RVing Fulltime with Tom and Ella

2018 December 20 Thursday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas https://rvingfulltimewithtomandella.com/

49° overnight with clear sky and very windy (gusts of 32 mph).

I woke at 4:30 this morning but lay there working on my various blog posts until 7:45. I got partially dressed and then remembered that it was Thursday. That’s the day I check my INR. Checked it and it was good. Then I called it into the reporting group who will send the information to my doctor.

This is the last weekday we will start at 10:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday we start at 9:00. Monday at 8:00. Sunday at 10.

Tuesday is Christmas and we can sleep in (I probably won’t) until time to go to he the he kids’ for a family Christmas.

The set manager was late this morning so we just sat in the storage area waiting on her arrival. We finally got going about half an hour late. Once we got started, it was just a steady stream of children and photographs. There were a lot of people who had gone on line and scheduled appointments. At this late in the season, that makes a lot of sense because the lines are going to become extremely long for the next few days.

I would never want the job of set manager because of all the uncertainties involved. Things like depending upon undependable people, equipment failures, and sales goals set by people hundreds of miles away who have little of no knowledge of the traffic in this mall.

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts

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2018 December 19 Wednesday

2018 December 19 Wednesday to in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

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52° overnight. The cloud cover acted as a blanket and kept it warm last night. That also meant fog this morning. And it was thicker than yesterday.

I awoke at 5:30, which is not unusual. What is unusual is why I was awakened. CPAP* hose came apart and my breathing suddenly changed. I wasn’t getting the amount of air that I needed. The hose comes in two sections that snap together or in this case snap apart. The hose had got caught between the bed and wall and when I rolled over in my sleep, it came apart. All in all, not a good way to be awakened.

We left for work a half hour earlier than usual and arrived about fifteen minutes later than usual. However, since we generally arrive with plenty of time for me to change out of my secret identity, Tom, into real identity of Santa.

This afternoon I changed from one Santa suit (Cherry Hill’s) to another Santa suit (mine). A family in the area lost their home and everything in a recent fire. Our future son in law, Austin, works on the fire department. The firemen have “adopted” the family and, with the help of Santa, delivered some Christmas stockings to them today.

They had an amazing story to tell. While the firemen were still at the scene of the fire, a friend offered them a furnished town house in which to live. That sounds like a “God thing” to me.

The sunset tonight was spectacular.

Once we were home I wrote a short piece for my newsletter blog. The other day I was looking at my hands. Okay, it was a very slow day and I was bored. But there I was looking at my hands and I noticed that my right hand and left hand don’t match. I’m not talking about the fact that my left thumb is about a quarter of [continue reading here]

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts

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*CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure ) therapy is a common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. A CPAP machine uses a hose and mask or nosepiece to deliver constant and steady air pressure.

2018 December 18 Tuesday

2018 December 18 Tuesday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

32 overnight with heavy fog in the morning. The fog cleared off sometime while we were at the mall. It was mostly cloudy with a sold dark mass to the north east of Austin.

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48° and fog.

Visibility was about a quarter of a mile. I could see vehicles coming at me, if they had their headlights on. If they didn’t, they could be right up on me before I knew where they were there. So I decided to take the toll road, that way at least I knew everybody was going the same direction. People were still doing 85 90 miles an hour. I slowed down further because I didn’t want to be in the same accident they were in.

One week ’till Christmas and only six days of work this season. And then comes the let down of not getting lots of hugs everyday.

I had a set of mirror image twins today. I remembered them from last year. They are identical girls about six, I think. One is right handed and one is left handed one has a tiny mole above the left eye and one has it over the right.

It was a steady line to Santa today. We never had more than about four in line and seldom had any time between.

We took time to wash clothes at the laundromat, on the way home tonight.

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

Random Thoughts

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2018 December 17 Monday

2018 December 17 Monday in Austin, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

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48° overnight and overcast. It reached 66° under clearing sky’s.

Here is the grand entrance where Santa enters the mall.

Right past the trash compactor and down a block long Jefferies tube.*

And here is a view of the set from Santa’s point of view.

Santa was gifted this pair of Christmas socks by a darling little girl who said. “I thought, since you give gifts to everyone else, I’d give a gift to you.” Isn’t that precious?

Not much of a sunset to tonight.

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

https://thethomasewilliamsnewsletter.wordpress.com/

*Trekies or Trekers will understand.

2018 December 16 Sunday

2018 December 16 Sunday in Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

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33° overnight. Cloudy this morning. It did a slow climb to 63° and was still 50° at 10 p.m.

Sunday morning and we’re not going to church. That doesn’t happen often, but today we work.

