Category: Television

Merry Christmas

I wish each and every one of you following me and reading my blog a very Merry Christmas.

My traditional family “Christmas” actually occurred 4 weeks ago in North Texas during Thanksgiving Weekend. For the past many years my brother has prepared a hearty home-cooked Breakfast for he and I, and then shortly after that we’ve opened all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree. Once they are all opened it’s time to watch football for the rest of the day and into the night – including for about an hour while we’re enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at around three or four in the afternoon.

(This year – we opened all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree two days later than normal – on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I got a bunch of gift cards, a very nice 365-day prayer book, and a Washington Commanders tee-shirt.)

On the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”) Christmas is done and over for me. Well – sort of. For the first 3 weeks of December I get to observe and celebrate bits and pieces of Christmas here and there by listening to Christmas music on the radio, watching Christmas shows on television, writing and sending Christmas cards and messages to family and friends from afar, and enjoying several Christmas meals with friends and neighbors. I’m especially looking forward to my third Christmas potluck dinner with 100+ of my neighbors in our clubhouse.

We all celebrate Christmas in our own unique and traditional ways. May you spend this holiday season with your loved ones. Make and share good memories that will last a lifetime. Honor each other. Love one another.

And let’s remember why we celebrate Christmas.

And she will have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 NLT)

The LORD saves.

Tags Christmas

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Church, Beef, & Eternity

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week’s post covered my holiday weekend time-period from Thanksgiving Eve – through Thanksgiving Day, and Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday.

We’re up to Museum Store Sunday now; although, this post has nothing to do with any museum stores. (Well since I mentioned it – back home – my Sebring Historical Society observed Museum Store Sunday by having our museum open for 6 hours to try to ~~get rid of~~ [sell] as much of our gift shop merchandise as possible to make room for new inventory.)

OK – let’s get back on track here. And let’s go to church – as a family. That’s what we did for the first time ever at their new non-denominational church in nearby Sachse Texas. (I wrote more about that experience on #SundayScripture a couple of weeks ago.)

After church me and my brother went to a busy Best Buy, and then we went to see our 2ND movie in 3 days. It seems as if every trip – either me visiting in Texas or my brother visiting in Florida – we end up seeing a movie that neither one of us was talking about in the hours or days leading up to it. Our “under the radar” movie for this trip was “Eternity”. I knew about it, but I never mentioned it because I didn’t think that he’d want to see it. And my brother knew about it, and he didn’t think that I’d want to see it. We decided about 90 minutes before the next showing at a nearby movie theatre to see it. We both enjoyed the premise of the movie. It’s one of my favorite movies of the year (out of 20+ so far), and my brother wants to see it again with his wife once it’s streamable. It was a fun movie with (surprisingly) lots of sight gags.

Fun Fact: “Eternity” and “Rental Family” (seen 2 days earlier) were the # 6 and # 7 movies of the 5-day Thanksgiving Weekend. Both played in far fewer theatres than the Top 5 movies above it.

Where’s The Beef ?: I almost forgot about it. Before the movie we ate lunch at a popular place called Portillo’s. It’s a Chicago-based fast-casual restaurant with almost 100 locations nationwide (and rapidly expanding). They specialize in Chicago beef. And I had some for lunch. I had the Beef & Cheddar Croissant. It’s a variation of the classic Italian beef sandwich that uses a croissant instead of French bread. It features thin-sliced, slow-roasted, rich, and seasoned Italian beef and melted cheddar cheese. It was pretty good. Very juicy !

And finally – I ended my favorite month of the year – November – with a great Sunday Night Football game on NBC – the Denver Broncos (a team I like) at my original hometown Washington Commanders. It was surprisingly an exciting and close back-and-forth game that extended well into overtime. My Commanders had a chance to win it by a point if they had converted on a 2-point conversion following a touchdown, but the conversion was blocked, the game ended – Broncos 27 Commanders 26 – and November ended.

Next #TravelThursday is in 2 weeks on New Year’s Day, and I’ll cover the experiences and events of the first few days of the new month of December in the Dallas Texas area. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Allen, Dallas, Florida, Sebring, Texas, Thanksgiving, Wylie

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Texas Bound

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week’s post ended with me waiting at my gate at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (#SRQ) and listening to the music that they play (rather loudly) from The Blend (SiriusXM) all throughout the terminal.

My Thanksgiving Eve flight to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (#DFW) boarded a little bit late, and it took off into the air a few minutes late as well. It also arrived at #DFW a few minutes late. It flew a nearly straight-line flight across the northeastern Gulf and over Louisiana and Texas. The Airbus 321EOW was not quire full – with a few middle seats unoccupied (including the one next to mine). There was also plenty of room in the overhead bins. I had an aisle seat 5 rows from the back of the aircraft. The flight was mostly peaceful and quiet with a few mild bumps along the way at cruising altitude (as high as 38,000 feet).

