Christmas Eve 2015

Papa Tom, Mya and Pepper, and me

Setting out almond milk and cookies for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer

Throwing out reindeer food:  oats and glitter

Mya, River, and Piper: Christmas holidays 2015

The kids check out videos of trained rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs

Stirring honey milk for bedtime

Mya wanted slippers for Papa Bear.  I hand-sewed some for her to put on him.

The kids decorated ice-cream cone Christmas trees

Christmas Eve 2015

Papa, River with Jumper, Mya with Pepper, Piper, and me

Meeting Jumper the Mouse and Pepper the Rat

River's buddy Jumper

Pepper nibbles a crust of bread

Jumper's ride, built by River

On our way to Asheville: Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Luckily we left early.  Had to wait a bit on light rail crossing repair.

What a welcome sight when we landed!

Early Christmas with Amon, Anjanette, and Jade: Monday, December 21, 2015

Papa Tom starts the black beans for the tacos with a lot of chopped onion and garlic.

Time to take the skillet outside and add the beans!  (The smoke detectors will go off if the beans are added inside).

New coloring book and colors

Almost moving day, but party first: Saturday, December 19, 2015

Jose dropped off the keys today.  Amon will move into the condo tomorrow.  We will miss him!  We will miss Jade!

But first, Amon has a party to attend!

Very spiffy in cocktail attire!

Tom's office party at The Oasis: Thursday, December 17, 2015

Lake Travis is back up!  Community Clinical Research had its annual holiday party at The Oasis.

The Oasis and its wooden decks burned down several years ago. The new, improved Oasis is an art center.  Sculptures and paintings are everywhere!

The hillsides are green.

"Hello, I'm P. Flamingo.  I'll be your server tonight."

Swooning at Santa's feet

Sunset at The Oasis

Family get together at NXNW: Monday, December 14, 2015

Girls just wanna have fun!  Sadie and Jade live it up.  Amon, Jade, Beka, Sadie, and Evelyn all had dinner with us.

Evelyn and Beka

Jade

Papa Tom with Sadie and Jade

Girls:  Sadie, Jade, and me

Back door house is evolving

This new view from our deck is so strange.  We used to catch sunset through the elms.

Piper is ready for Christmas!

Can't wait to see this sweet munchkin in a few days!  Asheville here we come!

Emma as "May" in "Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells": Saturday, December 11, 2015

Emma played a difficult 6-year-old.  Jade was entranced by the play and got to hang out briefly with Emma between the 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. shows.

Jade wanted to meet Aurora, who played the class rich girl.  Aurora let Jade try on her tiara.

Emma and Jade borrowed Santa's chair.

Cousins

Friday night in Waco: December 11, 2015

We took Jade to Waco with us so she could see Emma perform in "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" on Saturday morning.  Einar showed up hungry as we were leaving, so Jade filled his bowl with milk.

Someone was sound asleep when we arrived!

And sound asleep at dinner.

But awake for a swim at the hotel later!

Dinner with Cheryl: Thursday, December 10, 2015

Cheryl was in town from Bulverde to speak at a brain injury conference on Friday.  Had to try Cover 3, a sports bar that has really good food, right in our neighborhood.

Okay, I don't usually post food photos, but this looked so scrumptious!  I didn't have one bite.  Cheryl and Tom had their work cut out for them.

Dinner with Grandma Evelyn and sunset on the deck: Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Sarah and Jim joined us for tacos at La Mancha on $2 Tuesday, December 8, 2015..

We had dinner with Grandma Evelyn at La Mancha on $2 Taco Tuesday, loading up on an assortment of tacos.  Sarah and Jim joined us too.

After dinner, we hung out on our deck as the sun set.

Sunset through the elms.

Visiting: Sunday, December 6, 2015

Anjanette and Jason brought along friend Alex when they brought Jade home Sunday night.  Coffee courtesy of Amon.

Guacamole and chocolate milk for dinner.  Because.

SOS (Save Our Springs) holiday party: Friday, December 4, 2015

Got to catch up with Rebecca Melancon at the SOS holiday party.  The group's purpose is to prevent pollution of the Barton Creek watershed, which could destroy Barton Springs pool.  Rebecca and I worked together at the Williamson County Sun in Georgetown in the late 80s.  She and husband Ken Martin (retired Marine colonel and investigative reporter at The Sun)  moved to Austin and published The Good Life, about healthy living, for a number of years.  Ken now runs the online newspaper "The Austin Bulldog" and Rebecca heads up the Austin Independent Business Alliance.  And she's also a former New Orleanean!

No Austin party is complete unless there's live music.