On December 18, Nancy and I began our trip to Mesa, Arizona, with plans to spend Christmas with our daughter Melissa and her family. Our first stop, just a couple hours later, was in Birmingham for an overnight with Mark and his family. And there we had an early Christmas. After dinner and before opening presents, we gathered for this picture. Starting at the bottom of the steps is our daughter-in-law Jenny. Then Mark holding Margaret (almost 3) followed by me, Jackson (9), Nancy, and John Michael (6).

The next day, beginning bright and early, Nancy and I drove to Ft. Worth, Texas. The only excitement during that day was the tremendous rainstorm we drove through during rush hour in Dallas. On Tuesday we drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and we arrived in Mesa the following day.

Yesterday afternoon Nancy and I visited cousins Ron and Judy (and Judy's husband). We exchanged some pictures and enjoyed a couple of hours talking about various branches of our extended family. I'll post a picture from that mini-reunion in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all.