As usual, time escaped me as December washed over us like a daunting wave on the open ocean pulling us toward the shore of the New Year at speeds I don't consider safe. Maybe I'm just getting older, but that's how time feels right now. It seems there is never time to update with all the goings on if we are busy with all that activity. So, thank goodness for a quiet and reflective morning where I can take a moment to piece together what just happened.
In early December we decided that it was time to go get the annual Christmas tree. Rex had a special request noting that this was going to be his last Christmas at home before going off to seek his fortune in Southern California next year. He asked if we could go up to the Christmas tree farm where we used to cut our own trees when he was very little (that was before he joined a Boy Scout troop that sold Christmas trees as a fundraiser each year. Then we just picked up a Christmas tree every year while Rex was working at the lot).
Here's "Tree Rex"
So we packed everyone into the minivan and cruised up the hill to go find our little Charlie Brown tree. We brought Rex's girlfriend, Dylan, with us. She is such a treat to have over and just fits in with the rest of the family. Plus she brings such a smile to Rex's face.
There was much running around and arguing over which tree would possibly be the best one for our living room that year. Finally a decision was made. A few people were happy and a few people weren’t. Amira was still off looking for the best tree because she was definitely concerned that we had not picked the best one. I told her she needed to stop bad mouthing that poor little tree that was coming home with us and say nice things to it. In any event, I’m glad that we went up there because it turns out that the people who run the tree farm are retiring and this was the last weekend that they were going to be open, ever.
When we came home Michael went all "Clark Griswold" on the lighting of the house as Rex and Dylan and the girls hunker down to watch some Christmas movies.
Here is a photo of Amira with her good friends Sarah and Ruby just before the dance.
Meanwhile, Michael and I were invited back to San Francisco to have a little “jingle and mingle” with my old Washington Place friends. We had enough points to give us a free stay at a hotel near Union Square so we made a weekend of it.
We made sure to go down to the St. Francis Hotel and take a look at the incredible gingerbread house display is there. You know me and gingerbread houses. This thing was over 12 feet tall and on a turntable. It just filled me with awe. No, I do not aspire to build such a creation. But every artist needs an appreciative audience member. That would be me.
And here are Michael and I at my good friend Marcus‘s house. We are visiting with John and Outi. These are some of our good Washington Place friends that we’ve known for over 25 years . (Washington Place was a building on Washington Street in San Francisco where a bunch of us lived in our 20's and 30's. It was a tight knit community of friends who met most evenings for a glass of wine on the roof or mingled in each other's apartments with open doors often. It was what I imagined a college dorm would have been like). Did you know that it is really difficult to get a taxi from hotel in Union Square on a Saturday night? Yes, that’s always been true. But nowadays they don’t even try. It’s all Uber and Lyft.
Meanwhile, back in Chico, Valerie had her ugly sweater contest with the FFA and participated in the end of school festivities after working really hard on all of her school projects.
Here’s also a photo of her element, silver, that she had to create for her chemistry class. I think that Rex and Michael deserve also some credit for helping her with that engineering feat. It was a pretty good looking model!
Another big December milestone was December 21st when Valerie took and passed her drivers test. That’s right, we now have four out of five people licensed to drive in this house. How exciting! This has enabled me to take on full-time work. Now that I have some helpers to drive themselves around to all these activities and help drive Amira, it’s freed me up to try and contribute to the household income a little bit more. Really, I am just paying for car insurance now. Teenagers are expensive.
Finally Christmas eve arrived! While I was busy in the kitchen that morning, the turkeys showed up on the back patio to break stuff and poop all over the place. Turkeys!!!
We had Susan, John, Alan, and Dave over for the usual festivities. I roasted another Christmas goose. We really enjoyed each other’s company for a nice evening in. Christmas day was spent over at Susan’s.
The day after Christmas, Valerie and I left very early in the morning with her sheep mentor and friend, Carol, and a trailer full of sheep and goats. We followed Carol's husband and son and their trailer full of cattle to the Arizona Nationals. It took us a day and a half to drive down there through the smoky central valley of California. We spent the night in Palm Desert before rolling into Phoenix the afternoon of the 27th.
Our team did really well down there at the nationals! Valerie and her friends participated in a skill-a-thon and placed very well, 3rd out of 500. Look at these good looking kids (left to right: Josh, Sarah, Valerie, Hailey):
Carol devised a plan to have Valerie come to the Nationals to assist Hailey with sheep and goat showing and Sarah would come along to help Josh show his cattle. This plan helped Valerie and Sarah work their way off of this trip which would have been expensive to pay for in order to be down there to participate with their livestock judging team.
Here are a bunch of girls walking their sheep through the fairgrounds. This had to be done early in the mornings and late in the evenings each day.
Here are Hailey and Valerie early in the morning leaving the hotel to get ready for the Livestock Judging contest on the last day of 2017:
The team placed sixth in the Livestock Judging event. Look at this photo with that beautiful Arizona sky behind them! All in all, it was a very successful trip for these kids. What an opportunity! I am so grateful that Carol brought us along with her family so that we could have this experience. I’m very sorry that we missed a visit with Scott and Dawn. But I’m hoping to catch up with them in the future.
On New Year’s Eve we rolled out of Phoenix and crossed the border into Palm Desert where we spent the night. We were all in bed by 10:30 PM that night. There was no New Year’s celebration for us. We got up early the next morning, New Year’s Day for another long drive back through the central valley. We had to make a detour into eastern California and pick up some more sheep on our way back to the farm. Michael was gracious enough to pick us up late that evening at Carol‘s farm. When we arrived that night there were baby goats being born. One of the does birthed seven kids. Six of them survived, three of them were in the intensive care unit. But we all had to hold baby goats and keep them warm upon our arrival. It was a pretty exciting way to end our trip and start the new year.
