December 25, 2023: A Christmas Miracle: Wait for it...

Our Port Aransas Beach Christmas started out with a lovely sunrise...for the parents who were awake to see it out their bedroom window. I heard it was quite spectacular with the rising sun glinting off the waves, but I wouldn't know since I was sound asleep in my bunk. :)

After a delicious breakfast of sausage patties, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice, it was time for another seagull-feeding session, this time with goldfish and the remainder of my in-shell peanuts. I wasn't planning to donate them all to the birds, but the littles were having so much fun, I couldn't say no to their requests for more nuts. We also ended up with a whole flock of little blackbirds on the ground around us as well. The birds were very comfortable around us...at least until Dominic decided to catch one, at which point the rest took off screaming and wouldn't come back. Don't really blame them either :)

Surprisingly, no one got pooped on this time :D

I don't think the bird was very happy about being held

Next up was game-time with lots of silly family games Mom had collected from social media. Prizes consisted of marshmallows :)

Working in teams of two, who can blow the cup off the table first. (Dominic and I won two out of three rounds)

Who can collect the most cotton balls while blindfolded? (This was a fun one for the little boys)

Who can stack 9 cups first using only a ballon and no hands?

Surprisingly, I actually beat Dad, even though I had already played (and beat) all three of the other big kids... my jaw was tired and my oxygen supply running low, LOL.

Which team can move all their cotton balls from their blue bowls into the pink one fastest? (Check out video for a little bit of light-hearted trash-talk, LOL)

Our final game before being unexpectedly interrupted...who can stack the cups fastest. Maleah won with a record of 12 seconds, beating me by one second.

Our game time was suddenly interrupted when a familiar face exited from a car that parked on the beach near us. Unbeknownst to us, our dear "back-home" friends of more than 15 years were spending their Christmas in Texas also. The Mueller family had no idea we were in Texas, nor that they would happen across our RV while driving down the beach, but God brought our families together in an incredible moment of joy. What a perfect Christmas gift! It's been five months since we've seen any of our people, and while the D-Team certainly loves each other and spending this time together, we've definitely been missing our MInnesota social circle. There were tears, hugs, laughter, and lots of catching-up that happened over the hour and a half we were able to spend together before the Muellers had to be on their way. We will never forget the Christmas we spent in Texas, when God brought a very special piece of home right to our doorstep in a wonderful Christmas miracle.

We love you, Mueller family!!!

I would share what the rest of our Christmas day looked like, but we can't really remember much of what happened once the Mueller's left. We were all on such an emotional high and praising God for the unexpected blessing of a Christmas reunion that outshone the rest of the day. We're still talking about it a week later, and I suspect we will be for many years to come.

Only God can plan and bring to fruition such a perfect and memorable Christmas weekend!

Until next time, God bless!