Christmas in Santa Barbara

 Christmas Day was a Thursday. We flew out to Santa Barbara on Tuesday, the 23rd, and flew back home on Monday, the 29th. That gave us a couple of days before Christmas and 3 days after Christmas. Savie gave up her bedroom for us. They put a twin bed in Annie and Alex's room for her. We knew that the weather predictions were for RAIN, while we were there. Mostly it was just fun for us to be there and participate in the normal Simms Christmas "stuff" 😉They have established several traditions for Christmas. Annie bakes lots of treats to take to friends and ward members. They like to go caroling. Christmas morning everyone gets their own box of cereal, followed by eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. Then later followed by Christmas dinner. They open up gifts while on a zoom call with Alex's parents, so that they can watch. The number 1 gift is still LEGOS. Annies big gift for Nathan was a book about him. (The bottom picture on one of the collages is a picture on the wall from a projector that Savie got). There was a Christmas zoom call with Elder Simms. Our Christmas gifts for the kids was "money to Annie" and then she spends it 😀But I did make a puzzle out of their Halloween picture in M&M shirts and then some M&M ornaments. On Friday afternoon, Mike, Carrie, and the boys came to Santa Barbara. On Saturday evening we for a walk near a pier and then to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. (Thompsons drove back home on Sunday afternoon.) That was an added bonus to see them. One of the advantages of me being behind on my blogging is that Annie got ahead of me- lol. Some of the picture collages are from her blog. The last two picture collages are for Owen and Savies December birthdays, that happened before we got there. 

This and That Christmas

 Since Ron and I were planning to go to Santa Barbara for Christmas, we had a little Christmas dinner with Andersons and Petes the Sunday before Christmas. Then I have a few random Christmas yard decorations from our neighborhood and from the house of a family in our ward. (I have no idea why anyone would want the "giant reindeer" in their small front yard. I like the Santa on the long horn.) Then there is the picture of Ron, and I that I put in a few family Christmas cards. (That picture was from our ward Christmas party.) I didn't send out my normal 80 Christmas cards for this year. Then a picture of some very nice flowers from a neighbor. The last picture is how we do Sunday dinners at our house. (Two tables together to make one big table.)

Hazel's Birthday

 My contribution to a birthday party for Hazel was a cake. They had a little friend party for her. We also had our normal family birthday dinner. (I had to get some advice from a couple of ladies in our ward on how to do the cake... fondant is not my favorite thing.)

Colorado Trip for MaryAnn's Funeral

 Early in December we did a last-minute trip to Denver for Mary Ann's funeral service. She passed away on November 14, 2025. There was a "celebration of life" service at the Foundations Church, in Loveland on Dec. 1. We got to be there in Colorado for the first significant snowstorm of the winter. It was good to see Deb and Don and the rest of Mary Ann's family and also to see Doug, Justin, Rick Corder (and his family), and Liz and her husband. It made me super nervous driving a rental car in bad weather, and we aren't used to cold weather... we were freezing. The day that it snowed the most was Wednesday and we spent that day at the motel, expect for dinner in the evening with Doug. Thursday morning was an early morning, icy drive to the airport. Here are a few pictures. When we were driving to Berthoud and back to Loveland, we drove by my old houses. (We drove by the house, just east of Berthoud, where Ron lived, but I couldn't get a picture of it... it has a tall fence between it and the road.)