The best gift of all is having my family around. Not all could come, but here are photos of the start of the holiday week.

Chris and Meryl got here on Saturday afternoon along with dogs and cats. Meryl went to visit her mom, and Chris and the dogs stretched out on the couch at our house.

Ginny is not supposed to get on the couch but Finn and Sawyer don’t have that restriction. Notice that they are all focused on the tennis ball that Finn dropped on Dan’s chest.

Finn and Sawyer feel right at home.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen these photos. Chris and Meryl were away for the first night and the cats stayed in the other house, where they used to live before moving to Bosie. I went to check on them and found one, but went back three times to find Luke. Do you see a cat in this picture?

Now do you see him? I finally found Luke when he jumped onto the refrigerator. Later he retreated again and I took the photo.

Chris and I took all the dogs on a walk Across the Road. Do we seem a bit mismatched from the standpoint of clothing? Our mid-50’s/60’s felt warm to Chris.

All three dogs like to run after the ball. The goal is to get them tired out.

On Christmas afternoon we went for another walk and Meryl joined us. People dump things along some of these dirt roads. When I find something metal I bring it home for Dan because he plans to weld something artistic one of these days. Usually it is rusted bolt or something they fell off a tractor. We found this in the dirt and thought it was a good gift for Dan.

Tonight’s excitement is that Kirby, age 9, flew to Sacramento from Texas today. She will stay with Uncle Matt and Aunt Kaleena for a few days and will then be here for until January 1.