DECEMBER, 2017

December started with the annual Kings’ Holiday Party with a chance to see some friends and family. I even had a conversation with one of Brian’s friends who is a professional Santa. The following Saturday was a funeral for my aunt’s second husband. More family.

Max had his band recital. They held it in the school gym and it was pretty crowded but a great performance of the band and the choir, with a radio broadcast theme. Then Karissa had a dance recital. As usual, the girls were so cute and the dances well done. We were able to celebrate at Red Robin afterwards.

I accompanied Rog on a trip to Santa Rosa to see some old high school friends, some of whom he hadn’t seen in almost 50 years. Dick Byce is down from Washington and put the event together at Willie Shankar’s house.

The following weekend was our neighbor’s holiday party. They rent out a local Italian restaurant and do the whole thing...drinks, multicourse meal..this year they even had entertainment. We sat with high school pals of the hostess and one of them is a professional singer. She led us in a couple of Christmas carols, then did one solo a cappella. Great evening.

We had the grandkids for a Saturday while their parents did their holiday shopping. This gave us a chance to finish up the cookie puzzles they were making for their cousin, Hannah. Max also came over to work with us on a folding stool he was making for his dad for solstice.

On the 21st, we joined the Blooms for a Solstice celebration. Eric served the best prime rib I have ever tasted. There was also a great stew brewing over the bonfire, sun bread and a yule log. We went over the next morning to open presents and enjoy cheddar bacon Belgian waffles.

Then on the 23rd, the Lloyd family joined us to celebrate the holidays with a lasagna dinner. We haven’t seen Rog’s family since last Christmas, so there was a lot of catching up to do.

Rog and I had a quiet Christmas Eve and opened our presents together. On Christmas morning, we went to Ryan and Beth’s for a scrumptious omelet and gift exchange. That afternoon, the Walsh family joined us for dinner. Turkey and prime rib with all of the trimmings. Nobody left hungry.

Rog got an unwanted gift this year; he came down with the flu. He struggled through the day, then crashed after dinner. I came down with it 2 days later, which gave me enough time to buy an artificial tree and stock up on meds. We had to cancel our 2 day camping trip to Santa Barbara and spent the final week of 2018 coughing and sleeping.