December 2024

Rog started the month with a trip to San Francisco to visit his karate mentor, JIm Sagawa. What should be a 2 hr trip took them 4 ½ hours to get home, Exhausting. But he cherishes his limited time with Jim. The Kings had their annual Christmas party. It is my chance to catch up with my cousin, Paul, and his wife, June. I also got to know Brian’s cousins. And the house was beautifully decorated, as usual. We went to Nordstrom’s for dinner and cards. It was our lucky night…I won the first game and Rog won the second. We went home with the trophy. Mid month, Karissa performed in her school play, Beauty and the Beast. She had a number of parts and did such an awesome job. We went to her final performance on Saturday night and brought along a surprise. Max had flown home that morning, after Karissa had already left for preparation for the matinee performance. She certainly didn’t expect to see him. A great ending to a week of very hard work.

Rog continues work on the tree he is carving for the bathroom window. He is so doggone artistic. It takes incredible patience and talent.

On the 21st, the rain let up and let us enjoy the Solstice bonfire at the Blooms. Great stew, homemade bread and yule log. A perfect evening.

The next morning, we returned to the Blooms for gifts. Always fun to watch the kids open their gifts. Of course they had their usual scavenger hunts for their main gift. Because Solstice was on a Saturday this year, Ryan and Beth were able to join us. So, fun for all.

That afternoon, we all got together with the other Lloyds for the annual holiday lasagna dinner.at our place. There were 15 of us, so quite the crowd. After dinner, Beth had organized a couple of wild games for us. Quite the chaos and a lot of fun.

On the 23rd, we drove down to Modesto to meet our old cruising friends, Ken and Roberta, for lunch at Mimi’s. They drove up from visiting family in Fresno. It was so good to see them. It was like there has not been a 10 year period since we last saw them. They haven’t changed a bit. Rog and I exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve with popcorn and cheesy Christmas movies. On Christmas morning, we had breakfast at Ryan and Beth’s. Mary joined us and we enjoyed a delicious meal of breakfast croissants. In the afternoon, everyone came over for Christmas Dinner at our place. I cooked a prime rib in the oven while Rog cooked the turkey on the grill. Beth brought the saran ball for a wild time and we also played Reindeer Paws.

We said goodbye to 2024 at Aikido with a potluck get together. On to 2025!!!.