Christmas with the Vander Ploegs

Sharon's family got together on the 26th. So we drove up on Christmas Day to her sister Donna's house. It's a little longer drive than to Des Moines. We were on the road by 7:15 am. That's right, before coffee. Had a thermos in the truck but still we were up and on the road that early. We arrived at Donna's around 4:15. We assumed 9 hour drive if we ate sandwiches in the truck. We estimated correctly.

When we arrived at her sister's, they were still celebrating Christmas with their children and their families. We were able to visit with them for a couple of hours and Sharon got to see her newest great nephew, Reid (about 2 months old).

Sharon and Reid


A few random pictures from the get together on the 26th at Kevin's (her brother) in Sioux Center. Kevin was smoking wings out on the deck so Verle, Lyle and Kevin were standing outside on the deck. Notice the outerwear. It's December in Iowa. We were loving it. Still missed some parts of Texas but the fact that we were able to get together with family out weighed Texas this year.




On Tuesday we visited Sharon's mom at the nursing home. This is a picture of her mom from Monday night at the party.


We left around 7am from Donna's on Wednesday and arrived back here in Springfield at 5pm. Stopped outside of KC for some dinner.

We worked on Thursday and Friday. Ran some errands on Saturday including grocery store. Enjoying relaxing and not doing much of anything right now.