22-25 Dec. 2018 Christmas in Houston

We had a busy Christmas in Houston. Sunday morning we joined Cynthia, Felix and Ava (Felix’s daughter) to go to church. They attend the Methodist Church in the Woodlands for the last day of Advent service. The church is huge with over 12,000 members. They have three church venues going at the same time, one being a more traditional service (which we attended), another for younger members and another for millennia’s.  The service was very good. We then all went to lunch in the Market street mall. The place was swamped and finding a place to park the big truck was tough but we persevered. Following lunch we went our separate ways to finish up Christmas Shopping.

 

Christmas tree at the Woodlands Market Place

Later that day Cynthia and Felix joined us to go to The Heights theater to see Bruce Robinson and Kelly Willis in concert. It was the final show in their Christmas tour. It was an excellent concert and we all had a great time.

 

Leslie with Bruce Robinson and Kelly Willis

Monday morning David made some of Aunt Marjory’s date nut cookies to take over Christmas Day. We went through the few cook books and recipes we had brought with us in the RV and realized the cookie recipe was 300 miles away lost somewhere in a large storage unit. So David texted his cousins to see if they had it. His cousin Beth went through her Mom’s recipe box and found the recipe. But what was funny was the recipe was an email from David’s Dad to Aunt Marjory and listed it as David’s recipe! David had gotten the recipe from his Aunt Marjory in a hand written note. He later sent it to his Dad, who then copied it into his on line recipe book, which at some point he had emailed it back to Aunt Marjory! Funny how these things work!

David also took advantage of the beautiful weather to climb up on the roof of the Wanderer to wax some areas that are easiest to reach from the top verses trying to stand on the ladder to reach. This finished off the front of the fiver and started the waxing down the sides.

Later on Monday, we went to Lauren and Brian’s (and Olivia’s) for a Christmas eve dinner. Brian’s parents (Edward and Mary) and brothers (Adam and Kyle) made the traditional Troianello Christmas Dinner of Prime Rib steaks with mushroom cream gravy.  It was a fantastic meal. That was followed up with the opening of family gifts. Little Olivia received a mound of Christmas gifts for her first Christmas. We think she had more fun with the paper than most of the gifts. But she did take a liking to the talking Christmas Bear (it recites the Christmas Story) we gave her. It was a happy and fun evening. We really enjoyed getting to know Brian’s family better. Edward and Mary are thinking about buying a RV, so we had plenty to talk about! ;-)

 

Brian and Kyle cooking dinner with Lauren and Mary looking on.

Mound of gifts for Olivia (Brian, Olivia and Lauren in front, Cynthia, Edward, Adam in the back and Felix's son Andrew to right side)

Lauren and Olivia with her Elvis Onesie

Christmas Day we were up early to make the dishes we were bringing over to Cynthia and Felix’s house for yet another magnificent meal. Afterward we all sat around and caught up on the topics of the day. It was another fun and relaxing day. We left Etta behind at Cynthia’s and drove back to the Wanderer early since we needed to pack for our trip to Ohio to visit David’s family. 

Christmas Day feast (Left to right: Cynthia, Leslie, Adam, Kyle and Lauren)

Olivia in fur!

20-21 Dec. 2018 Benson Christmas

Leslie’s Mom, Diane, drove down from Dallas today. Leslie and her Sister, Cynthia, met up with her at Chuy’s for some lunch before coming out to the Wanderer (David was stuck on telecons for work).  After some relaxation time we loaded up presents and drove over to Leslie’s Niece’s (Lauren) house. We unloaded gifts but decided to go out for dinner before we opened gifts. We had a great dinner and got to sample some great bourbons at the Refuge before heading back to Lauren and Brian’s. Little Olivia was a doll. Everyone took a turn holding her and keeping her entertained and she was a delight. The restaurant staff even came by and said she was the best behaved baby they had ever seen. Full of good food and fine spirits, we tore into the Christmas gifts! Little Olivia was not quite sure what to make of all this wrapping paper and boxes. She had a good time pulling tissue paper out of a bag and then playing with the bag! But really did not care about her gifts. 

 

4 Generations of Benson girls!

After the gifts were all opened and the mess cleaned up, we headed back to the Wanderer. Leslie’s Mom decided to stay with us for the night. Of course Leslie, Cynthia and their Mom were up to 3 in the morning catching up. Diane was up early anyways to drive back to Dallas in the hope of beating the worst of the holiday traffic. In the afternoon we drove up to Livingston to pick up our mail from the mail forwarding service so we could collect our Christmas cards. The traffic in Houston is terrible with everyone out panic shopping for Christmas. Once we got out of the Houston traffic we moved along pretty well. 

