Family Christmas Party 12-18

Where have I been you ask?  Right here of course getting ready for Christmas and getting ready for the next big storm which hit last night and is supposed to just run on for days.  Just since it began yesterday we've gotten about 2.5 inches and we had BIG wind last night...it woke me a few times.

Day before yesterday I made fudge for my nephews...they like my fudge the best and it has become tradition.  Yesterday I made a stupendous pasta salad to bring to our family Christmas potluck today...it was a different concoction for me and it turned out really, really great!

I decided to do a little watercolor painting of a poinsettia and it has actually turned out pretty well....I am always shocked when it turns out looking like what it is supposed to...ha ha.

This morning we got up and got ourselves beautified and on the road for Martinez.  The wind had let up some and it wasn't pouring when we left....there were waterfalls raging down the hillsides where we have never seen any before.  Caltrans was staying on top of rocks and mudslides on the roadway.  The confluence of the American River was raging and what we found interesting was the north fork was high but the water was green and the middle fork was muddy brown....we expected both forks to be muddy with all this rain.

It is a two hour drive and we hit some rain and traffic but mostly uneventful.  We spent a few hours with our great friends Lou and Vicki and then onto the family shindig.  Larry's sister Kathy is over from Maui and so were the boys...it was good to see all of them.  There were five little kids which kept the energy and noise level high, but everyone had a good time and the food was wonderful...I think it was the best ham I have ever had.  I am sorry I didn't smuggle some out in my purse.  We took family pictures and I snapped a lot of candids, I have to go through them and edit some....but here are two of the family.  Trying to get everyone looking great at the same time wasn't happening today.  Boyfriends and girlfriends were excluded from the picture so there were four other big people and two kids besides the "clan" pictured here.

The drive home was okay, but rain most the way and poured from Sac on home...the wind is cranking again here at home too.  I am going to get this post finished, brush my pearly-whites and then tunnel under my blankies!

Brandon, Kathy, David, Brett Jr., Amanda, Hank, Edgar, Brett Sr. and Deanne in back.  Carol, Steven, Andrea holding Connor, Michael, Me and Larry and then down in front Jessica, Liliana, and Ian.