Christmas Bird Tree

Everyone has left for wine tasting in Sonoma County. Pud that I am, I decided to stay back and take pictures of rain drops and do less heroic drives.
Orien is now 29 years old. Everything about her is dear to me, even her ear.

Sheldon's cousin came from Hamilton, Ontario with four of his daughters. These cousins of Orien's are much loved and very precious.. each unique but very fun for their humor, singing and mugging. We had a few days more or less together in Chico.

We gathered up who we could to do the Bird Tree on Christmas, something we have always done, feeding the midwinter birds and dressing up the Deodora Cedar at the entry corner of the land. There are Bob, Howard in the background, Addie, Ginnie, Becky, me, Sheldon barely, Sue's aunt, Marcie, Kim, Olivia, Orien, Noah in the background and Pula and Sasha Pike's ears. Thanks to Michael for this finale shot.

One sweet surprise of the Holiday was the sudden arrival of Leslie and Addie with cider and cookies at Sheldon's on Christmas night. I wish we could have seen more people and had our usual big brunch but each stamp of a year burns with its own light and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have had the holiday be as perfect as it was.