Christmas Week 2021

Mon.-Sun., December 20-26, 2021 

Perhaps the happiest week of the year, every single year . . .

Christmas 2021 was upon us!

We were excited to be able to host the family Christmas Day get-together again after the pandemic halted our traditional gathering last year.

But first . . .

With a shout-out to Debi Murphy for

telling us about these, Laurie prepared

incredibly good . . .

. . . pain au chocolates to get our week

started in the proper Holiday Spirit

How good were they?

Well the first three were really good but by the time I got to the fourth one after about ten minutes, it was only so-so.

Jacob playing catch in the back

yard mid-week reminded of . . .

. . . my favorite Los Angeles Ram

growing up in the 1950s,

Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch

Would you agree with the similarity on Jacob's catch?

Another sign that EuroBall 2022

is charging back up

Now if the Omicron variant would just cooperate . . .

Finally, it was Christmas Day!

Laurie's investment into making this day even more special always amazes me.

The Calm before the Storm

Hors d'oeuvres are HUGE in

Laurie's Christmas Day Game Plan

This year it included a special jar of

illicit French duck foie gras!

It was a BIG hit with all of those assembled and disappeared quickly.

Jacob will be taller than Laurie

by Christmas 2022, I'm sure

Laurie has always been the first milepost of growth for our kids, their cousins and now for all of our grandkids and their cousins.

At four feet, 11 1/2 inches, Laurie is not a huge milepost but an attainable first one on the way to adulthood.

Our niece Lauren's son Max

sporting some Los Angeles Chargers

game pants that we gave him today

Why the Chargers had pants this small in their NFL inventory is beyond me.

Leo, Max, Jacob and Mary

beginning the wild present opening

Laurie and Leo

Leo and Max are brothers.

Quiet after presents and a

sumptuous dinner

With my Mother Chuny and

sisters Marilyn and Linda . . .

. . . now joined by four of Chuny's

five Great-grandchildren, 

Leo (5), Jacob (9), Mary (6) and Max (8)

Chuny's missing Great-grandson, Kevin (10) was in Las Vegas today enjoying Christmas with his parents and maternal Grandparents.

We'll see him soon.

After everyone went home, we had one more present opening with just Vanessa, Michael, Mary and Jacob.

We wanted to be absolutely sure that Mary and Jacob both had every toy on the market this holiday season.

The Pokémon cards were

a hit with Jacob

A boy and his cards

What a joyful day we all had thanks to the tireless work of youngster Laurie Contreras!

Reading Is FUNdamental!

Hmmm . . .

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all ten of her Nordic noir tomes known as her Fjällbacka series.

This book is a stand alone book that takes place mostly Stockholm really excited me when I saw it on the shelves of the Mystery Books section at Barnes and Noble in Ventura.

Unfortunately, for me, this was not the page turner that I hoped it to be.

In my opinion, this book was far below Läckberg's usual excellence.

On to another book soon . . .