Christmas Day @ The Grove in Gulf Shores 2013

Well its' finally Christmas morning and its 6:30am.  I hurried up and got dressed and took a thermos of coffee and my camera down to the ocean to watch the sun come up.  OMG its freezing outside, and the wind is blowing hard.  It's 33 degrees F but with the wind its 23 degrees F.  Boy I'm freezing, but I walked down the boardwalk to the beach and the sun has not come up yet.  I walked back up on the boardwalk and sat down.  I took a few pictures as I waited for the sun to peak out.  Well it's 6:45am and no sun yet.  I walk back up and stand in front of the cafe which blocked some of the wind.

 After I got the pictures of the sunrise, I hurried back to the room to get warm.  When I got back in my night clothes Marlon  made me a mimosa drink. The drink was delicious. Christmas breakfast is always special~ Ameretta French toast with Ameretto butter and syrup along with sage flavored sausage.  The breakfast was the best from all the rest...........DELICIOUS.  Wow the flavor was so good......everything was perfect.

After breakfast we took walk on the beach it has warmed up to 45 degrees F now which doesn't feel bad out. Marlon wrote in the sand that he loved me, this made my heart go pitter patter, I love that man of mine. We took a few pictures and then went back in to get ready to go to Thurman and Karen's for Christmas lunch.

 When we arrived there were several people there that we did not know but thats alright I love meeting new people.  The counters were lined with good things to eat including some great looking desserts. I was happy to see Leonard and Carol was there.  We greeted everyone and then I gave Carol the gifts I had brought her.  During the transition of giving her the gift it got dropped and the coffee cup got broke.   Everything else was ok.  I gave Karen her gift of crocheted slippers, and the guys I gave them candy.

 Prayer was said by Leonard then they told Marlon and I to go first in line.  Karen did a wonderful job on the preparation of the food, everything was delicious. Leonard did a great job on the chocolate triple layer cake and banana split pizza.

I requested everyone to please get together for a group shot.  Finally Chasity figured out how to do that with my new camera.  

After lunch Karen was showing us these shots she had bought in Florida.  She shared them with Carol and I.  We had 4 varieties to choose from, I chose and orange shot and Carol chose Sex on the Beach.  The shot glass was divided with the alcohol on one side and the mix on the other.  Carol was hilarious as she tried to drink her shot. Me on the other hand just threw my down my throat. LOL  The faces she made made everyone laugh. 

We sat around and chatted about various vacations everyone has been on and what plans we have for the rest of the time we are here.  Marlon's birthday is in a few days on the 27th and Leonard and Carol's 50th wedding anniversary is New Years Eve.  Good night everyone it's time for us to head back out to our condo.  It has been a fantastic day spent with good friends and great food.  Merry Christmas and Good Night