The Christmas Dinner Crew

17-19 Dec. 2018 The Usual

It’s been a quiet few days. David has been working to close out some tasks for his customers. He also decided that it was a good time to begin the job of waxing the Wanderer from end to end. At 43 feet long and 13 feet tall, there is a lot to wax! But he plans to do a section a day and figures he can finish before we pull out in February. 

16 Dec. 2018 Celebrate Good Time!

Leslie’s Sister and Brother in Law celebrated their 6^thanniversary tonight. They came over to the Wanderer with their friends Renee and Dan.  They are new to RVing and recently bought their starter RV and wanted to see ours. After the tour, 

hors d’oeuvres, and plenty of good wine, we went out for a wonderful dinner at Carrabbas. Cynthia and Felix came back to the Wanderer for a few more drinks before they headed out dancing till the wee hours. A good time was enjoyed by all. Happy anniversary Cynthia and Felix!

9-15 Dec. 2018 It’s That Time of year!

We took advantage of the nice weather to wash the Wanderer. It’s a lot of vehicle to wash. But it sure looked nice once all the road grime was cleaned off and the windows washed inside and out. 

Well, it’s the crush before Christmas. With David’s career there has always been a crush of things to get done before the holiday break. It’s no different this year as David’s customers squeeze in last minute meetings and tasks. This week David was off to Albuquerque most of the week for meetings. Leslie stayed home and wrapped Christmas gifts and got prepared for the holidays. While traveling through DFW, David came across the American Airlines Christmas Tree contest for which department had the best tree decorations. They all looked fantastic! 

American Airlines Christmas Trees 

American Airlines Christmas Trees 

When we pulled into this parking spot back in November, they had to trim back a tree that protruded over our bedroom slide out. What we did not notice was that the sucker was packed with acorns. They have been falling off and onto the roof of the Wanderer for the whole month and there seems to be no end in sight. Sometimes when they hit the roof it sounds like a bullet hitting. Other times it’s a gentle pop. Several times we have jumped out of bed when they hit hard in the middle of the night. Then when the winds blows you can hear them rolling across the roof. We keep hoping that it will run out of acorns at some point!

Acorn Bombing Pinto Oak

8 Dec. 2018 Tomball Market

Still looking to fulfill our Christkindle Market itch, we drove over to the Tomball Texas German Festival. It’s a bit different than a German Christkindle market since the vendors sell more than Christmas decorations and there are fair rides, nachos, polish foods, etc. But they had the key things we were looking for, Bratwurst and Glünwine! It helped put us into the Christmas Spirit!

Tomball Christkindle Market

Tomball Christmas Tree

Ferris Wheel at Tomball Christkindle Market

Ahhh, finally some German food and drink!!

3 - 7 Dec. 2018 UAI Reunited

We dropped Etta off at Cynthia’s for a few nights. Then we drove up to Fort Worth from Spring (3.9 hours). We left the Wanderer in Spring since this is a business trip. David had meetings in Downtown Fort Worth with the old program he used to be Chief Engineer of when he worked in Lockheed Martin. So it was like a reunion with his former colleagues. Leslie took the opportunity to visit with friends. When her former employer found out she was in town they invited her to a retirement party for one of her former colleagues. They also invited us to the Christmas Party for our former apartment building. Leslie had fun catching up with her work colleagues at the retirement party. On Wednesday evening we went over to Arlington to visit one of the largest Christkindle Markets in Texas.  Unfortunately the market had a falling out with the city when it was decided to move the market into the baseball park and charge admission ($11) and parking for what previously had been free. Some of the venders had already signed contracts with the city and were stuck. So the free portion was about one tenth the size. It was very disappointing. Thursday we caught up with doctor appointments and met with our financial advisor before going to the Sanger Lofts Christmas Party. We had a fun time catching up with friends and old neighbors. We even got to meet the man that moved into our old pent house apartment. We toured the Christmas Decorations in downtown. It made us feel nostalgic for our previous lives. But we drove home (Yes, the wanderer is Home) Friday. It was raining hard almost the whole way, but at least it was rain and not ice. 

Fort Worth Christmas Tree

Arlington Christkindle Market

Sanger Loft Christmas Party in Reata Restaurant

Cold and Wet Fort Worth

Santa Claus on the Stage in Sundance Square

26 Nov. – 2 Dec. 2018 Houston Homework

David’s consulting customers asked him to work some priority items that kept him busy most of the week. Leslie kept busy putting up additional Christmas decorations and catching up. Monday night we drove over to the airport to pick up Lauren, Brian and little Olivia. They had just gotten back from Brian’s Grandmother’s funeral. Later in the week they all came down with a nasty flu that had them all laid up for several days. So far we have avoided catching it. On Saturday night, Cynthia and Felix came over for dinner. We decided it was too pretty a night to not eat outside. David pulled out our new mosquito repellant. While he was setting it up he killed 12 of the little beasts! Five minutes after we turned it on, the mosquito’s were gone! We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed a fun evening.