1979

Christmas

Me opening Christmas presents

I drove up to Gainesville on my birthday, which was on Saturday with Christmas the following Tuesday.  I arrived in time for lunch which Mom and Dad always had promptly at noon.  My brother David was home from what ever adventure had had been on.  Beth had moved back after graduating from high school and was going to Santa Fe Junior College.  Brenda, Tom and their sons Kristopher and their new baby Jeremy came down from North Carolina later in the afternoon.  Mom and Dad just loved having their two grandsons there and gave them a lot of attention. Tom had just finished seminary school and we all thought he would be a preacher somewhere but he and Brenda surprised us saying, “they felt the call to foreign missions and they would be going to Austria as missionaries.”   With the all the kids and grandkids at home, Mom arranged for a family photo.

I returned to Melbourne after Christmas and as the year came to close, I spent New Year’s Eve alone.  As midnight approached, I watched Dick Clark New Year’s Eve on the TV.  As I laid in bed that night I reflected back upon the year, it had been a good year and tomorrow would bring a new one, I thought as I fell asleep.