California Christmas and Beyond

I am in mourning.  We really are moving to Idaho.  Idaho is not a place I ever expected to call home, or even visit.  Yet we are leaving.  Friends and family fill our spaces and our time here in California.  I hate to leave them.  My mind is a muddle with the thought of it.  But we are leaving.

Christmas has come and gone.  It was our last Christmas here in our home.  It turned out to be our usual big family affair but I felt much less structured than usual.  I kind of let things unfold spontaneously.  Imagine that.  That is very not me.  But all went well and quickly.

CHRISTMAS:  Bethlehem Dinner organized by Cliff and Audrey.
Here is James (second son of Reed), Reed in blue head piece, Scott
(Reed's oldest son) and Cliff in the green head piece.  We ate
Bethlehem-ish food with our fingers and wore vintage head gear.

CHRISTMAS:  This year we had a pinata for the kids.  Layne cut it
in a few places to make sure it would break.  He apparently overdid it a bit.
The second guy in line broke it wide open.  So it was over too soon,
but still fun as the kids all scrambled for the goodies.

CHRISTMAS:  Here are most of our younger grandchildren
performing our annual Christmas play from Luke 2.

CHRISTMAS:  Ben's oldest daughter, Jacqueline, is playing a lovely
number for our annual Family talent show.  Every grandchild performed.

NEW YEAR'S:  At Truckee in our big rented lodge.  Daughter Jessica,
in black, is showing the granddaughters how to make friendship bracelets 

NEW YEAR'S:  Daughter Jessica's youngest girl, Peyton, is having a
snow ball fight with brother Miles and cousin Scott, located out of sight
on the patio above.

We spent New Year's in Truckee, in a big house that Ben and Jes rented.  I tramped in the snow with the kids wading up to my thighs in the white stuff.  Layne would not call that fun.  But I thought it was!  Ben and Jes payed for a skiing lesson for Ben and me.  Skiing is not something that I have ever pursued.  I've only attempted it once, many years ago in college.  I spent the whole day getting down the mountain.  That convinced me that skiing was not for me.  But the lesson was fun and I learned the all-important skill of stopping by placing the skis in a "V" shape.  After an all too brief review of the basics, we headed up to the top of the beginners slope.  I felt mildly confident that I could make it down in one piece.  After being carefully instructed as to how to gracefully exit the lift seat, I promptly fell backwards and landed on my head.  Hard. That changed my perception of the descending skiing effort.  As I looked down at the bottom I lost my confidence.  "Don't look all the way down," my instructor James told me.  "Just look a short way ahead and you will be fine."  Hum.  Slowly, with my skis in the breaking "V" position, I proceeded.  "Perfect," said James.  I felt fuzzy and a bit dizzy.  But, with James coaching me, I finally made it to the bottom.  "Want to go again?" said James with a smile.  Nope.  Done.

In the meantime, Ben went right down and returned to do it again several times.  He liked it!  So the lesson was worth it.

The contingency on our home has been lifted.  So we really are moving out.  To Idaho.  Our orderly home is now filled with boxes and stuff everywhere.  Everywhere we go friends greet us with, "don't go!"  I find it hard to handle.  I am trying to think of our new home in Star.  But I hate leaving family and friends here.  I would never do it if not for Layne's strong feelings that we should.  I trust him.