Christmas 2007

So how was everyone's Christmas and New Year's?

Ours was superb, as usual! It's always good to see Mom and get together with our family.

The photo at left is ALL of us kids and Mom at my sister Jeny's house for Christmas dinner! From left to right: Steve, me, Jeny, Cal, and Mom.

We arrived in Anaheim the week before Christmas. This was to give us time to shop. And why didn't I shop before I left, you may ask? Well, because Derek still believes in Santa!! Yup, he's 11 and STILL BELIEVES! Believe me, I'm taking advantage of this childhood innocence as long as I can! So, it just wouldn't look right driving to Anaheim with a truckload of presents now, would it? After all, SANTA is the one who BRINGS ALL THE PRESENTS! LOL!

As it was, the present I decided to be from me to Derek -- a new heavy-duty chess bag -- I had ordered online a few days before we left. I asked that it be sent to Mom's house so it would be there for me to wrap. Well, stupid me! I forgot I had a forwarding for me on Mom's address back up to Taos! Rats. So Derek's present from me went back up to Taos about a day before I arrived in Anaheim. And then in Taos, the people at the Post Office (bless their hearts!) figured I was in Anaheim, so sent it back down again! EXCEPT, they sent it back down right before I left back for home, so it arrived at Mom's about 2 days after I left. ::sigh::

Shopping was fun -- got EVERYthing on Derek's list, plus a bunch of stuff for Jake (my oldest son). Derek, Jake and I already had something from each of us for Mom, which we brought with us from Taos. Every year Taos has a Crafts Show Thanksgiving weekend, and I always try to hit it to find something special for Mom. Derek and I both found something unusual for her, while Jake made something for her (Mom still LOVES our handmade stuff!)

While in Anaheim, we made cookies together of course, besides shopping and going to Church together. And I did the usual little helping with things like opening jars for her (she has arthritis in her hands pretty bad), retrieve and then put back stuff from the attic, replace light bulbs, weed the yard, etc. It almost seems like catch-up when I go there; you know, like all the little stuff that has broken or needs to be done, is saved until I get there. It's nice, because then I feel like I'm not just a useless kid crashing at Mom's. And I'm grateful I can still help (I'm not getting any younger, either, you know!).

Oh, boy. Derek has grown since AUGUST. That's what -- 4 months? His suit for Church that I keep at Mom's was waaayyy too small! So we had to buy him a new suit, plus I had to get him new hockey pants and shin guards (they were both new this summer!). I already had to buy him new chest pads in November!

One thing I always like when I go to Mom's is we get to go to Church. And especially around the Feast Days (like Christmas) it's really nice. So we got to go to Church for Christmas, take Communion, and visit with all our "Church Family". I especially enjoy the people who have come from the "Old Country", and can spend hours just listening to their stories!

For New Year's, we went to the river -- that's the Colorado River. We have an old mobile home on the Arizona side that Dad bought in the early '70s. Dad bought the land in the early '60s, and we used to go out there to the desert on weekends, holdiays and summers. Before the mobile home, we used to camp on our lots in our sleeping bags on the ground. Gramma and Granddad used to go with us all the time, too -- which was awesome, because they both knew what all the rocks were and Gramma knew what all the plants were. I'm convinced Jake is a roundhound only because of them! He just adored Granddad, and still talks about him as though he was his hero.

Well, let me tell you about our week at the river. We kind of have a tradition of going out to the river for New Year's to have a bon fire. This is who came:

• The Evensens (my sister Jeny and her husband and 6 girls, along with two of the girls' husbands, 2 grandkids, plus 1 boyfriend);


• Uncle Bill and Aunt Jeanie (Jeanie is Dad's sister);


• 2 of Jeanie's boys and their wives and kids;


• Me, Mom, Derek and Jake

My brothers (Steve and Cal) didn't come out. Bill and Jeanie have their own mobile home. Jeanie's 2 boys each have their own mobiles, too, one of them being Gramma's old mobile that he bought from Mom (and is across the street from our mobile). The Evensen's have their own, also, and all their girls, husbands and grandkids ALL stayed there (!).

We left for the river the Sunday after Christmas after Church. Everyone else was already out there. The day before we got there:

• "The Rookie", or Troy (Jeny's second daughter's husband), just about killed himself riding a quadrunner. He was intensely instructed about the use of it before he got on it, told where to ride, etc. Did he listen? NO. Instead he just went nuts and lit out across a dirt parking lot that had telephone poles laying down marking the perimeter. He struck one of those poles, making his quad fly into the air, throwing him, and both he and the quad flipping end over end in the air several times. Result: a trip to the emergency room where he was told he had a broken elbow, broken wrist, tons of bruises and lacertions.


• Allison's (Jeny's oldest) little boy, Fox (3 years old), came down with strep throat. Another visit to the ER.

This was the day BEFORE we got there! On New Year's Eve (Monday, the day after we arrived), the wind started up. It got so bad, the community bon fire that was planned was cancelled. We also cancelled ours. Jeanie also was sick by this time, and so were one of her granddaughters. By Wednesday, Jeanie's other granddaughter was sick, and now so was Jeny's other grandchild. All had to go to the ER.

We DID get SOME visiting in, but let me tell you, with everyone sick, we not only wanted to stay away, but everyone was usually sleeping! So Mom and I enjoyed sitting outside watching and feeding all the birds (bird books in hand, of course!), and catching up on conversation. Jake took Derek and the twins (Jeny's) rockhounding and off-roading all day for 2 days. They all LOVED it! Thank goodness for Jake, or the twins would have driven everyone at the Evensens' crazy! They are 14 (15?), and have to do SOMEthing ALL the time.

By Friday, the Evensen clan gave up and started packing up to go home. The final straw was when they woke up that morning, they discovered that Allen (Jeny's husband) had messed up his back during the night -- so bad, that he could barely stand up! So he couldn't drive, which left the driving up to Jeny and Allison (Jeny's oldest). Now, Allison is pregnant again, and she's SUPER sick all the time right now. She says if she's not throwing up, then she has a migraine! But that is all of the people that could drive them all home! The Rookie couldn't drive, either, of course.

On Saturday, we were planning on leaving, so started packing. We found out that Jeanie also gave up and was packing up, too. She was just so darn sick! And one of Jeanie's boys, who had planned to stay another couple of days, also was packing up because their little girl was so sick.

So that was our New Year's week!