It’s a New Year

Jill's Journal: It’s been two glorious blog-free holiday weeks since I’ve written and we should be wrapping up our time in Las Vegas right about now. Because, if you know Southern California and the Barstow/Calico area I wrote from last, you know there’s really no where to go but Vegas from there. And that was our plan. Really, it was. But, as I told my Mom, this trip seems to change our plans more often than a 10-year-old boy changes his underwear.

Long story short, we didn’t make it to Vegas. No, instead we ended up seven hours west of there on California’s Central Coast. The night before we left Calico, my sister called and mentioned how nice it would have been if we were on the Central Coast instead of Vegas for her birthday on the 21st. That got the ball rolling…

We stopped over back in Tehachapi for two more fun nights with my parents…

…before continuing to Templeton/Atascadero near the California coast to surprise the girls’ Aunt Kristi for her birthday. It was quite the surprise! The girls were sipping chocolate milk at a table in her local Starbucks when she walked in. So, so fun.

And then, since Kristi and Adam were hosting Christmas this year and the rest of the family was arriving a few days later, well, it just made sense to stay and enjoy one more holiday with these wonderful people.

One of the highlights for the girls was coercing Beppy, Grandpa, and Uncle Adam to do a craft with them. I don’t think I’ve seen my Dad or brother do a craft – EVER – so it was quite the picture-worthy moment. (It may have sent me and Beppy into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Just maybe.)

There was a highlight for me too…the Central Coast is all about a casual, outdoorsy, wine-tasting lifestyle and would you believe some of the wineries welcome horseback riders? My lovely sister had an extra horse for a few days and we stole an afternoon to go riding among the grape vines. Sweet. Last year she took me riding on the beach and this year at a winery. I could get used to this.

An afternoon spent on a little hike with Kristi’s Adam and Cobin the puppy ranked pretty high up there too. Our girls are seeing it as their personal mission to ensure this puppy gets plenty of kid practice before Kristi and Adam’s baby arrives in the spring.

So yes, it was really a wonderful Christmas season for us. And while Vegas can maybe rival the occasional 75 degrees (in winter!) we saw on the Central Coast, there’s absolutely nothing that beats family.

Merry Christmas!

Jill's Journal: Santa, in the form of Rob, came early this year and left me a pretty nice gift under the tree.

Well, not really, but Rob did encourage me to take a week or so off from blogging over Christmas and that sounds like a great gift to me. In fact, I just might have jumped at the chance. Allegedly, of course. Rob may (or may not) post a few times until I return in a week…or two. :)

Merry Christmas from our family to you and yours.

56 People and Counting

Jill's Journal: These two people…

…begat these four people…

…whose combined families now number 56 people.

The girls’ great grandparents – my Mom’s parents – bravely emigrated to the U.S. from Holland after World War II. Their four surviving children gave them 13 grandkids. If they were still here today, they would surely be enjoying the 24 great grandchildren those grandkids have given them so far. In just the next six months, their 11th grandchild is getting married and two more great grandchildren are due, so the number will undoubtedly grow and continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

A family of 56 people from one humble, resilient, and amazing couple…my grandparents would definitely be proud and probably a little astonished at how the family has grown if they were still here. The entire group gets together every single year, without fail, for a Christmas party. We’re the only ones in the whole group who don’t live in California, so we usually miss out. We last made the party in 2004, when Erika was just a baby and before our other two were born. But we made it today and so did every other single member of the extended family save one. I think the girls were a little surprised and delighted to find they have 2nd cousins – 21 of them, to be exact – in this branch of the family!

“House on Wheels”

Jill's Journal: On this Christmas Day, I’m struck by the fact that this is the last Christmas we might spend with extended family for a few years and certainly the last one we’ll have in our beloved little house. As sentimental as I am, I’m not sad about this. We have some beautiful memories and the anticipation of what the future holds. Can’t beat that.

Our girls have full knowledge of “the plan” and are excited. That’s a blessing in itself. Erika brought home the CUTEST thing ever from Kindergarten recently. For an assignment in her “writing workshop,” she drew a picture of an RV with the words, “I want to live in a house on wheels so I can see the world.”

Yes, I melted.