December 8-9, 2016: The Andreas Bocelli Concert in Austin
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Our Christmas schedule has been pretty much the same for some years now. On the 23rd, Fred goes to his Mom's house in DeLeon to spend a few days with her. They exchange gifts, have a nice supper, and so on. On Christmas Eve, Fred drives over to Cleburne to spend Christmas Eve with his stepmother, Nina, his half-brother Troy, and Troy's family. They usually spend Christmas Eve at Nina's house.

Late on Christmas Eve, Fred returns to my house from Cleburne, and we have our traditional Chrismas the next day. I usually set up my small Christmas tree about three or four days before Christmas; I don't like to leave it set up a very long time, because with four cats, the potential for feline deconstruction of the tree rises the longer the tree is up.

It is Christmas morning now, and Fred and I are preparing for our guests to arrive in a few hours, so we've taken the time to snap some photographs. One of them is the picture at left, done with my camera and tripod. (We took a few pictures from this angle, and this is the one that turned out best.

Here are some more of this morning's pictures:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

In years past, I've done a turkey at Thanksgiving and a ham at Christmas. Between these two large meat dishes, I get enough frozen leftovers so that can have turkey and ham dinners throughout the upcoming year. But this year (and perhaps beginning a tradition) we were in San Antonio for Thanksgiving, so I did not cook my own turkey, so I bought one before Thanksgiving (when they are at their cheapest) and put it in the freezer to be thawed out last week and cooked today.

I always try to have guests for both Thanksgiving and Christmas; it seems a shame to cook such elaborate meals and have only Fred and I to eat them. This year, as we have done before, we invited Larry and Denny, a couple who are friends of ours. I usually have them at Thanksgiving, but we were happy that they were free this year. Our third guest was Andrew Mazera, whom we have known for a year or two. He works for American Airlines and, had already spent time with his family and so was a able to join us.

In the picture at right, Larry is in the armchair in the center of the picture, Andrew is nearest to the camera on the couch, and Denny is beside him.

When it was time to put dinner on the table (dinner being cooperative effort as both Andrew and Denny brought dishes they had made), Fred came into the breakfast area to get this picture of Andrew, Denny, and I.

During the day, I had an opportunity to take a number of candid pictures, and to conclude this Christmas page, here are some of those pictures:

The Pristine Christmas Tree

The Dining Room Set for Dinner

The Butler's Table

Tyger Under the Tree

Tyger's Close-Up

Tyger and Lucky

We had a great time at Christmas, and the Holiday Season brought an end to this year's photo album events.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	December 8-9, 2016: The Andreas Bocelli Concert in Austin
	Return to Index for 2016