Holiday Recap

Jodi and I had a great winter break. The time off we took almost reminds me when I was in school where you get 2 weeks off every winter. The time off consisted of 5 Christmas', chopping down trees, skiing, wine tasting, extreme snowman making, and Drinking a $130 bottle of Champagne.

Tour de Christmas started at Jodi's cousins house in Navato on Saturday. The Next day we packed up the family truckster and headed to the Central Valley. Christmas number 2 was at my Grandpa Harleys house. It was similar to last year, great home made tamallies, salsa, and other tidbits. As expected we sang Christmas carols, which was actually pretty painless this year. Later that day started Christmas 3 at Star and Hanks. Football came on, beer and wine was cracked and everyone settled into the holiday spirit. All the grandparent really spoiled the cousins this year with their gifts. One of the highlights of the night for me was seeing my cousins Dayton and Danny. They are working on becoming professional baseball players and I love hearing about what they do. They are built like Roman gladiators and make me wish I had more time to hit the weights. All I can say is these guys are studs. Danny brought his long time girlfriend for the first time, who was gorgeous and really personable. I wish those guys the best this year, it's a long narrow road to the big leagues.

The next day Dad and I got up early to go up to Bobs house in Squaw Valley. We stopped and got some coffee at the local store, which I agree they should have paid us to drink. I had not been up there since we moved Bob out, which was the last time I saw him. The place looked great and it was a crystal clear morning. The meadow below his property was sparkling with the morning dew, and the sierras with their snow caped peaks were visible just over the oak trees. Dad tidied up inside and built a fire in the wood stove. It turns out 2 buyers were on their way up to see it. I got busy on the side of the house cutting down two dead trees.

• Good News: Dale's chain saw had just been rebuilt and ran like a cougar
• Bad news: The blade was equivalent to a butter knife

I got the trees down and ran out if gas just in time. We met the buyers and took off. We got back to Hank and Stars and then headed over to Dale and Louise's house for Christmas 4. The food was unreal. Dale puts a turkey and a pig in a deep pit BBQ at his friends house every year. The results are a real treat. We went on our annual walk around the neighborhood and threw the Frisbee around a bit. We scored all kinds of gifts and Dale spoiled us with home made jams and salsas which I cherish like a fine wine.

The Next day (Christmas) we packed up the truckster again and caravaned up to Arnold for Christmas #5.

The Next day we sent skiing at Bear Valley. There was a little fresh snow and overall it was a good day. After lunch Adam and I set off on our own to get some runs in. As we pulled off the mountain and headed home it started to snow, and with the snow came inexperienced mini van drivers minus snow chains. The result? Lots of pile ups and a 3 hour ride home.

The rest of the week we went wine tasting in Murphys, building a mega snowman, and watching great football games.

Kacie, Adam, Mom, and Dad headed home on Friday and Jodi and I stayed to enjoy New years. On Saturday our friends Chris and Becca came up. New years was nice and mellow and we enjoyed a nice bottle of Dom Perignon 1998. I think there is plenty of good champaign out there for $40-50, but the Dom P was a nice treat.