Christmas 2021, making the rounds, Family time, A visit from a special cousin/niece, You can't get to Nevada from CA!

 

Didn't know the next time we would get this picture of all 5
grandsons! So glad it happened this year!! 
Adam, Mason, Seth, Aaron and Jacob! 
Some handsome young men if I do say so myself 💙💙

Screenshot of a beautiful blanket we got from 
Jacob and Allissa! 💗 Did it make Grandma 
cry?! Yep, I teared up! 

Our five awesome grandsons with their sweeties..except Adam, Erin was with her family..
Allissa, Jacob, Seth, Holly, Adam, Aaron and Mason 💙

Lori, Russell, Allissa, Jacob, Seth, Holly, Ken, Adam, Adam, Aaron, Mason, Christina
and Eric 💖 The loves of my life! Except Bryan and Cheryl are missing...

This one adds me..

I set the alarm for 0400 on Christmas morning.  Woke Ken at 0410 for coffee.  We left here about 0515 in order to be in Georgetown at 0600.  The lights were on inside and coffee was being drank 😁

So we visited a few minutes and then started opening presents from each other.  A little before 0730 we headed the 9 miles to Eric's house to see what Santa brought. They hadn't started opening yet, so we got to watch them all open their gifts too. 

Ken getting a vest from Bryan

Adam and Erin opening gifts..

Cheryl in the corner there 

Seth and Mason opening gifts..

                                          The Christmas mess! I love it!

About 0830 we headed to Antelope and Russell's house. They had opened their gifts except the ones "Santa" brought.  My mom and dad always signed the gift cards with Santa. I continued that tradition with our kids, and then with the grandkids. Of course now that they're grown they know who Santa is...lol! 

All my pics were blurry but this is the best of the worst..Aaron and Lori

We received some really nice gifts from the kids and grandkids.  We really don't need gifts, just the gift of being together is what's really nice! 💕

We left Russell's and headed to my sister Linda's house to get some of the food I made heated up and ready for company.  It was about 1100 which is the latest I've ever been. We got it done and along with all she had it was a feast!! 

Ken met our son Eric and family at his mom's house for a short visit, but a visit nonetheless. 

Our niece from Tennessee, Jennifer and her daughter Bella came by for a couple of hours and everyone enjoyed seeing them.  We saw them a few years back in Tennessee but our kids haven't seen her in many years. 

Jennifer, Ken and Bella! 

Jennifer talking with Bryan..my sister Linda in background with
her Santa shirt/dress on 💖

Lori, with Aaron and Jacob💙

Mason, Christina, Seth 💗

Adam💙

Our oldest, Bryan and our youngest Russell 💙

Tasha, my sister Wendy's youngest daughter...💙

Jennifer talking with her cousins, Dusty and Jesse 💙

Aaron, Mason, Jenn, Seth, Adam and Jacob💗

Russell, Jennifer, Jesse, Eric 💙

Same picture including Bella..sure loved seeing them both!
💖💖

Miss Cassidy with Allissa 

It rained most of the day and was cold but we enjoyed it anyways.  I was able to get a couple of pictures outside before people started leaving. I never would have thought we'd have all five grandsons together once again but what a blessing! 💖

Ken's sister Diane with Russell...💙

Diane with Aaron 💖

Two Devil Dogs right there! Seth and Russell 💙

Cousins 💙 Jacob (Navy)..Seth (Marines)..

We left around 1600 to head for the hotel in Auburn before it got too dark. Thanks again Linda and Bobby for hosting the family! 💗

This morning (Sunday) we decided not to set the alarm, but I was still up before 0500 and we started coffee around 0515. Took our time getting ready and having some hard boiled eggs for breakfast. We were out of there around 0900. 

Around 0730 there's a knock on the door, a woman who has cookies and a water in her hand.  She tells Ken "to stop yelling" as she's trying to hand him the cookies. Then she says she has bone cancer and is dying. She just wants to die. 

She goes to the office and says we're yelling. Manager comes and says we need to stop. WTH?! Ken explains we're not yelling and there's something wrong with her. He picks up the plate with cookies and later he tells Ken there were pills on the plate along with cookies.  Long story short, she's off her rocker. 

Guess there was a party in another room last night (we didn't hear a thing) and cops were called. So as far as we're concerned our go to place, no longer isn't. Too bad, but I don't know if they're getting a subsidy from the state or what, but this beautiful motel is doing something wrong. 

We left there, Highway 80 and 50 are both closed because of snow. Highway 88 looked like it would have a window that we could get across. Ok let's do it! Bryan and Eric both offered up their homes to stay at, but we wanted to try to get home. 💙

We got through chain control on 88 and the guy said it should be opened at Peddler's Hill in a couple of hours. Great, probably take us that long to get there or so. It was slow going but beautiful. Snow was falling, people were driving nicely. I haven't seen that much snow in a long time. 

We get to Peddler's Hill and the cars are stopped. Ok shouldn't be much longer. We wait and finally see cars start turning around. Oh Oh.  Someone told us that they made the call and the highway won't open until Tuesday! It had started snowing harder while we were sitting there. Darn! We turned ourselves around and followed the others.  

Ken had just said that he thought people were driving way too fast for the conditions. Around the corner it was stopped! People were sliding from the road into the snow embankment.  Not sure what happened all the way up front, but this we could see from where we were stopped. People in way too much of a hurry on ice and snow. 

Probably an hour later or so, traffic started moving once again. Much slower this time. 

Didn't have much service while we were sitting there, but Joe (our old neighbor) had called and texted. He knew of our predicament and from Alaska got in touch with the Best Western in Jackson, CA.  He made reservations for us, so we'd have a place to go when we made it back out. From Alaska he's taking care of us 💗

We got here about 1515.  There were a few people in front of us, and then even more behind us! Thank goodness for the reservation or we'd be looking elsewhere! 

We went looking for a restaurant, but with Christmas and a Sunday we didn't really find any. Luckily we had leftovers in the motel so we ate that for dinner. 

We'll see what happens tomorrow, but it doesn't look good. We're thinking we'll play tourist for the day. Hopefully Tuesday we can get home. At least we're retired and not on a schedule this week anyway! A new adventure!! 

Count our blessings every day, but as we know Christmas brings it to light even more. We are so blessed to have this family of ours and our special friends. 

Have a  wonderful evening.