There is something about the holidays that make us all want to hunker down around hearth and home. This year, nature is cooperating in that program by delivering what looks to be a four day stretch of foul weather to our hilltop and the surrounding county. That foul weather is starting today and running through Friday, which means it will engulf Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and what the Brits like to call Boxing Day. Kim’s sister Sharon and her husband Woo arrived yesterday. Today the rest of Kim’s clan, consisting of nephew Josh and wife Haj as well as kids JJ and Leila will arrive from Pasadena and boot Sharon & Woo out of the guest room and over to the Best Western in Escondido. They will be joined later by Kim’s other nephew Will and his wife Ashley, who come up for the days from Pacific Beach. That means that today and tomorrow will be about just hanging around and arguing about what to watch on TV days…which is actually all very pleasant. Woo and I got off to a good start at 7am with a brisk half-hour walk down and back up the hill through the windy soup that is the hilltop weather today in its pre-storm attitude. We literally have NOTHING planned and even less to do for these two days. Kim and I have already watched all out regular Christmas movies so even that avenue is somewhat forestalled.
On Christmas Day I will start off driving down to the San Diego Airport to pick up my youngest son, Tom, who will fly in from Denver. His lovely wife, Jenna is over in Israel with her family, so he will be coming alone this year. He will be with us, replacing Josh and family in the guest suite, for a full week between Christmas and New Years. He will arrive just in time for the rest of family from my sister Kathy’s clan to arrive for the Christmas Day festivities. That will include husband Bennett, playing his traditional role as a slender Santa Clause given his propensity to wearing a Santa hat and sporting his normal white winter beard. Then there will be nephew Alex with his wife Natalie and their two sons Charlie and Jack. And last, but not least will be niece Stephanie and her hubby Ben and their two sprogs Milla and Rhys. Interesting side-note…both Natalie and Ben sport full tattoo sleeves with various themes of choice on one arm/shoulder each. These are in greater evidence during the summer, but I am always intrigued by such body art, so I will invariably ask some awkward and hopefully not rude questions of them in my natural curiosity about how someone comes to the decision that they want that much body art as a permanent fixture. I will note that both my sons each have a few tattoos and I even have one, but for some reason, the full sleeve approach to such artwork is a quantum more intriguing. We do not yet know if we will be joined by sister-in-law Lisa, who we hope will join, but who may not yet be up to socializing during her period of mourning the loss of her husband and Kim and Sharon’s brother.
After we frolic around the house on Christmas Day…it will be much too inclement outside to do otherwise…trying to keep the six kids and Buddy from getting too extreme with one another, and trying to keep Sharon, Woo and Will from falling asleep mid-conversation in the living room…we will have Christmas dinner with the traditional (Not!) Island Pork and Chicken Schnitzel, adorned with whatever side dishes everyone decides to bring to support the main event (I have requested string beans almandine and supposedly niece Stephanie is obliging). Both before and after dinner, the living room 85” TV will be showing whatever American Gladiator NFL football games the networks are choosing to broadcast. This is the one day of the year I allow football to dominate the airwaves of my house and I consider it a great act of selflessness to do so. Truth be told, I enjoy watching football once in a great while like on that day, but I much prefer complaining about how little I like football and find it an uncivilized sport.
Once Christmas Day is over, things usually fade into an array of departures, but not this year. This year, we have scheduled on the morning of the 26th, a much-needed memorial for Kim’s brother Jeff, who died eight weeks ago. We aren’t completely sure how many will be coming to this small gathering of 30 or so, but we organized this to accommodate everyone’s holiday travel schedules and also to bring some closure to a chapter of difficult family angst over the loss of their loved one. We are hoping for enough of a break in the weather to allow us to hold the short ceremony out under the patio palapa that Jeff built with his own hands. If not, we will all gather in the living room and do the deed. We will follow that with some bagels and assorted breakfast items after everyone has had a chance to properly eulogize Jeff with their personal thoughts. From there, everyone will drift off to their own homes and other families to hunker down for that quiet period between Christmas and New Years.
The only person left here on the hilltop with us by the end of the day on the 26th will be son Tom. He has made it clear that he has had such a busy work and travel run that he is looking forward to doing absolutely nothing but being home (our home at least) for the Holidays and mostly just vegging out. We do have one motorcycle ride planned for Saturday the 27th out to an area called Sunrise Highway. It is a lovely stretch of ranch country highlighted by some nice alpine areas and a great ride along a mesa that looks out at the Anza Borrego Desert. Kim will (uncharacteristically of late) join on the back of my motorcycle and Tom will ride my spare BMW. We will be joined by at least two, if not three, neighbor couples and make a day of it with a stop at an alpine eatery in the mountains near Mount Laguna. If that doesn’t sound like a blend of alpine and beach culture, I don’t know what does. I am just hoping that my surveillance of the weather apps holds up and that by Saturday we are well past the deluge and that it will be a pleasant holiday ride.
Neither Kim nor I have any holiday plans other than what I’ve described here, so we are just digging in for the duration and looking forward to stormy seasonal weather (no snow, but the next best thing), which will keep us feeling like staying cozy and warm inside…like you’re supposed to when you’re home for the holidays.