Two Weeks of Christmas with Brad

Every other year our family gathers for Christmas. 

2024 was our family's year to "skip" the Christmas get-together. We missed them all, but Brad blessed us with a two week visit in My Corner of the Ozarks.

Brad flew into Springfield, MO where we picked him up December 22.  We celebrated Christmas day at home until evening when we joined Depee cousins at Aunt Donna's house.

At Donna's we practiced a Depee tradition of making taffy. There Brad visited a bunch of first cousins and first cousins-once-removed.      

Aunt Janet and Uncle Dwight hosted us at Branson where we saw a bluegrass group, the Petersens, perform. Brad plays and sings in two bluegrass bands in Kenya and has a special interest in bluegrass. 

 

Next was a post-Christmas concert at the Willow Springs Star Theatre by the Southern Ozarks Community Orchestra. Very fine music. Not bluegrass.

Our next adventure was a trip to hike to Greer Spring, the second largest spring in Missouri. Brad likes to hike and we like to take leisurly walks. But we made it down the hill to the spring, and most importantly, we made it back up the hill. 

Then we traveled to Lake Ozark to see the Brent Depee family and watch Dayne play basketball. Good fun!

Before taking Brad back to Springfield to catch his plane on January 5, we heard one more bluegrass concert. The Willow Springs Star Theatre hosted two groups, one from Mountain View, Arkansas, and one from Silver Dollar City at Branson. In Kenya when Brad (born and raised in Illinois) plays in his bluegrass bands, he claims to be "from the Ozarks". Brad's activities this past Christmas season surely boosted his bona fide claim to being an Ozarker.