destination, Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, FL on Friday morning.  The weather, like the weekend before, was just not Christmasy at all. It was cool and very damp feeling with very little sunshine; however, we did not let that dampen our spirits.    We arrived at the park and were greeted by a cheery park ranger.  He directed us to our site that we had reserved online.  It was a beautiful site.  This was our first time staying at a state park in Florida and apparently Florida's philosophy is to go with nature rather than a lot of landscaping.  We were surrounded by woods which gave us a lot of privacy.

After we got set up, we decided to take a short hike down to the Blue Hole where people swim in warmer weather.  Before we made it to the Blue Hole, I tripped over a root and fell on my knees and palms.  This is one time when fat actually helped me.  I think it cushioned my fall.  A skinny person would have probably broken something.  We cut the hike short and went back to the camper where we decided that playing Scrabble was a safer activity for the afternoon.  I fixed spaghetti for our supper and then we watched tv and read until we were sleepy.


Saturday we had a piece of pie for breakfast and decided to get out for a while, maybe eating lunch at Sonny's.  We went to the Marianna WalMart, which was not crowded and enjoyed just browsing around.  Then we went to Sonny's for lunch.  When we returned to our camper, we decided to try the hike to the blue hole again because I wanted to try out the tripod that Amy and Darryl gave me for Christmas.  We walked very carefully avoiding the many roots in the path and made it to our destination.  Then we set up the tripod and began taking pictures.

I love the picture on the bridge because Bubba set up the camera and then he had to run avoiding all the roots to get up there before the picture snapped.  He made it!  He's pretty agile for a senior citizen.  I love the tripod.  Now we can take pictures of both of us together on our outings.  Thanks, Amy and Darryl.  We enjoyed sliced pork sandwiches courtesy of Sonny's for supper and then played another game of Scrabble.  (We're hooked.)

How does he win all the time?  He can't spell !!!!

Christmas was different.  We had coffee and hot chocolate in bed and then we got up to open our gifts.  We only carried our "surprises" with us.  We opened them and then we had blueberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast.  Somewhere along in there Amelia called to tell us about Santa Claus coming and what he left her.  She sounded very pleased so I know that she was a very good girl all year.

Bubba said that these were the best blueberry pancakes he's ever eaten.

Archie loves his new bed.  As he gets older, it gets harder for him to jump up on the couch to sleep.

Bubba got out and walked some later that day.  I stayed in and read and prepared our Christmas dinner -- chili with crackers.  It was pretty good after all the holiday food we had been eating.  Christmas night we experienced a good night's sleep with the sound of rain on the roof.

Monday morning, we finished packing up and headed for home.  We had a good weekend even though it was different from any Christmas we had enjoyed in the past.  Is this the ghost of Christmas future?  We'll see.  

We're already planning our next trip.  We have decided on St. George Island. We're going to fish some on this trip.  Amy and Darryl gave Bubba a cart to haul all our stuff to the beach so we plan to try it out next time.  A nice thing about Florida State Parks is that they offer a 50% discount to Florida senior citizens.  Alabama and Georgia only offer 15%.  There are definite advantages to getting older.