On December 22, we headed to the Bay Area in this beautiful snow storm....
....with Lilly Lu and our neighbors Enid and Cliff overseeing the park in our absence.
It snowed a good part of the trip down Highway 5.
And then we stopped at Rolling Hills for our standard brunch at their buffet. During the holidays they set up this artsy ginger bread house.
This was the first time we had to wait in line to get seated for the buffet. A lot of "left over" new year's eve celebrator, we guessed.
We thought we might see our neighbor Karen there, but it wasn't to be.
We headed to Napa to visit with Nigel and meet Julie.
It's been a long time since we've seen Nigel, and have only heard about Julie. It was a great visit. They fed us a really nice dinner and then we headed to San Jose.Dec 23, we visited with George's cousin Karen and her daughter Traci and family. It is always so great spending time with family.
Traci, Mitchell, & Russ Evans.
At lunch, George, Mitchell, and Karen.And then were were ready for Christmas Eve.
Jenni and Michael with Shanna taking photos in the foreground
The Train running around the track under the tree with the villages.
Stan and Shanna on Christmas Eve.
Shanna on Christmas morning. I guess you can see she was moving rather quickly with her unwrapping.
I think this is really due to a setting on my camera, but it made for an interesting picture.
This year, the neighborhood did not put out the paper bags with candles in them as in years past. Christmas Eve was a very windy night and we assume that is the reason. The bags, ceremoniously, showed up on New Years Eve; so the disappointment was short lived.
It was a quiet holiday. We were happy to be able to spend time with friends and family. Branch wasn't able to join us, so that was a big bummer! We really missed him.
We visited with friends after Christmas and headed back to the river January 1. It was a smooth, uneventful trip... great day to travel.
This blog entry went from the snows of Klamath River to the oranges of Santa Cruz, California.
Back to the river and working off those Christmas cookies and fudge.
We stopped at Winco in Redding and loaded up on fruit and veggies. We're off to a healthy 2009.
Happy New Year to all!
luv/jo
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