WOOHOOOO Christmas, 2011

OR
Maybe this should be titled;

"How the Jeep Stole Christmas"

First off, let me say, this was the very best Christmas Mo and I have had since the children were all small and all three were home.

So we arrived at Red Top Mtn SP and lo and behold there wasn't a soul at any of the offices. (Course it was Christmas Day!) The gate was locked, it was cold and raining and we were tired from driving. Well some poor camper pulled in behind us and Mo went back and told them if they wanted to get in they would have to give us the code cause we weren't moving. Well we got in and found a good site, set up and rested a bit before we went over to Michael's.....then Christmas really started.

This week had been being planned for a long time....at least by Michael and I! This was to be, drum roll here.... "Jeep Week"! Now if you never had a Jeep, or the desire to have one, then you may not understand, but it was big to us. Mo and Carin were both afraid we would be out in the garage all the time and Christmas would be a flop. We weren't going to let that happen but we had things to do.
Michael had just recently purchased his Jeep, an Impact Orange, 2006 Wrangler Rubicon. Now this Jeep was in near showroom condition but there is always something that needs to be done on a Jeep. He replaced the budget boost spacers with new springs to improve the ride and had the front disks turned to eliminate a slight shimmy. That was a couple of weeks before we arrived. Here's a picture of Michael and his Jeep.

So the plan for my Jeep was to replace the shocks, install Michael's old spacers in mine and get new tires. Also, raise the seats and replace the spark plugs. There were some other things that could be done too but we didn't want to push the time line to close. As it turned out, Michael was so impressed with the difference the springs made as opposed to the spacers, he ordered a set for our Jeep for Christmas. (He's a great person, Carin is blessed to have him. and Vice Versus) We had some challenges removing the old shocks but we got all we wanted to do done plus Michael replaced his speaker in the console that also turned out to have it's challenges. Here's my Jeep in his garage.

Our Jeep ended up with the new tires about 2 1/2 -3 inches higher, Mo had difficulties getting in and out so we got some grab handles for her. The finished product looked great, however, when we left Michael's house to go back to the motorhome we had soom serious driveline vibrations. We'd have to address that soon, (and we did) but on to the Christmas celebration!

Sarah, Josh and Samantha, Sam, Leah, Ollie and Oscar arrived on Monday and Michaels' children all got there on Tuesday. Carin's boys got there from their Dad's house so the house was full. Michael had rented a cabin/duplex on Lake Allatoona for Sam and Sarah's family that was perfect for them to get away from the caous that was sure to be. Having Sam and his family there was extra special for us all. We fixed great meals, told stories (drank beer) and had the great time that could only happen when a close family gets together. We opened presents as soon as everyone was there and together, we took a few pictures but there was so much going on that I missed the good ones.

This was Oscar's first Christmas and he's such a neat child he stole the show with Mo and I. (Sam, Oscar and Leah; Dakota and Shadow)

Oscar opening his present from 'Ginnie'; Mo.

Playing with the puzzle board.....

Oscar figured it right out, he's got his first set of wheels!

Abbey got the paper off, now to open the box. The biggest present there, of course!

Oscar meeting 'Moe' the dachshund.

The next day we were upstairs and the kids were downstairs, doing something, games maybe? Mo opened the downstairs door and shouts went up, 'DON'T COME DOWN HERE!' OK, no big deal , it was kid town down there, she didn't really need to go there. We all continued to enjoy the day and in a while Michael and Carin ushered us adults downstairs, into the dark. Mo and I figured the kids had put together a spook house or something. We were blown away when the lights went on and we realized it was a double birthday celabration for Mo and I!! They had decorated the place all up in black colors and made cupcakes and had presents for us to open. What a surprize! My bday was past and Mo's wasn't for another 3 weeks so we had no idea this was going to happen! The grownup kids had pitched together and bought Mo and I each a 'Nook' reader, we read a lot but would never have bought one for ourselves. (As it has turned out, we love them and use them all the time.)  So again I have to say, this was a great Christmas, we celebrated Jesus' birthday AND both of ours with the people who matter most to us.
We stayed in Canton until Thursday. We were sad to leave but we were scheduled to be in Pine Mountain, GA on Saturday and we needed time to get there and get set up, so we said our goodbyes and packed up to head south.
FDR State Park, here we come