Christmas in Volcano

We drove home from our family get together in SoCal to continue our holiday celebration in Volcano. There’s nothing like being at home for Christmas (or anytime for that matter). Familiar decorations (my favorite glass nativity scene, our oversized knit stockings hung by the chimney with care, and our pole-pine tree covered with ornaments), the familiar sound of quiet (our enjoyment of this aspect of home was heightened by our having just returned from Los Angeles), the familiar smell of a fire in our wood stove, the familiar tastes of our own home-cooked food, and sleeping in our own bed. There was a time early in our lives together when we were constantly in transit and moving from house to house every few years (Buena Park, Santa Ana, Anaheim Hills, Campbell, Sutter Creek and finally to Volcano, first to our one-room cabin and then, finally, our house). We have lived in Volcano for twenty years now and no place has ever felt more like home than living in this beautiful cedar house nestled amongst the pines and cedars in the foothills of the Sierras. My appreciation of our lifestyle is always rekindled after a vacation or road trip, in particular, one to SoCal. This is not meant to be negative, so I’ll just say that I appreciate SoCal’s charm, but the traffic drives me crazy!!!

Back to our family time at home these past few days...

With both girls busy lawyering (Jana in LA and Lauren in Portland), they rarely get to NorCal and when they do our time together is intensified by the short nature of their visits. So much to do and so little time! Christmas day was very typical with a lot of eating, drinking, gift-opening, story-telling, and movie-watching. Santa was good to us and Verne (I) awoke to find an Excalibur dehydrator under the tree. Let the dehydrating begin! The girls each had a few surprise gifts beneath the tree, but in recent years our focus has been on small gifts that fit in our oversized knit stockings that I mentioned above. I made the first stocking several years ago for Verne. We were on a trip to Seattle to visit Scott and wandering the streets near his work when I first saw the stocking in a window of a yarn store. I bought the $50 kit in order to get the pattern and went on to make several. It turned out the kit was not overpriced at $50 as I’ve spent that on each, but the real cost is filling one of these over-sized (20-24 inches in length) stockings each year. Our Christmas shopping is now year-round as we’re always on the lookout for stocking-stuffers.

There was a fifth stocking hung this year and it was one that Lauren made for Vera, our live-in of sorts. I never know quite what to call Vera or how to describe our relationship. We sort of adopted her back when she and Jana were friends in junior high and she currently lives with us full time. I bring this up not because she now hangs her Christmas stocking next to ours, but to share the unique gift she made for Lauren. I scoffed at her idea when she first described it (I’ve got to stop doing this…remember when she taught us to peel a mushroom? I first thought that idea was silly, but now I don’t eat a mushroom without first peeling it and I’m a YouTube sensation – check out my video when you have a chance.) She came to me and said that she wanted to make Lauren a fairy door for Christmas. Does that not sound ridiculous? Not the “fairy” part, as Lauren believes in fairies, but the “door” part of it. It didn’t take long and she had me convinced it was a genius idea. All she needed to make the project were a few parts (a doll house door, hinges, handle, and door knocker), which she ordered online, some paint, and help from the “unwilling fairy carpenter” (her reference to Verne). Verne set aside plans for his projects and helped Vera with hers. It was a big success…all I want for Christmas next year is my own fairy door! Thanks, Vera, for always being so patient with us when we mock your ideas.

Now, on to Verne’s projects...apparently Verne has missed our Christmas gift exchange (read all about it in the previous blog post), because a few days before Christmas he decided to make each of the girls a gift. Just like old times: wait until the last minute when the barn (workshop) is a frigid 40 degrees and there’s no time to recover should he make a mistake. Well, he did it (almost). One of the scroll-sawed baby dragons was finished, wrapped, and under the tree Christmas Eve. The other was not quite that far along (I’m really not sure if he’d started it) and he ended up spending several hours Christmas Day finishing it. Actually, in fairness to Verne, he did get coerced into helping Vera with her project. It’s always surprising how much time these “simple” projects take. 

We spent most of Friday in Sacramento watching the final Hobbit film at the Imax theatre in 3D (we loved the movie and had a blast taking pictures while we waited for it to start)...

...shopping, and having a second Spaghetti Factory holiday dinner. Jana had missed the SoCal dinner the previous weekend and her Christmas holiday was not going to be complete without it. We willingly made the sacrifice and had a second Spaghetti Factory dinner in less than a week. We have thoroughly celebrated the season with Good Eats and Good Times and lots of love.