We arrived in San Antonio on the 13th of December.  One of our first outings was to the Alamo.  Texans take their history very seriously.  We never knew, but Texas was an independent nation when it was annexed into the United States in 1845.  For this reason, it is the only State in the Union that flies it's State Flag at the same height as Old Glory.

We love the Christmas decorations in shirt sleeves.  This is the Christmas Tree next to the Alamo.  You will notice a lot of "Lone Stars" and other Texan symbols on the tree.  It seems funny but we have yet to see a Christmas Tree lot in Texas.

This is Christmas Morning.  It was a very simple, yet very sweet Christmas.  We went shopping for each other just before Christmas, with a $25 dollar limit, and had great fun. The pretty girl sitting next to me seems not to have changed hardly at all in the last 40+ years.  It has been a long time Christmas morning has been this quiet.

We decorated our "Home away from Home" on Christmas Eve.  The decorations consisted of paper snow flakes, popcorn on a string, and a cheap wreath we found at a discount store.  Yet we can not remember every having the decorations seem so "right".  Living is tight quarters is pretty sweet when you can share it with your best friend.

A most amazing thing happened to create this Christmas photo.  We went to college and became close friends with Scott and Sue Shumway, who eventually had five kids. We celebrated Kim's 60th birthday with them in Tuscon, AZ, but had not spent time with the family since the early 90s when Robert (in photo above) was about 5 years old.  Three weeks before Christmas, we met their oldest son, David, in the Dallas Temple.  Then the week before Christmas, we attended a Ward in San Antonio, and met Robert, their second son, and his family.  They were kind enough to invite us to have Christmas dinner with their family, making our Christmas a most memorable event.  Robert has the most beautiful and talented family you can imagine.  They include his sweet wife, Julia, and their children, Shaylon, Caroline, Scott, Levi, and Jack.  They had the most amazing Christmas lighting on their home we have ever seen, with a synchronized Christmas Story and music that would bring the Christmas spirit to the most dispassionate scrooge.  Robert, and Julia, Thank you again for giving us such a beautiful Christmas gift, that of inviting us into your lives.  We will not forget.