We Survived Christmas

We survived Christmas. Courtney and her gang of ruffians came for a visit; the lads worked us over pretty good, but we held on. Looks like we just might make it to 2019, which is just around the proverbial corner.

Getting back to normal

I enjoy the Yule season. I love the colors, the music, and most of what accompanies the holidays. Of course, I don't care for shopping, and I certainly don't like the crowds. I'm always happy for things to return to normal.

When we worked, we really looked forward to this time of year, for we had about a 2 week break from work. We'd load the car and travel to visit family. Since we have always opted to live away from where we grew up, we usually had quite a bit of traveling to do in order to see family. But I always enjoyed that part of it. In later years of our careers, we were always able to set aside a few days to visit a casino somewhere, usually Shreveport.

Now, I'm ready for the holiday season to be over. I'm ready for kids to get back to school and everyone else to get back to work. I want my streets back. I want my stores back. I want my restaurants back.

Looks like it will be about a week after New Year's before things return to normal this year.

And poor Donna has been suffering a bit this year. She came down with something a couple of weeks ago and she just doesn't seem to be able to shake it.

Good weather for the most part

We've had some good weather for the most part. Daily highs have often been in the upper 60s, even the 70s on a few occasions. On Wednesday, a cold front did blow through late in the afternoon, bringing a little rain. The temperature dropped from about 75 to about 50 in something like 10 minutes. It was an impressive storm. It's times like these that we are grateful to be living in a brick and mortar home rather than an RV. Whenever we think about full-timing, we try to remember these times.

We had a beautiful rainbow after the front and rain moved through. In this picture, you can even see a double rainbow. The colors against the darkened sky were pretty vivid.

This is the north end of the rainbow. Again, you can see a faint double rainbow if you look carefully.

Napoli's Italian Restaurant

We have a new Italian restaurant in town, and boy do we need it. Yeah, we have Olive Garden, but in all honesty, I'm not all that impressed with Olive Garden. Prices are high, seating is a bit tight, and the wait staff always seem to want to get you served and out of there. I will admit I like the Olive Garden salad, but I don't care for their bread sticks, which are a bit hard and lack any real taste. I actually prefer the bread sticks at Fazoli's.

Our new place is Napoli's. It is located just south of the river on the edge of the downtown area. The decor is quite nice, and the service on the day we visited was excellent. The place has only been open a month or two, but we've been hearing good things about it.

Being frugal, we went during the noon hour to take advantage of their lunch specials. Donna ordered spaghetti and meatballs while I enjoyed cheese ravioli with meatballs. Our meals were $7.99 each, and that included a good salad, bread, and some olive oil with fresh garlic for dipping. The bread was very good, by the way.

Donna's spaghetti and meatballs. With the salad and bread, she was unable to eat all of her meal and ended up taking about half home. 

My cheese ravioli. Meatballs were sliced in half and were layered on top. The sauce was thick and rich. 

We don't often get out at night, but this is the type of place I would like to take Donna in the evening. And prices are very reasonable for the quality and serving sizes. We do have another Italian restaurant in town -- Joe's Italian -- and we enjoy it, but the food at Napoli's thus far has been a tad better and the decor is much better. No more Olive Garden for us. But we will still visit Fazoli's anytime we have the chance. We don't have Fazoli's in San Angelo, but whenever we are in Lubbock or Abilene, we stop in.

Moving past Christmas

Thursday was a pretty day for the most part. There was a chilly wind blowing throughout the day, but at least the sun was out and the temperature was not that low -- somewhere in the lower 50s. I looked at the forecast and noticed that the weather was just going to get colder in the week ahead, so I decided to get outside and take down our Christmas decorations.

Now, I don't decorate much. It usually takes me about 2 hours to put the decorations up and only an hour or so to remove them. It's not a big job. But I do get tired of going up and down the ladder. While I was outside working, Donna was taking down the tree and removing our interior decorations.

So, Christmas is officially over for us.

Another cold front

Near the end of the week, temps dropped. Friday and Saturday the highs were in the low 40s at best. The skies were overcast, and a chill wind blew both days. It was very wintry, the type of weather that just seems to creep into your bones and makes you cold regardless of whether you are inside or outside.

We did venture out Saturday for some bingo at the clubhouse. Donna and I each won one game. That's my first game to win, but Donna has won a few times before.

Then it was back home to our warm house. I don't think things will improve much in the next week or so. We even have a chance at more rain coming in.

This is my last post of 2018, so Happy New Year to all of you. I wish you good health, peace, and happiness for the coming year.