Let's see: We had planned to go to Palm Springs and Yuma to visit family for the holiday.  We left on Dec 20 went to Palm Springs had a great time at a resort and hanging around there with my brother and his wife.  This is where things started to get weird.  When we arrived at Yuma late on Dec 22 it was dark and the lights were not working properly at my In-laws.  Since my youngest son (17 yrs) was asleep we left him at the In-laws with my hubby's aunt and uncle there as well, then my hubby, older son and I went over to the house that we were staying at; it was just a couple blocks away.  At 2 am on Dec 23 my youngest son called my cell phone. 

There was a house fire at my In-laws.  My mother in law is a light sleeper and woke up smelling smoke.  The fire alarms never did go off.  Everyone got out ok but the place was destroyed.  My youngest son called 911 and the firefighters responded quickly and were very good at what they did. The structure is still standing but the inside is gutted.  We spent the rest of the vacation helping them recover from their losses.

It gave new meaning to the season of renewal for all of us.  I am very thankful for the life of my son and that of my In Laws (all jokes aside for the moment).  Nothing else matters...go hug your loved ones. I have been spending more time just enjoying my children's company this last week and we are all glad to be home safe and sound.

So we are back from the south, I had more excitement there than I was expecting and did a few things I was surprised by;

I dune buggied for a day in the desert with my family and a guide...Intense fun exploring an old abandoned mine, my first time in a dune buggy (luckily no one could hear me screaming when we were doing scary things or my sons would've made fun of me).  This was our gift from my hubby's parents for xmas.

I did not eat snake or squirrel (which were on one of the menus) but I did eat 'grits' and cornbread and I drank a milkshake made from dates.

I recieved a proposal of marriage from a guy who looked to be aprox. 90 years old...and had to turn him down.

Though we got lost on the way back to Palm Springs from Yuma and found an interesting wind farm in the process we did make our plane (cause it was delayed a couple of hrs) and no harm was done there.

All in all though the weather is dangerous here (-30C today) I prefer the safety of the north (though they sure cook ribs well in Arizona)