I Missed My Puppies!

I worried about them constantly, and unnecessarily, apparently. The kennel said they did really well while we were gone, but they seem to be glad to be home.

The rest of us are glad to be home, too, with the possible exception of John, who went back to work today. It was a good family-ful trip. Other than Uncle Dave (dare I say wired Uncle Dave?) and Connie's son Richard and his family, all the kids, grandkids and great grandkids made it to Texas for Christmas. We haven't seen the Kentucky Hamills in seven years, and lets just say the kids had grown a little. It was great to see everyone, but mostly we were there to see Grandma:

Besides burying her in gift on Christmas morning, we had some very good visiting time. She was born in 1908, and there doesn't seem to be too much of her life she can't remember. It was good to revisit the stories we had heard before, and to hear some ones that were new to us. She can remember her grandfather telling her about the Civil War battle at Harper's Ferry. She pointed out a lot of family members who died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. She's a neat lady and we love her dearly.