Fun Fact: An Airbus 321EOW is one that can fly up to 400 miles from shore, as it meets specific FAA requirements to do so (such as sufficient life rafts). “EOW” = “Extended Over Water”.

I met my brother at the Baggage Carousel. We picked-up my baggage, and we left for Wylie Texas (about 40 miles away) – with a stop at Kroger close to his home.

On Thanksgiving Day we stayed in all day long, and we watched football from mid-morning – through the afternoon – and into the evening. Oh – and we ate a lot of food too – from early-morning – through the afternoon – and into the evening.

A Thanksgiving Morning tradition actually ended this year. We did not open all of the presents underneath the Christmas tree as we’ve done every year in the past since my nieces have been alive (going back to 2010). There were no presents underneath the Christmas tree. But there would be soon, and we’d open them in a couple of days.

Another Thanksgiving tradition also ended. I didn’t spend much of the day packing and preparing for my return flight or drive back to Florida, as I had just arrived. No packing necessary until the following Friday.

And yet another tradition ended on #BlackFriday. I did not fly back (or begin my drive back) home to Florida. Me and my brother began our week-long quest to eat at different restaurants, shop at many stores, see several movies, and visit various coffeehouses.

On #BlackFriday we saw the movie “Rental Family” (starring Brendan Fraser). And then we ate lunch at “Flying Fish” – a regional fast-casual seafood restaurant chain. And then we went to a busy Barnes & Noble. And then we went to Target including a pitstop at the Starbucks inside Target. So that covers the restaurant, store(s), movie, and coffeehouse for the day after Thanksgiving.

On #SmallBusinessSaturday we supported a small business early in the morning – a family-run breakfast and lunch place in Sachse Texas – Woodbridge Cafe. They opened in January 2018. It was our first visit. It won’t be our last. I enjoyed cinnamon swirl French Toast, two eggs over hard, two sausage patties, and coffee.

Next #TravelThursday – I attend a non-denominational church service with my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces for the first time ever. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Dallas, DFW, Florida, Sarasota, SRQ, Texas, Thanksgiving

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Destination Wichita Falls Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 2, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week I begin a new 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. (I actually returned home just a few nights ago, but I’ll cover that in Part 4.)

I planned this trip back in mid-June, and I actually made my airline reservations for it a full 2 weeks before I made my airline reservations for the Northern Virginia & Washington D.C. trip that I chronicled in here for 7 weeks through last #TravelThursday.

I actually left home early last Wednesday morning (September 24TH 2025). After a fun (and regularly-scheduled) weekly social and lunch downtown with my museum friends of the Sebring Historical Society – I departed for Tampa. This would be my second trip to Tampa in exactly 9 weeks, and for the second time in a row – I stayed at the same exact hotel as I stayed at last time. Unlike the previous trek to Tampa – the weather was spectacular – nothing but blue skies and sunshine.

I took a bit of a different route into Tampa. I took Florida State Road 60 from Mulberry straight into the heart of downtown and out the other side, and then I made a right onto Westshore to my hotel. It’s a route that I’ve taken many times before to see concerts and hockey games, visit the aquarium, and even go on a cruise. (SR-60 runs a few blocks north of the Channel shopping, dining, and entertainment district.)

Fun Fact: From Mulberry westward to Westshore – the 35½ miles of Florida State Road 60 goes by several names – Canal Street, Brandon Boulevard, Adamo Drive, Channelside Drive, and Kennedy Boulevard.

I drove right past the front of the studios of my favorite TV station in the region – FOX-13. I watch them – particularly their news shows and personalities – more than any other station by far. (Sebring and Highlands County is an outer fringe county in the vast Tampa Bay viewing area.)

I made the right onto Westshore, and there it was – Westshore Plaza – Tampa Bay’s first enclosed and air-conditioned shopping mall. It opened a few months after I was born in 1967. When I lived in Tampa part-time from mid-1993 to early-1994 – Westshore was my go-to shopping mall. It was thriving back then, as were most shopping malls in the U.S.A. 32 years later – the mall is in its last days, as there are plans to demolish it and redevelop the 54-acre property that it sits on.

Once I checked-in at the hotel – the front desk clerk / sales director saw my address and remarked that he was born and raised in Sebring. We talked about what Sebring is like today versus what it was like when he lived there during the 1990s. (It hasn’t changed much since then.)

After a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast at the hotel – I took their shuttle to Tampa International Airport (#TPA) for my second consecutive round-trip flight. This time I knew what to expect, as I was just there for departure 9 weeks earlier. I had aisle seats from Tampa to Dallas (#DFW), and also from Dallas to Wichita Falls, so I couldn’t do my favorite thing while flying – and that is – studying the weather and the landscape below. Both departures and arrivals were early, and my arrival at Wichita Falls Regional Airport (#SPS) was very early – like over a half-hour early. I had to wait awhile for one of my family members to pick me up.

We’ll pick-up with the family adventures in the Wichita Falls area next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.