What an enjoyable Christmas! I woke up early, El and Greg not long after, and, with coffee, we gathered in the living room to open our presents. I got some nice gifts, including a wonderful Rosemary tree shaped like a little fir, with a gold bow on top. Another yummy scrambled egg breakfast, and hanging out doing this and that. Greg had promised to make a side dish for dinner at his mother's, so gathered up his root vegetables, garlic bulbs, and other spices. He asked if he could snip some fresh sprigs off my tree--well, sure, and he did. We had lunch, then took off for Santa Barbara. Greg had decided to skip Carolyn's, as it would take him some time to prep and cook, so we dropped him off at his mother's first.
Lots of family hubbub at Carolyn's, into which we settled happily. Betty and her entire family were there: Carolyn and Dana and their two, of course, plus Steve, Robyn, and Dex, and Wes and his three girls from Chicago. I few friends came in while we were there, so it was great fun.
I had a bit of spiced wine, then we talked and visited for an hour or so. Wes then sat down with me to ask some questions about our ancestry and we got into a rapt genealogical discussion. I told him I'd let him borrow the book my cousin wrote on the Byrne (Irish) side of the family and he'll send me a transcript of the tapes my mother (Figenshu on the German side) made years ago.
Greg's family was eating early and we left about 4:00 to join them a few miles away. Had a casual meal of tamales and Greg's root vegetables (superb) with his mother, brother, Frnak, SIL Pam, and three sons from Minnesota.
This is a good-looking family, the boys ranging in age from 17 to 20 and all three musically gifted (French horn, violin, and clarinet). Frank looks like what he is, I guess, a gastrointestinal/something else doc at the Mayo Clinic and Pam is very attractive. She looks remarkably young to have boys the ages she does, and we had fun talking.
It had been tentatively decided we'd all go to the movies (I'm not sure if they play games) and we went to the 7:00 show and saw The Mule, with Clint Eastwood. He looks like Methuselah's uncle, but the movie itself wasn't mildly engaging.
Said goodbye to Greg's family and El drove back to Ojai. We sat up for a bit after, my daughter and I smoking some, but it still didn't seem to have any effect on me. However, I slept soundly, as I always do here and am enjoying El's good coffee as I write.
(I got up at 6:30 and had the privilege of cleaning up after Sebastian, who had had one of his frequent gastric upsets. This resulted in the emptying his internal cavity and injecting the contents onto the floor, via both ends--UGH!)
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