It's Christmas Eve on the Julian Calendar... Sviatyi Vechir (Holy Evening). Christmas went well for my family. Haley, Dustin, Morgan, Mary, and Luvisa joined me for Christmas Eve Service at Judy's parents' church. Being at Christ Church Anglican brings back many happy memories of Judy's mom singing "O Holy Night" and Judy's dad sitting in the front row with his big cassette recorder...CLICK! Now I go to see the Opheim family friends like the Panells, Butterfields, Yobbs, and Scotts...and Judy's Aunt Shiela. Great memories. Following the service, we hosted the Christmas Eve service at my house. The Tallon family and my neighbor, Bridget joined us for some merriment. Luvisa kept us entertained. She is able to crawl with great ease now and is just a hair away from being able to walk so there were barricades around the Christmas tree and the fireplace. On Christmas morning, my gang showed up at 9:00 ish for gift opening. The girls do all the shopping for the stocking stuffers. They have their mother's knack for getting just the right little gifts. After gift opening, Mary, Morgan, and Luvisa left for Christmas celebrations at Morgan's parents' home near Shell Lake. Haley, Dustin, and I went to Dusin's parents' place for brunch and more gift opening. I came home for my customary siesta in the afternoon, then joined the Bartsches again for Christmas Dinner. Following dinner, I drove to Regina. My mom was with my oldest brother, Vince, for Christmas so it was good to see Mom on Boxing Day.
On Friday, December 28, my crew and I flew to Puerto Vallarta. We stayed at an AirBnB on the Marina. We had a great week. This was the first time I have not done the all inclusive thing. There were plenty of restaurants around the marina. We were only a 10 minute walk to the nearest Mega Mart; therefore, we bought breakfast/brunch foods to eat at our rental and enjoyed the various seafood and Mexican food restaurants in the area. I got to spend plenty of quality time with Luvvy while Mary and Morgan and Haley and Dustin took in some activities like the foam party at Senor Frog's and watching NFL Sunday at one of the sports bars on the marina. I also had a chance to show off my western two step at the Redneck Sombrero. Dustin, Morgan, and Dustin's dad went deep sea fishing on the last day. They were successful so they had a nearby restaurant prepare some of the fish they caught for the evening meal.
The Little Bug was a good traveler. Several people on the plane remarked about her contented nature. She made friends everywhere she went. She's way up there on the cuteness scale...aaaaaawww! Unfortunately, she suffered with a cold for the last two days, but she carried on surprisingly well...a credit to Mary and Morgan's parenting.
The whole trip went smoothly. We had such a good time that we were all sad to leave PV, but we were all feeling thankful for the good things in our lives like safe travel, abundance, and lots of love.
