Merry Christmas

Our three grandchildren playing together

David & his special quilt

Getting ready to open those presents


The Christmas tree before the presents are opened

I was going to post this yesterday but between having too much fun with the comings and goings of family, playing with grandkids and taking a nice long nap, I just couldn't squeeze it in.

We have had a wonderful few days here, topped off with a great Christmas day. Because we were so focused on making sure the Christmas tree lot was running smoothly we lost focus of what Christmas is all about. Basically the Christmas spirit slowly drains out of us during the tree selling season. It takes a combination of things to bring it back. Getting to spend some time with our family is the first ingredient. The next is our tradition of going to Christmas Eve church services at the church where Gary was confirmed back in 1966. We have been doing this for the past five or six years and it is so wonderfully festive and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. The final ingredient is watching the grandchildren open their presents on Christmas day and all the family coming and going. A nice treat was having our son and his family visit. He was driving down from Portland, OR and we were concerned that all the snow they had been having would keep him from making it down. Our Christmas spirit is now back in high gear. A few more days here playing with grandkids, taking in a movie or two and culminating with the birthday celebration for our youngest grandchild and we will be ready to head back to the country.

Ain't life grand!

All Done

The last of the Christmas trees went out the gate today. We still had quite a few left but probably sold as many trees as last year. The 100 or so trees we had left were split between being taken to the local recycler and being taken to another lot where they will be sold to all of those last minute bargain hunters. We had enough of those this past week to last me a lifetime. It's hard for me to be civil to someone driving up in a Mercedes and demanding (yes demanding!) a tree for half price. But I suppose that is how they could afford that Mercedes.

I'm not posting any pictures because it has been too wet and cold for me to even think of bringing out the camera. We have most of the sales trailer packed up (yes, everything on the lot fits in the trailer) and will finish tomorrow. We just got tired of getting soaked.

We will be leaving here on Tuesday morning and head across the SF Bay to our daughter's place in Walnut Creek where we will stay until Dec 29. We normally wouldn't be staying that late but our son and his family will be having a first birthday celebration on Dec 28. His birthday isn't until January but they will be heading back up to Oregon so decided to celebrate early with all of the California family before they left.

We can't wait to get back to the peace and quiet of Coarsegold! We've had enough of all the planes trains, automobiles, ambulances and the millions of people!

We're done with the Christmas tree season so...ain't life grand!!