Christmas Day 2024

Monday, December 25, 2023

The sun came up into a bright clear sky this morning as we began a day celebrating the birth of the child that changed our world. 

Tom and I started the day with Mass at a beautiful small Catholic Mission Church, St. Thomas Yuma Indian Mission in Winterhaven, California. Of all the churches we attend when we are in the Southwest this is one of my favorites. 

They had three Nativity's set up and a lovely tree.
Upper left was to the right of the altar. 
Lower left was in the vestibule as we walked in.
Tree was to the left of the altar and a close up of the one in
front of the altar. All beautiful.

Left: St. Kateri Tekakwitha Right: Our Lady of Guadalupe

We came back home to celebrate the day with Kim, Ken, Deb, Riley, and Keith. John, John & Brenda's Incredible Journey, stopped by for a short visit. He and Brenda are parked just a short distance away it is always nice to see him and or Brenda. We started with mimosas, then enjoyed a lovely dinner in the afternoon. Ken cooked the turkey, who knew you could cook a turkey in one of those small ovens inside an RV but he did, and it was perfect. We all added sides and everything was delicious. Afterwards we spent time chatting moving our chairs to stay in the sun until the chill in the air sent us inside. It was a wonderful day spent with friends and I was enjoying the day so much I failed to take any pictures. The memories of the day, though. are firmly planted in our memory and will be there always.

We also spoke with our children and from what they said, they along with our Grandchildren enjoyed a special day. 

I went out one last time as the sun went down.

The moon rising over the Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

December's Cold Full Moon is not until December 26th

The last of the sun's light as a wonderful day ended in
Our Neighborhood.

We are glad you stopped by! Tom and I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas filled with memory moments to be treasured forever. As this year comes to a close and we continue to celebrate this season of hope we wish you days filled with joy and peace. If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

To All Our Family and Friends
Merry Christmas!

May You Always Believe in the Magic!

 Sunday, December 24. 2023

 As I write this blog this evening we are listening to Christmas music and feeling a little nostalgic. We are missing our children and grandchildren, plus, our extended family. As always this time of year brings back wonderful memories of past Christmas spent with our parents along with our siblings as children. Time passed and we were a newly married couple staying in a motel near home getting ready to celebrate our First Christmas as a married couple. It is so hard to believe that this year we are celebrating our 54th Christmas together. Some more years passed and we were celebrating Christmas with our children. I am thinking about going to Mass on Christmas Eve when they were little and hoping there would be snow falling. Back home we would bless the creche then put Baby Jesus in the Manger. Their excitement Christmas morning seeing that Santa had indeed come and brought gifts placed under the tree. Then life moved on and we watched grandchildren open gifts and fill the floor with wrapping paper and ribbons. These memories are all firmly planted in our memory forever. 

For tonight we feel blessed to be here spending this time with friends. These are also memories that will be forever part of our memory.

Top left: Deb and Riley  Top right: almost Tom, Kim, Ken and
Keith  Bottom left: Brenda and John

Tom and I celebrated Christmas Eve with the friends, Deb, Riley, Kim, Ken, and Keith, we are parked with and Brenda and John who drove over from a couple of pads away. What a nice way to spend time Christmas Eve with good friends and good food. Kim made meatballs, Ken baked bread and butter tarts, Brenda brought a taco layer dip and chips, Deb and Riley added cheese and crackers and we put out a dill dip with pretzels and cheese spread with crackers. Lets just say it was all delicious and we did not walk away hungry. 

The sun going down

on our Christmas Eve Celebration.

The moon rising over the Cargo Muchacho Mountains

Merry Christmas Eve from Our Home to Yours!

Merry Christmas Eve...The Sun Came Back

Saturday, December 23, 2023

After a day and night of rain we woke up to blue skies and sunshine Saturday morning. There was fog covering the Cargo Muchacho Mountains but that only added to the beauty of the day. After all the rain the floor of the desert was still wet today and we could feel the dampness in the air. The puddles were gone and the water was gone from washes. 

Below are pictures I took in the morning and evening. 

