Christmas this year begins with dropping off Millie & Meeko at the doggie ranch.  Not having to listen to Meeko’s high pitch bark for ten days will be the greatest gift of all.  Four dress shirts from Brittiboo and new house slippers from Karen rate a close second.  We open our gifts Saturday night before the thousand mile drive to Austin.

I suspect Ellie is pretty happy with these bindings for her snowboard.  The drive Sunday goes well in the Honda Odyssey.  Brit and Ellie play the ukulele and work on their harmonies singing non-stop, making the drive not much different than sitting around the house.

The winds increase in southern Colorado and persist through the Texas Panhandle.  We have the wind at our back through New Mexico.  Massive wind turbines are pervasive along the road, harvesting the wind in Colorado and Texas.  I know people complain about how these wind mills scar the landscape.  I’m in awe.  I see them and think about how humankind is leveraging technology to generate power.  So cool to view these up close.  We spend Sunday night in Amarillo where the girls become infected with the Santa Zombie virus so common this time of year.

Brit and Ellie work on a new song on day two of driving.  Brit already had a line or two and some chord progressions on her ukulele.  Together, the girls come close to completing it.  Play the video.  We eat lunch in Breckenridge along Hwy 183, and arrive in Round Rock by 4 in the afternoon.  Home for Christmas.