Christmas 2003, Three Children Home!
We were so excited that the children would be home to celebrate Christmas and go to Bonaire again with us. Since Lori married Ron Fulmer we now have three great children. They both are still college students at San Jose State in California and flew home on Sunday pm 12/21. We picked them up at the Charlotte airport and went to the Melting Pot to enjoy fondue. They kept the Land Rover and dropped Susan and I off at home and went to spend the next two nights with the Kerchmars. Ron enjoyed the time with his mom Dudley. Trey finished his job with a law firm in Washington, DC and drove to Louisville to see Elyse and Dr. Weigel, spent a couple nights and drove to Spartanburg in the yellow Mustang. He got home on 12/23. I had to work teaching the night of 12/23 but got off early on Christmas Eve morning to sneak home with Lori and Ron's surprise ( more on that later ). We celebrated our family Christmas on Christmas Eve so Ron and Lori could spend Christmas with his mom's and dad's families. We had a great morning opening presents, checking stockings, and eating. Lori and Ron got larger presents than they usually expect to get since they have to fly back to California. We could see them looking at each other wondering which presents would be flown and which would have to be shipped home. The last present was an empty box with a note sending them on a scavenger hunt. The last clue was a message on the answering machine telling them to hold hands, close their eyes, and use all of their senses to try and find their surprise present. I pressed the "panic" button on the key ring to make the horn blow on their brand new silver Subaru Forrester I had put in the garage. It was a complete surprise and seemed to be the absolutely perfect present for them. That evening they drove to Morgantown, NC to see the Fulmers and then they drove to Greenville the next day for Christmas with Dudley's family. On Friday pm we flew to Atlanta to start our trip to Bonaire. Trey had to get back to Washington to work immediately when we returned but Lori and Ron stayed almost two more weeks. What an absolutely wonderful Christmas. Hurry up Christmas 2004! /Hugh & Susan