This wash is behind u and yesterday there was
a small "river" flowing by.

This morning we could see were the water
had flowed by on Friday.

Not long after I took the above pictures I went back outside and took the ones below. The fog was slowly lifting and would soon be gone. 

A Side Note for my own information:  The above pictures I took with my Phone and the pictures below with my Nikon. The last three pictures I took in the evening with my phone.

The little white dot is the moon rising over the
Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

The sun setting on our day.

One last picture of , a little white dot,
the Moon Rising over the
Cargo Muchacho Mountains.

It was a good day in the neighborhood and our numbers increased today as Keith and Oreo, from Ontario, joined us. Keith is a friend of Kim and Ken's and we first met him back in January of 2020 when he joined us when we were parked with the gang from Ontario at La Posa South. Looking forward to spending this time with him and getting to know him a little better. There will be pictures at some point.

Tom is feeling better and everyone else seems to be doing better everyday. Life is good in the desert parked just off of Ogilby Road.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Puddles and "Little Rivers" in the Desert

Friday, December 22, 2023

The day started cold and damp and as I am writing this tonight it is still cold and damp. We had rain on and off starting this afternoon. At first it was more of a sprinkle then it worked its way to a downpour which filled the washes and dips in the desert floor with water. Throughout the day we could also hear the wind blowing and as I write this it is still with us. It was a day to stay inside and that is what we did. Well, except for the couple of times I ventured out in the rain to take a couple of pictures. Tom, having caught what ever went through our neighborhood mostly slept and is now starting to feel somewhat better. 

As the sun started its path down today we could see a rainbow.
It was a double one but the top was so light the camera on my
phone did not pick it up. It was the second one of the day. 
I missed the first one.

Throughout the day we had blue sky, white clouds, dark grey clouds and rain. Our views of the mountains around us would be filled with shadows and sunlight one minute then dark black with clouds coming down on them in the next minute. When the rain started everything turned grey. Then the desert floor filled with puddles and I could see currents in the washes as they filled. Though, as I mentioned above, I did venture out a couple of times most of the pictures below I took out our windows or standing in the doorway. 

 8:45 AM 

9:20 AM

9:35 AM

10:55 AM

2:00 PM

3:15 PM

5:00 PM

It was about 5:15 when I went out to take a picture of the 
rainbow I could see out the window and I took this of the sun
making its way down. 
Trails of water can be seen in the sunlight.

I went out one last time about 20 minutes later to take these of
the sun setting behind the clouds.

The wash behind us.

Looking East there was some color as the sun set.

Looking towards the Cargo Muchacho Mountains to the
northeast of us as the last of the sunlight leaves our day.

Thursday, December 21, 2023

We had blue skies and sitting in the sun for a few minutes I could feel its warmth. On Wednesday we had Taco Tuesday and made the decision to suspend our "Twelve Days" before Christmas Celebration. Tom came down with whatever is going around and everyone else who has had it is not feeling 100% so it was the best decision for the group at this time. 

I decided to place a curbside order and run in to pick that up and a couple of other things. When I got back Tom and I took the water bladder over to the rest area to get water. When we got back we stood outside with Deb, Ken, and Kim and chatted for a couple of minutes.  That was pretty much our day. 

I sat outside for a few minutes this morning

looking out at these views and thought

about how lucky we are to be parked in this beautiful place.

Coming back from my errands I could see the clouds casting
shadows on the Cargo Muchacho Mountains and the
Ogilby Hills. I turned down the American Girl Mine Road
to take the above pictures.

These two pictures of the Cargo Muchacho Mountains I stopped
and took as I was heading to our home.
Do you see the bow in the top picture?

The top picture I took as we were headed out to get water.
In the top picture do you see the puppy?
The bottom on I took on the way back 
the clouds were a lovely pink.

Thursday's sunset.

These last two have been a little different here in the neighborhood; no Happy Hours but hopefully everyone is on the mend and will soon be 100%. 

As I am finishing up this blog I can again hear the rain coming down outside. Not complaining, I am hoping this rain will encourage the Ocotillos to start sprouting their little green leaves.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.