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.
It seems that nightgowns are also good workout attire (see 
After a strenuous workout it’s hard to stay awake for lunch.
Wearing the unicorn hat she got for Christmas. Yes, there is a unicorn horn and mane on the back of this.
This time Kasen fell asleep before he made it to the high chair.
When one goes to sleep sometimes its worth going on a walk so that the other will take a nap without an argument.
Jacob sheep at the Austin Zoo. This zoo is a rescue/animal sanctuary zoo. All of the animals were seized in animal cruelty cases, retired from other facilities, individual exotic pets that needed rehoming, retired lab research animals, etc. 
Kirby didn’t want to see the lions or tigers, but I thought that this was a rather intimidating photo (not so much the tiger photo but the little girl in front of the giant tiger).
Building a lego tower with flowers on top.
Singing Disney tunes.
We changed planes in L.A. Wildfires had started burning a few days before this trip and this is a view of the smoke from two fires blowing out over the ocean. We soon left that behind but even now there are fires raging in S. California. December! Here in N. CA we’ve had one good rain in November and nothing since. But that’s a topic for another post.
I got there Tuesday night. Kirby and I went out the next morning. She showed me her chickens and we collected eggs.
She showed me the tree near the front gate that she and her mom had decorated.
We walked down the road…
…and I didn’t know until this point that her ladybug boots have holes in them.
I have been told that Santa is taking care of that.
We looked at decorations on other properties.
Eventually Kirby got tired of being the subject of photos.
A picnic lunch after the walk.
We have another cutie in Texas as well.
I spent last Christmas there when he was only a few days old.
Brother and sister get along well.
Thursday afternoon it began to snow.
Kirby spent some time outside before it got dark.
Contemplating the Really Big Puddle.
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