It's a Blanco Christmas!

Christmas Eve with the Blanco Family!

An Indiana Christmas!

Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas turned out to be a great time to get the Hathaway family together! The young and energetic stayed at the Latia East home where ping pong and "jams" turned out to be the favorite activities. Those of us not wanting to (or can't) stay up all night retreated to the "quiet" West country lodge!

The big family feast was held December 17th at Pat's Country Barn near Flora, IN. This was a great venue for the 60 some family members in attendance...lots of food and catching up. After the meal, Mom Hathaway read the Christmas Story while we all sang Christmas songs.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Once again we send our Christmas wishes from South Texas. It's been a busy year, as always, but we have been blessed to be able to continue our mobile lifestyle and have enjoyed our travels and visits with family and friends throughout the year.

2011 started off with a trek out West where we hooked up with Tara & Wayne (celebrating their 60th birthdays), Jenni & Dottie, and a SURPRISE arrival of Dallas & Christy in Needles, CA for our stay in Lake Havasu, AZ! We all had a great time hiking in the desert, a fun time at the Desert Bar, touring the Hoover Dam and a quick trip to Las Vegas!

After the gang left, Doug and I set up camp at Quartzsite, AZ in the desert where we ended up staying for two more weeks than planned as we traded in our 5th wheel and truck for newer models! What a way to move...they delivered our "new" home at our desert campsite and we spent several days moving things from one RV to the other. I thought we were going to have to leave some stuff in the desert like they did on the wagon trains but we managed to get everything in!

Back in San Antonio we got a surprise phone call that Dallas & Christy decided to get married while visiting friends in Naples, FL on February 25th! We were not surprised but very happy for them. Then just a couple weeks ago, we got another exciting phone call...they are expecting a baby in early June! This will be our 6th grandchild!!!!!!

Much of our time in San Antonio was spent at the Brown Coffee Co. and helping our daughter with three of our grandchildren...Caelum 10, Aden 9, Namen 2 1/2 (and one on the way at the time)! Aaron & Jenee's 4th child, Curragh Nathanael, was born August 2nd!

We had a great spring and summer in Indiana and enjoyed our Thursday Sportsman/Tone Bone evenings, cruises on the Madam Carroll, and lake fun with Tara & Wayne. Summer lunch outings with Fred & Faye was an adventure...Faye and I were on a quest to find the best breaded pork tenderloin in the area. We tried at least nine different restaurants and our No. 1 pick was Triple X in West Lafayette!

Of course, there are always projects and animals to take care of at Dallas & Christy's...and spending fun times with our granddaughter, Chloe 9! JuneJam2011 was a blast...guest "stars" Robin Littleton and Chuck Latia added a lot to our music sound!

We spent time in Oskaloosa, KS in July to help out after Dottie's hip surgery. Then we were back in October for a couple more weeks and were happy to take my parents along for a visit! We all had a good time and while there, we always manage to get some "gigs"!

We will fly to Indiana for the Hathaway family Christmas gathering on December 17th then back to San Antonio to celebrate with our family here!

Blessings to all for Peace & Love this Christmas and Joy in the New Year!

Love, Doug & Elaine