The Rogers Family

After we ran around The Villages like a bunch of 60-year-olds without a care in the world, we finally did some Christmasy activities.

Nathan's grandparents, whom we affectionately call Memie and Pal, came over for presents and visiting. We all had a good time opening our gifts, with cakes and gift cards and golfing items and rocks the size of your eye being exchanged.


Elaine prepared a wonderful dinner with ham, peas, potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes and dessert. It was quite yummy and, if you can believe it, I actually ate the peas and green beans. Most of you know what a finicky eater I am and I haven't touched a pea in 25 years. But Elaine's pea dish was really good and I need to get the recipe from her.

Paul and Elaine's friends from across the street, Ed and Addie, came over to eat with us. These two are a hoot to be around and enhanced an already fun group. So we all had a good meal and then, in the true spirit of the season, watched The Nativity. I hadn't seen it before, but you know if I am crying at the end, that means I hated it so much and am sad that I will never get those two hours of my life back OR I loved it and was very moved. It was the latter. Great, great movie and I would recommend it any time of the year, not just the holidays.

Of course, there was more food to be had on Christmas Day. Elaine made a wonderful breakfast and I ate so much! Ed and Addie and Memie and Pal came over to eat with us and we had a lively conversation about Ed's disdain for grits.

We relaxed for a few hours (everyone was so full that we skipped lunch) and then went to Ed and Addie's for dinner. Ed made a rib roast and Addie made a strawberry shortcake-type dessert. Again, the food was wonderful!


After dinner, Paul and Elaine took us around The Villages to look at Christmas lights. There were a lot of homes that had lights except the big display that we spent a good deal of time looking for wasn't turned on. Lots of Christmas lights without electricity just looks cluttered and messy.


We left for home the day after Christmas, but that will be my next post. However, I want to make it clear that I place all the blame for the four extra pounds I came home with squarely on Elaine, Ed and Addie!

We made it to Nathan's parent's house in the evening and had dinner at CiCi's Pizza. Nathan's parents live about an hour north of Orlando in a retirement community called The Villages.

Now, if you don't know about The Villages, let me tell you all about it! When I say "retirement community," don't get the idea that this is where old people go to get away from noisy kids so that they can die in peace. This is a place where old people go to get away from noisy kids so that they can have an ass-kicking good time! The first time I visited Paul and Elaine in The Villages and after seeing the place, I couldn't wait to retire and live there myself.

The Villages covers about the same area as Manhattan and has about 10,000 residents, so it's not a sleepy little old folk’s neighborhood. They have golf courses and pools and social clubs and two "town squares," Spanish Springs and Lake Sumter Landing. There are plenty of specialty shops, chain stores and restaurants in the town squares so you can just park your car and walk around for a while.

One thing I noticed the first time we stayed with Paul & Elaine at The Villages was the use of golf carts as the main mode of transportation. It makes sense; a large chunk of the residents are golfers and with a gated community, it's safe (and cheaper) to get from place to place on a golf cart.

Everywhere you go, including the town squares and even the grocery stores on the outskirts of town, there are golf carts and golf cart parking. Below is a picture at Lake Sumter Landing and the entire parking row filled with nothing but golf carts.

The thing is, there are a lot of not-so-ordinary golf carts out there. Many of these people take their carts seriously. They soup them up, pimp them out and create some sweet rides. They put their names on the front of their carts; have Christmas lights on their carts; whatever they please. It's great!

Now that I think about it, maybe next time Nathan and I are down there, we'll take some decals with us to pimp out my father-in-law's cart. But we'll have to put some serious thought into what he would want... somehow I can't see him riding around with "Paul's Bitchin' Camaro" written across the back bumper of his cart.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Four Rogers in a Chrysler at Christmas" because I haven't yet told you about the wonderful food, the fabulous company and the beautiful lights.

