Our Christmas trip to the Monterey area was blessed with beautiful weather – even though it was a little cool at times. Here is a very “cool” fountain in the courtyard at our motel on the morning of January 1.

The New Year’s Day drive down the coast route (California Highway 1) was incredibly beautiful, with sunshine all day long and arguably some of the most beautiful coastal scenery to be seen anywhere.


But Southern California has its share of coastal beauty as well, and the weather was perfect for a visit to the beach when Andrew, Alissa, Levi, Elijah and Silas arrived for a week-long visit from the frigid temperatures of a South Dakota winter.
Andrew was able to share with Levi and Elijah the joy of replicating the construction of South Dakota snowmen with the construction of a California sandman.

This was the first chance for Andrew and Alissa’s newborn, Silas, to spend some time at a California beach.

It was also the first time to enjoy all four grandsons and their parents at the same location – as we did during a visit to Stephen and Meagan’s at Foothills Ranch.

We all enjoyed a picnic at a nice park located just across the street from the condominium complex where Stephen, Meagan and Ryan are living. Stephen and Alissa enjoyed spending time together with each other and the recent additions to their families.

This is how the family looked when they lined up on the park’s triple teeter-totter for a family photo.

Elijah and Ryan were able to spend a little time “hanging out” together in the double swing at the park.

Before Andrew and Alissa and their sons headed back to the cool climate of South Dakota they enjoyed some time at a new water park recently installed at Pathfinder Park in nearby Rowland Heights.

Today we are enjoying some much-needed rain in Southern California, but we are grateful for the fun times we all have enjoyed as a family on some of the beautiful California sunshiny days of recent weeks in the new year.

The final weeks of the year present many occasions and opportunities for celebration. One of our favorites is the celebration of Thanksgiving. We have so much for which to be thankful, and we find it very heartwarming to try to express our appreciation to the Lord for His many blessings in our lives! And a good meal with family is certainly something we are grateful for – like the meal we enjoyed with the Seymours (Meagan’s parents) in their home Thanksgiving day.

Meagan’s 30th birthday offered another occasion for celebration. We thank the Lord for providing Stephen with a wonderful wife – and for providing us (in the process) a wonderful daughter-in-law. The birthday celebration was held this year at Stephen and Meagan’s apartment.

Christmas, of course, is always a great time of celebration. We find it fascinating that the Lord has arranged for a celebration of the incarnation of His Son, Jesus, which has spread to so many places around the world – even in places where the reason for the season is not fully appreciated! But we who know Jesus as our Savior and Lord find many occasions to celebrate the birth of Jesus – like the musical celebration we enjoyed this year (as in previous years) with the musicians at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange!

We were back this year on Christmas morning for another worship experience at St. John’s in the beauty of their historic building with its tasteful Christmas decorations.

Our Christmas celebration continued the day after Christmas when Stephen, Meagan and Ryan joined us for a fun time of gift exchange, a second “Christmas dinner,” a tour of some of the area’s more spectacular Christmas lights, and an enjoyable Christmas dessert and game time with new games Stephen received for Christmas.

The Monday after Christmas found us on our way to the Monterey Bay area for a nice time with Dave’s sisters and their families. We stopped in San Luis Obispo on the way to celebrate our 44th anniversary in the colorful surroundings of the Madonna Inn over a very nice meal in the Steakhouse Restaurant.

And the most recent cause for celebration was the birthday celebration we hosted for Caroleen, the Japanese young lady who is living with us this year as she waits out her residency status in the state in anticipation of the beginning of college studies at Fullerton Junior College next fall.

We have enjoyed, as you can tell, a very nice season of celebration. And we are grateful to the Lord for so many good things to celebrate!