Dec. 25, 2015---Christmas!

Today Faith woke up with a headache.  So I joined Angie and Josh and went to the Catholic Church in Lincoln City.  It seemed to be a really odd mass---there were no kids there!  I don't think I've ever been to church were there were no kids!  Plus the church was only about 1/3 full which is unusual for a holiday like Christmas.  After mass, we hustled back to the condo to see what was in store for today.  To our surprise, Tim and Faith had left already---to go look for glass blown floats on the beach.  The project, "Finders Keepers", began in 1997, when a local artist first thought of glass floats as an intriguing way to launch the new millennium. Lincoln City sponsored the project, hosting the inaugural season in 1999-2000. Tourists came from around the country to search for their own brilliantly-colored, signed and numbered glass float.  The project was such a hit that it continues today, running from Mid-October to Memorial Day – with hand-crafted glass floats being placed along the 7-1/2 miles of public beach in Lincoln City, from the Roads End area to Siletz Bay.  A few minutes after they got to the D River by Mo's Tim actually found one!  It was right inside the fence for the parking lot.  They had read that 100 more floats were being put out Christmas weekend.  They must have gotten there right after someone put one out.  Merry Christmas to them!!!

Their float came from Fernhill Glass in Astoria.

We all searched a few times, but that was the only glass piece any of us were lucky enough to find.  Now they have to call and register their float and the project will send a Certificate of Authenticity and information about the artists who crafted their float.

They decided to meet us in Dallas, so we 4 took off in the Yukon.
  It was a beautiful sunny cold day. 

 Some views along our way.

 Looking at Mo's from 101.

We did stop along the coast for a while to try our luck at finding a glass treasure.

 Looked like a great place to hide the glass, but we didn't find any.

 looking back towards the steps from which we came.

 more sea foam!

 There were a lot of people wandering around the coast.  Wonder how many were there for the glass?!

Soon it was time to be on our way across the coastal range to Dallas.  Even saw bits of snow.

 and low lying fog.

 and lots of cool barns

 even a car in a tree!

 A logging mill.  It use to have a whole lot more wood then this.

 into the Willamette Valley

and the farmlands

 even Christmas tree farms.

 We thought we were gathering a 2 pm, but noone was there to open up Ugo's for our family party, so we continued on to the cemetary.

 Josh brought a little bottle of Glenfiddich to share with Dad.

 Cheers!

 I also put up the floral arrangements I made from the thrift store flowers. 

 Back at Ugo's, Carolyn was still waiting for someone to open the doors.  Finally someone called him and found out they thought it was 3pm.  Kevin came quickly and opened the doors.  Turned out well that noone was there yet.  Angie and I were able to prep the salad and veggies before the crowd showed up.  We had lots of great eats and treats!

 It's nice having a restaurant that you can commandeer for family gatherings!

 Turned out to be a great Christmas gathering!  We've always done Christmas Eve with the LaBeaume family, but this is the first time we've celebrated Christmas with the Gagznos side.

 We even had 4 generations there of various ages.

 The youngest one.

 Love his little elf outfit!

 Presents galore!

 Justine trying to get the ball out of the maze to unlock his gift money.

 still working on it.

 Even Danny from north of Seattle made it down.

 Kevin sporting the "man bun" Katie in Colorado sent him.

 Janessa and the little elf.

 Amazing what babies can do with a phone now a days!!

 Finally got his money.

Kevin asked if the "kids" wanted to go check out the firehouse and ours were excited to go (even at their ages!)  So Nora and I cleaned up while they were gone.  

Angie took my camera and took pictures of their excursion.  Starting with their walk to the fire station.

Dallas has an all volunteer squad of which Kevin is one of the senior volunteers now.

 Looks like it is a bit of a museum too.

 Apparently Kevin gave them a grand tour.

 I was told Josh slid down the pole---looks more like he's doing some pole dancing!

They were gone quite awhile.  Tim said that was the best Christmas present ever.   It definitely was a Christmas I'll never forget!