Merry Christmas from Naples Florida





sunset Christmas Eve in Naples



front entrance







we live in Wiggins Bay Villas



the entrance to our villas




Frosty even comes to Florida

Merry Christmas 2012.  May the birth of our Lord Jesus change your life, give you new hope and fill your home with the peace that only Jesus can bring.
We spent a quiet time at home Christmas Eve.  No little ones, which we missed, but it was our first Christmas alone and very peaceful and fun.  We opened a few presents, one from Aaron which is a sign for our camper.  It is very very beautiful.
We will have a special meal today and again enjoy the peace and quiet here in Naples.  Terry has usually spent Christmas with family and I have always done that so this is a change of pace.  Perhaps not for every year but for now it was right and we are content to just be!!  I can hardly wait for the smell of a delicious standing rib roast this afternoon.
I hope that the rest of this year will be peaceful and the coming year turns out to be a blessing in all things that you do.
Aside from Christmas we are busy trying to tie up loose ends on several things before the new year.  Also I continue to play some tennis and am so enjoying it.  Yesterday morning I played singles against Tim, a guy who is 55 and a better player than me.  It was a fun fun tiime but I came home beat!  I think 10 years mades a difference.  We plan to play again Saturday. 
FP coffee is gone.



Happy Birthday Ben

A year ago today Ben came into the world.  Happy Birthday Ben!  This picture was taken several months ago so he is much older looking now.  He is a handsome boy.  I think he will go far with those big blue eyes.

As cute as any!!



Faustina




Audrey




Ruby

 Some time ago I posted two pictures of this cute little girl on the beach.  Then I got to thinking, I have three little girls in my life that are just as cute, in fact they can "out cute" any girls!!!!
Kind of a normal week in the lives of Terry and Carmen.  As we all know the retired life is difficult as you never get a day off,   We did get off all of our packages that we needed to mail.  That was nice to finish as the gifts had been here for some time and we were just waiting for one that had been back ordered.  Some business things that had been hanging over our heads for some time seem to be near an end so that will be good.  Terry and I got in a little tennis as we will play in a social double mixed things this morning.  It will be Terry's first time playing this fall in a match.  I played three times this week, including a lesson.  I actually think I am getting a bit better.  It is fun to get out and run a bit and compete some.
We wanted to do something special on 12/12/12 so we went to Miller's Ale House where they have this lobster special each Wednesday.  We enjoyed a whole lobster, baked potato with a happy hour wine special all for $12.95.  We also picked up a refill on a prescription with 12/12/12 on it.  There is so much excitment in growing old!!
It is hard to believe that in seventeen days we will be into 2013.  It seems like a short time ago when everyone was concerned about the calendar turning to 2000. 
French Press is almost gone.

Beach Time



sunset on the gulf beach




little girls can't be beat




how is that for charming!!

 We went to the beach for the sunset Friday evening.  That is the first sunset we have taken in this fall.  What happened was there was this young family with these three little girls, maybe 4, 5 and 6 years old.  They were so darn cute it was hard to watch the sunset.  Made me more lonesome for Faustina, Audrey and Ruby.  Also made me think we need another little girl from Cynthia and Mike in 2013!!
We had another really nice rain yesterday.  I put a rain coat on and pretended I was 10 years old again.  I swept the driveway free of leaves so that the water would wash them down the street.  It was fun!! 
We went to downtown Naples to the Farmers Market yesterday morning.  It is kind of a small but really fun market.  Downtown Naples is a place we do not get to often as it is a high end place to put it mildly.  Sitting along the street near where we parked was a Rolls Royce convertible!!  I think that would make the Bentley's around here look a bit cheap!
On the way home we stopped at the Verizon store and took care of some business.  Terry finally got a smart phone.  Not sure why as she is so darn smart so this may make it impossible for me to get the upper hand in anything we do now :)
No the FP is finished and Terry had breakfast ready!

Happy 43th Birthday John

Forty-three years ago we received our wish, a red headed baby boy.  Through the last many years he has brought much happiness, some challenges and provided many memories.  Happy Birthday John, you are a credit to family, to friends and to God's desire for all to follow him in all we do.  I love you.

December???

Oh my it is now almost a week into December.  We do not have a lot of news from Naples but in the last few days we have:

• enjoyed rain today for the first time in about three weeks
• enjoyed some tennis as we prepare for a fun social mixed doubles time Saturday, December 15
• mailed our 68 Christmas cards out and are finished with them.
• put our Christmas scene up in a place we can see it almost all the time.  It is a good reminder of what Christmas is all about.
• finished our shopping and are ready to mail packages to grand kids.
• pretty much walked everyday which is a small amount of exercise but is fine for now.
• seen me continue to write each day and mail one of the writings to my siblings each morning.  For the last 36 days it has been a great time.
• continue to battle a strange battle with a rash that does not want to go away easily.
• made some decisions on what we would like to do in 2013.  We are hopeful that things will work out the way they look now.
• started to look at the first three months of 2012 to see if we have any commitments from friends and family coming to visit us.  So far nothing is concrete so our calendar is OPEN.

Like I say, not much new but sometimes in life that is a good thing.