Because we didn’t start work until until 11, we had time to have breakfast at Hobo Junction. This is a treat for me because they have the best chicken fried steak I’ve ever had. We still arrived at the mall plenty early, somewhere around ten fifteen. I had plenty of time to get into the Santa suit.
As we sat and waited, we could hear the voices of many children. At the stroke of eleven I went to the railing above the set. A long line of parents and children was wrapped more than half way around the set. I did a ho ho ho and waved at them. Then I rode the elevator to the lower level.

Things did not go as planned. The mall opened at 10 and we were scheduled to start at 11. However, the photographer thought we were to start at 12. We didn’t know that until we started calling around. Santa went along the line talking with children and parents and apologizing for the delay. Ella went along the line explaining the various photo packages that could be purchased.

The set manager arrived at noon. She unlocked the cameras and computer equipment and set up the cash drawers. The first children were called in be and … and nothing. It took another 45 minutes to get there camera, floodlight, computer connection to work. The rest of the day was an endless stream of children onto we left at 3. The endless stream was still there but it was the second shift Santa.

We stopped at IHOP for lunch/supper (lupper).

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

2018 December 15 Saturday

2018 December 15 Saturday in Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, Texas

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39° overnight and clear. The high wind from Thursday and yesterday died down overnight. But the low humidity and high wind from the last few days has blown lots of cedar/juniper pollen into the air. This had triggered an sure wishlist sleet. “Cedar Fever” is no joke here in the Texas Hill country where these trees grow like weeds everywhere and produce large clouds of pollen.

As nice as it was too spend Thursday night at the kids’ house, it was great to be home and sleep in our own bed. Our fitness wrist bands monitors our sleep (among other things) and Thursday night it showed no deep sleep at all. Last night’s sleep looked like this.

My normal sleep is about five to seven hours a night and about half is deep sleep. We purchased these bands because in the first part of November, just before the Santa season, I promised my VA doctor that u would walk at least a mile a day. I have been averaging about three. That isn’t bad considering I’m paid to sit in a chair for six to send hours a day.

Sunset tonight

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

2018 December 14 Friday

2018 December 14 Friday in Cedar Park and Austin, Texas

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37° overnight and windy. Gusts up to 40 mph. And barely made it to 49° today.

Arik’s two dogs were on duty protecting us from the forces of evil overnight. And it must have worked for no evil befell us.

This is Bluebell. She is a strange creature that appears to have been assembled by a committee, her parts just don’t quite match. She is annoyingly friendly and incessantly sticking her nose into private parts of people’s bodies.

This is Zeus the hundred pound (there about) pit bull which is the most gentle and loving creature that I’ve ever known. He tolerates Bluebell’s overtly excited playful attacks.

This is the Christmas tree in A&J’s home. Strangely Mister and Missus Claus don’t have a tree, nor have we decorated our home. Well, to be fair, our home is always semi decorated for Christmas. However, we have had neither the energy nor the time for decorating … or even more than basic housekeeping since the beginning of November.

Santa got so much love today. It was busy from open till around one thirty when they was a little break for about half an hour. And then it picked up again. I had a group of about a dozen special needs kids (mid to late teens) come to visit today. I’m so blessed by these visits that it is hard to explain.

In a separate visit I had a deaf child with whom I was able to sign “My name is Santa” and whish him a “Merry Christmas”. I really need to learn more ASL.

I had a 2-3 year old girl that was screaming and kicking on my lap for photos … and that’s what they got. However, while Mom was looking at photos, I got down on the floor and slowly coaxed her over to looking at a book. As she became more comfortable, I was able to ask what she wanted for Christmas and about her Christmas tree etc. When Mom came to get her, the little girl gave me a hug. I wish parents (and the photographers) weren’t in such a hurry to get the photo and would give me a chance to make a connection with the child. I know. I know. It’s a business of selling photos but not to the children or me. It’s all about the visit with Santa.

The sky tonight on the way home.

God bless you and g’nite.

Visit my daily devotions blog https://MusingsDevotions.wordpress.com/

And my sermons blog http://ThomasEWilliams.blogspot.com/?m=1l

2018 December 13 Thursday

2018 December 13 Thursday in Cedar Park. Austin, Lakeway, and Liberty Hill, Texas

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54° overnight and totally clear.

I’m trying some variations on a photo. Which one do you like the most and the least?

All of them make my beard much darker than it really is.

A little boy brought this leaf today. How precious is that?

When we finished at Lakeline Mall, we were whisked away to Lakeway and Baylor Scott and White hospital to be Santa for the staff and families. It was 98% adults who sat on Santa’s knee tonight.