Christmas Trip, Return and New Years

We left home on Saturday the 19th. Peggy battled the traffic into Sacramento while Marty napped on the back seat. Then we switched. Peggy correctly predicted fog after Sparks. We slowed down and drove on through the night. The front of the car grew thick with frost, which seemed interesting to Marty. We picked up a couple of nice gifts at a truck stop in Wells Nevada, who knew?

Sam and Lily were great. Sam enjoyed telling his mom how nice she was. Christmas Eve was celebrated at "other one grandma's". (It's great to have such nice in-laws! Thanks, Barbara Lynn, Beverly, Barbara, Johnny and Charlie!) Sam and Lily both got inflatable sleds. Lily needed to try her sled out. So Marty blew it up and took her out to the front yard. Marty pushed her down the gentle slope--she couldn't get enough. Sam had a couple of good runs, but it was Lily who just wanted to go and go. So Saturday Marty took Lily sledding. She laughed and giggled every run, until she rolled off and bumped her head. But after crying all the way back up, with Marty carrying her, she wanted to go again. Two last runs under a bright moon, and Lily decided it was too cold. So we warmed up at "other one grandma's."

Sam was enjoying his new DSi (electronic game, camera, drawing thing and it even has a web browser) most of the week. It kept him occupied while the grownups shopped.

We had a quick visit with the Andreasens (Hi Andreasens!), fixed Kristin's computer connection to her printer and visited with the Clifts who were in Utah. (Hi, Clifts who were in Utah!)

The drive home was smooth until the pass. It was snowing, but the road was clear. It was just slow and nerve wracking with lots of snow, rain and fog.

Tuesday, we celebrated Christmas with the Johnsons. Ben's enjoyment of toy trains was the primary fun; including watching a video he received with a Thomas the Tank Engine episode.

Kathy and Peggy got another transcription job from Napa. Those are done verbatim. Kathy types them out and Peggy gives them a second pass--probably the most accurate transcription work ever done (what can we say?). They also get paid nicely for their work.

For Marty, it was back to work. He had to finish the "Employee Performance Reviews" by the end of the year, get some documents off to the State and figure out how to fix a leaking flange and a few other odds and ends.

We celebrated New Years by watching TV and writing this blog!

Happy New Year to you!