We used to mail out a Christmas greeting with a summary of the year’s highlights and some family pictures. It has been many years since we performed that labor of love, selecting a few photos and finding the right words to describe the events of the year we wanted to share. I remember it was easy to describe what the three boys were up to; it took a little more deftness of the personal pronoun to describe what Paula or I did.
We are the fortunate recipients of greetings every holiday season and I love reading each one of them. I avoid social media so these Christmas cards keep me up to date on who got married or had kids or went on a cruise. To all of you who still take the time to keep alive this holiday tradition, I salute you!
While I was bemoaning the fact that we had not sent out a card in years, Michael suggested I use my blog instead. Brilliant as Britain!
The first part of this year was focused on finalizing design of the wranch house and selecting the general contractor. Since September, we have concentrated on the house construction, as described in other posts to this blog.
We were happy to help celebrate a couple weddings and several birthdays this year. A funeral for a special person reminded us that we must live every day as though it were our last. And we were excited to welcome some visitors to Houston and to Encinitas.
Season’s Greetings to all from the Christmas Carrolls!
JP Ranch 
I believe the ten pictures that you provided, sums up the year fairly well. No need for a Christmas Card. For me, being a tad bit lazy this holiday season, I’ve teamed up with good old Jackie Lawson and her selection of all occasion cards. I can pick out a card, try to write something intelligent, go to my email list and hit send. How easy is that? The family pictures are priceless- but lets get back to the project at hand: THE WRANCH. The JP Ranch. I’ll make the assumption it’s the Jim/Paula Ranch. Could mean different. It’s marvelous. Keep up with the build pictures. No one in that area of Texas will ever know what a beautiful “wranch” house is located on that land, between the tall trees that surround the house. (I think that is a terrible sentence-but you get my drift) So long from the Tortoise Whisperer. Everyone stay healthy and safe.
ps I’ve planted the seed with the Russell Clan- – when the Wranch is finished, we will have to meet up thar!
LikeLike