The grandchildren love to have PAPA read Uncle Remus stories about Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.

Seven grandchildren filled the house.

Christmas dinner for 13 filled our table.

The cousins had fun also.

Christmas with family, WA & Fort Bragg

What a wonderful time celebrating with the whole family except Christopher. He was really missed but he sent lots of gifts to remind us of him. Here are a few gifts he sent.

Home Church Christmas Party

Here is most of our gang having a wonderful time of celebrating Christmas.

Fort Bragg Grandkids

We had such a wonderful visit even though it was short but they will be back for Christmas. We are so bless.

Papa read to us.

Ben and Jonny love to have Papa read to them.

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn loves to read every book in the house. She is taller than her mom and Nana.

Visit from Amy, Kaitlyn, Ben and Jonny.

What a fun time with the Fort Bragg Reed's except Jeff had to work. Kaitlyn went on a field trip to Humboldt State University with her class. Ben and Jonny helped Papa recycle, and had lunch at the Oriental Buffet. They all helped decorate Nana and Papa's Christmas tree.

Good friends and good food.

We had such a wonderful time with our friends who attend a House Church.

Levi

Levi broke his arm last summer but it does not keep him from being active.

Rachael and Elijah

Rachael just turned 5 and Elijah is 3. There is a lot of energy in the WA Reed household.

Jesse and Nana

Jesse and Nana play lots of games he got a trophy when he beat Nana at Chess.

Washington Reed family

Matt and Terri have a so much fun with their family. Terri is home schooling the children and Matt is a Family Pastor with a lot of other part time jobs.

Yeah! Uncle Christopher!

There was a lot of excitement when Uncle Christopher was able to spend a few days with us.

Rachael's 5th birthday was a fun time with lots of friends.

Resent times with our Grandkids

Hear we are with the Washington gang for Thanksgiving.

Happy to be home.

We are home and getting back into the routine and making plans to go north to Washington State for Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to seeing Christopher and Matt & Terri, Jesse, Levi, Rachael and Elijah. The picture we are posting was taken by our friend Bob Black after a nice evening with him and Helen. Thank you Bob.

Family Heritage

One of our real highlights of the trip east was the discovery of the grave sites of some of Tom and Dave's distant ancestors. We found the cemetery where Sherdin Vaughn, a great, great, great-grandfather is buried in Fairview, Ohio. But a few miles away we found the actual stones for John and Elizabeth Allison, other great, great, great-grandparents. The amazing discovery, however, was the actual stone marking the resting place of Jesse Stewart, a great, great, great, great-grandfather and veteran of the War of 1812, at the River Hill Cemetery three miles out of Port Washington, Ohio. With the help of Tom Gardner, the village mayor, who hadn't even knowledge of this remote and untended cemetery, the actual stone still stands and was legible. Jesse Stewart is now only the second veteran of that distant war known in the area. His grave will now be marked for recognition at future memorial and veterans days.

Blast at Fort Bragg

While visiting Michigan we learned of an explosion that rocked Cleone, injured Jeff, and left a house less than 100 yards from his park office demolished. Jeff was just leaving the office to investigate a strong propane odor when the blast occurred. Praise the Lord Jeff was not more injured and another neighbor will survive.

Fabulous Four Day Visit to Washington DC

Our four days in Washington were great with Dave and Sue. Elizabeth accompanied us as well to many great and historic places: Mount Vernon, Tom and Dave on the steps of the capital, Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials and the Iwo Jima monument were just a few of the examples. Fabulous weather and fabulous fatigue every day.

Stopping to See the Wolfs

Obviously some of the genetics of Brother Dave.

From the Sublime to the Rediculous

Travel involves many experiences. The top photo would be Tom's style, the bottom pic speaks for itself.

Rand, Colorado

During our cross country travel in September we stopped to see the log house built by Tom's grandfather outside Rand, CO, in the early 1900's when he homesteaded a ranch there. Tom even found an open window, and we explored the interior. We'd been told by the neighbors the present owner wouldn't mind. We left info about the ranch early history. What a treat to see the house and land.