Today was a great day that started last night, at least! John Michael was more excited about Christmas this year than we remember from the past, and he was pretty excited in the past. After preparing cookies, Horizon milk and a letter for Santa, he went upstairs but was so excited he was unable to fall asleep until quite late, for him. Of course, he compensated for that by waking at 3:45 AM, even though he had been warned by kc that there would be no presents opening until 7:00AM! Oh, well, we lasted until about 6:30 before tearing in.

Mary Pat joined in via FaceTime. We wish she, Kevin and “the cousins”, and everyone else could have been together.

kc had received an early present of a Total Gym, which she is using to rebuild her body. John Michael had received an early present of a Traxxas Slash RC car in order to play with it while Billy and Katie were here at Thanksgiving. I, also, got a PowerBeats Pro headset early, just because I wanted it!

Santa brought John Michael the Ford Raptor body he wanted for his Slash. He also received a super-cool M&M dispenser with green and red M&M’s from Francie. I’m not optimistic they will last to the end of the day. His grandma bought him a Lego Ferrari F-40 kit. He got a set of hot wheels cars from his mom’s masseuse, Marco. From me, he got a sealed transmission cover (Billy will understand the need for that) and a set of springs of different rates for this Slash.

kc was super-stoked that John Michael bought her a Traxxas Rascal RC car (and battery) for Christmas!

We all got a big Rand-McNally road atlas for our future road trips. If we can stay out of hospitals we can even find Oklahoma!

We do miss you all, but are comforted by knowing that there is a little boy in Tennessee who is smiling right now!

Today, John Michael’s class participated in the Warren-Walker Holiday Tea. This is a step towards middle school for his class. They, along with the 5th grade, travelled to the middle school and comprised the chorus. The band is comprised of grades 6 through 8.

Since Mary Pat is in town, she was able to watch the show. We were impressed.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We were lucky to have Billy and Katie visit us over Thanksgiving this year. John Michael was particularly happy his cousin was here to participate in some of his favorite (for now) things: Traxxis RC car, K1 Speed karting, and racing on a console (that Billy gave him). Katie and Billy were able to visit Discount Hobby Warehouse numerous times to buy repair parts for the Traxxas! One time there we stopped at the nearby Ferrari dealer where John Michael was shopping, either for a Superfast or a 488 Pista. The salesman there gave him a book that is not yet out for sale. Customer for life.

Two of kc’s students, Ben (from China) and Roderick (Benin) joined us for Thanksgiving Day and we enjoyed turkey, ham, sweet potatoes and more desserts than I can remember.

There was bad weather on Thanksgiving Day and Friday, but we were able to get out to some nice spots in San Diego. On Saturday, we had breakfast at one of my riding friend’s restaurant in La Jolla, The Cottage – wow, great food, ambiance, service.

It’s always great to spend time with Billy, but it was particularly nice to get to know Katie, a lovely person.