Where we love is home, Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

It was terrific having a home to come back to this time when the job was over. Prior to this, we had no place that was “home” for us.

God blessed us with an uneventful trip and we made great time. We left Sunday morning at 10:30 A.M. and arrived at Retama Village, in Mission, Texas, at 12:30 P.M. Wednesday afternoon.

Impressions from the road:

Hay bales covered in snow are strangely moving.

Ice covered trees are wickedly beautiful.

Red tailed hawks were everywhere we looked on the way home.

So many times I wanted to stop and take pictures, but of course you can’t do that when you are following someone else.

When we crossed over the state line into Texas, we stopped at the Welcome Center, and I actually got out of the van and jumped up and down and yelled. I was so happy to be back!

We left temperatures of just a little bit above zero to return to balmy temperatures of 77 degrees.

We made it home in plenty of time to celebrate Christmas with our Retama family.

We went to a Christmas Eve Brunch.

Nice looking gang aren’t they?

Then we went to a Christmas Eve get together that was mainly appetizers and some deserts.

I brought these mini cheesecakes from Sam’s Club. I love the neat things they have for parties.

We had a terrific time, as usual.

Here are Dale and Pat, looking terrific!

Christmas Day Dale invited us to join them for Christmas dinner. She made an absolutely mouth watering standing rib roast and her pecan pie. OMG! She said her secret was the Southern Comfort. All I know was that it was delicious!

We had dinner with the Mayers, the Quinns, and Mark and Dale Bruss. It was one of the best Christmas dinners I have ever attended.

Bonnie and I celebrating

We gave Chloe some Kong toys and we gave the fur boys this tunnel. At first I wasn’t sure they liked it then I caught Whiskers doing this….

And then Smudge got a turn.

In other news….

Caterpillars are everywhere down here. You can barely walk outside without almost stepping on one. I have no idea what butterfly they will eventually turn into. I do know that they have devoured all of our Mexican Flame bushes.

When I got home, my Keurig coffee maker that I had won before we left for North Dakota was waiting for me .

I was so excited to use it. Even though I’m not a big coffee drinker, I do love flavored coffees. This machine is slick! The flavors are incredible also. I have tried the Mocha Nut Fudge, Nutty Swiss Mocha, and Carmel Vanilla Creme.

Books this week

King Tut By James Patterson

Trial By James Patterson

Everywhere that Mary Went By Lisa Scotoline

I recommend reading Trial.