We made it! Florida!

Well, we made it. After waiting for takeoff for an hour on the runway in Detroit, we made our connecting flight in Atlanta with only five minutes to spare. It was a little tense but happily we boarded just in time.

I finished all my Christmas shopping before we left and have wrapped all but a couple presents.

My three sons, who came on a flight a few hours later than ours, successfully organized the thirty some items from the giving tree we hosted at our church and delivered them all to the needy family along with everything they'll need for Christmas dinner. A woman is blessed to have sons like these.

Florida is so beautiful. Grandma is doing OK. She was very happy to see us all. We will celebrate our Christmas with her tomorrow. It's good to see her.
She is a few miles from the beach and that's where we spend quite a bit of our time. This year, because of numbers, the young guys (18-25 year olds) are in a hotel and the rest of us with Grandma.
Anne's fiance Zach was able to come along and that makes the ENTIRE family down here. I absolutely love it. For four days we are all together!!
Walking the beach is one of our favorite activities....
And there are always a few adventurers who will brave the ocean regardless of the outside temperature. I think it was about 65 here. No complaints about the weather here!

A congratulatory high five!
Then my rugby playing future son-in-law wowed us with this awesome cannonball in the hotel pool
Here they are--my six, and the seventh-to-be, Zach, on the left.

I have a few minutes now on the hotel wifi to catch up on my blog reading.

God bless you all in these last few days before the great celebration of our Savior's Birth!