Ray and I are back up in Ojai so we can be near Liz, Ron, and their new little son, Ethan, for Christmas. We brought Ron’s mother Cindy up with us (she lives ten minutes from our house in LA) so that she could be with the new parents and the baby as well. Tomorrow, the rest of our kids and grandkids will come up in the afternoon for our Christmas celebration. We will have Sarah’s childhood friend, Heather, visiting as well. She flew in from Texas this morning.

Ray and I attended St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church here in Ojai at 5 pm. This was our second visit to St. Andrew’s; the first was several months back when we were staying in the orange grove over a weekend. While the service is much less formal than St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood (which is the highest of the high churches here in Southern CA), the priest delivered a fine homily and all the people were warm. We watched St. Thomas the Apostle’s Midnight Mass on the computer tonight.

This evening, I wrapped gift after gift for our kids and grandkids. We keep our Christmas expenses relatively low by having a price limit on what we spend on our Secret Santa and our stocking stuffers, but it is still amazing how much wrapping we all end up doing. Our gifts are small, but there is a pile of them on Christmas morning. We also do a White Elephant gift, which adds a bit of fun to the mix. I always buy something I wouldn’t mind ending up with. I tend to be practical that way.

Wishing all of you a very happy holiday if you celebrate. If you don’t, here’s wishing you a warm, safe, and happy weekend.

Peace and love to each of you.

Here are two photos of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ojai.

The church ended up being pretty full shortly after the service officially started. This was early.