Here is the big picture news stolen from a text written by Ray: 12 3/4 inches of rain since Tuesday night. More rain next week. Soggy here, but everything is snug and warm. Lots of giant trees falling over here and in LA. Lots of shifting soil on hillsides. Soil was still wet from a…
Tag: Christmas
The Best Part of Christmas
Today, I headed over to our local Ben Franklin store here in Ojai to do Christmas shopping for my grandkids. Our family gives the kids a few group gifts that Auntie Rachael has already purchased for us, but I get $25 per child to add to their Christmas loot. Not that they get a lot,…
Christmas Morning at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood
We began our Christmas morning at Rachael and Andrew’s house in Covina, where we’d spent the night after an all-day Christmas Eve celebration with our family, most of Andrew’s immediate family, and our son-in-law Ron’s mother, Cindy. We had coffee and Thai food leftovers from Christmas Eve, then drove 30 miles to Hollywood to celebrate…
Growing Up with an Annual Post-Midnight Mass Bash
My parents hosted a Christmas party every year in the wee hours of Christmas morning after Midnight Mass at our tiny Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Bonham, Texas. This party was for all the church people and anyone else who happened to be awake and available for a party that began around 1 am on…
Will Our Family Finally Get to Celebrate Christmas Soon?
Covid has been a real pain for our family over the past month. Sarah’s family went down just before Christmas so we postponed our holiday together until January. In the meantime, Rachael and Andrew came down with it as well. Then on Monday, we were due to celebrate Christmas and our January birthday folks, but…
Conquering Inertia – At Least Today
Today, my two daughters – Liz and Rachael – looked at me and said, “We’re going hiking up on Runyon Canyon, Mom. Want to come with us?” My immediate response was, “Well, thanks, but no. My tummy is a little upset.” The truth was it was a little upset – not very much, of course,…
“Christmas-Lite”
Here is our little Christmas tree here in CA. We are going “Christmas-Lite” this year, working to shift the focus from stress and spending to calm and sharing. We are limiting the amount of money for gifts with family and having a potluck with friends on Christmas Day. (This is after having an evening celebration…
20 Minutes a Day 