Our first leg of the trip was pretty uneventful. We left on Monday afternoon for Georgia to see Mother & Wink, planning on arriving around 7p.m. We made good time - is that something that others do? Try to "make good time"? It sounds so much like the British phrase to "make merry." Anyway, we got to Mother & Wink's house, went out for some Waffle House and then came back to open gifts. We gave Mother & Wink a Hershey's Kiss Fondue set, DVDs and family pictures. Mother and Wink gave Nathan a Barnes & Noble gift card and me a DVD of the movie Annie and this hard to explain but absolutely stunning hand-carved wooden egg-shaped vase/jar thing. The picture below does not do it justice.

While Mother and Nathan very much enjoy getting gifts, and are very appreciative, they are calm and subdued when opening presents. Wink and I are quite animated when opening gifts (just see the pictures of me below and you'll know what I'm talking about), so I think Mother and Nathan enjoyed watching us get excited.

Wink is a big chocoholic and we added some fun flavored Hershey's Kisses to the fondue set for him to enjoy. He and I also got into a heated discussion about the Mythbusters episode we gave him (and if you haven't watched it yet Wink, they very clearly say that a passenger HAS NEVER and WILL NEVER land a plane if the pilots get sick), but I think all was forgiven. ;)


After gifts, Wink and I played with his multiple GPS units while Nathan and Mother visited. The next morning we continued south towards Florida. Along the way, we wanted to stop at a Wal-Mart to get a couple of things but we had a hard time getting into and out of the shopping centers we passed. So we pressed on, hoping to hit a store further away from the city. Well, we apparently stepped back in time because the Wal-Mart we found was this teensy store in Forsyth, GA.


It was the type of Wal-Mart from about 15 years ago.. small with no real grocery area to speak of. I told Nathan that it was so small that I couldn't navigate it. So after we left the Wal-Mart with our provisions, we soldiered on. Along the way we listened to two radio dramas, A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life.

Because I had to pee so much, we also stopped at a lot of rest stops, gas stations and a Cracker Barrel. The most interesting part of the stops, besides the grossness of the bathrooms where I worked on perfecting "the squat" (you ladies know what I mean), was seeing the clothing change the further south we got. We started out our trip in single degree weather and by the time we hit the last stop, people were wearing shorts. Thank goodness we dressed in layers.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Rogers Family Magical Mystery Christmas Trip of 2008" where we will discuss food, gifts, lights, golf carts and The Villages.

After many bummed-out Christmases, Nathan and I decided to pack up and head south for the holiday this year. His parents live in an awesome retirement community just north of Orlando, FL and we planned spent this Christmas with them. My mother and stepfather live just outside Atlanta, GA and as their house was on the way and we hadn't seen them in a while, Nathan and I also spent some time with them.

Before the big trip, we had our own little Christmas "morning" on Sunday evening and exchanged gifts.

On Monday, we headed south.

Shelly's Gifts:
Comfy Shorts, Fabulous Socks, Wizard of Oz Poster, Nashville Then and Now

Nathan's Gifts:
Dewey, The Library Cat, The Tales of Beadle the Bard, Candy from Sweets From Heaven

Okay, well, Christmas is past, BUT I do have pictures and stories to share. Nathan and I are still settling in after returning from Florida yesterday, and it may take me a couple of days to get myself together. So, if you're a reader and you're anticipating the next post, you'll have to be a tad patient. It is coming though!

Nathan and I were going on the cheap this year for Christmas gifts, so we decided to do a little holiday baking for some of the presents we gave.

Nathan decided that he wanted to make a gingerbread house, inspired mostly by the cartoon Chowder and the episode Hey, Hey It's Knishmas. It turned out very well and Nathan took it to his office Christmas party, where it was thoroughly enjoyed.

We both made Chocolate Cake in a Jar for family and friends. We had a couple of extra ones, so of course Nathan and I tore into them to check "quality control." Needless to say, they passed inspection.

Pictures are posted below, so I hope you enjoy!

We had the first snow of the winter season last Thursday night. It was just beautiful as always, so I snapped a few pictures. Needless to say, this being Tennessee, the snow was gone by mid-day on Friday. But it was lovely while it lasted.