On the day after Christmas we headed to California for a visit to our family there. We spent the night in Medford, OR and arrived at Damon's parents' in Redwood Valley, CA well before dinner on December 27. We were happy to find Damon's entire family there: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Justin, and Uncle Jotham, Aunt Dana and cousins Cassie and Braden.
Everyone was eager for "second Christmas" since none of us had given our gifts to each other yet. It was a mess of packages, wrapping paper, and ribbons, but so much fun.
[hoping to insert photos here from Dana's camera; come visit again!]
The next day was Cassie's birthday, so we started the day with more presents after breakfast--and cake! That afternoon Damon's parents hosted a party for many of their local friends. We enjoyed all the excellent food Joanna (Damon's mom) made and also meeting and visiting with people with whom Damon grew up.
Jotham, Dana, Cassie, and Braden had to leave after the party so they could be back at work the next morning. We were lucky to have the rest of the time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Justin. We went into Ukiah for some shopping and sightseeing. Damon and Justin showed us their high school. We also just did lots of playing and relaxing around the house. The kids got plenty of fun new toys for Christmas and Justin gave Damon a video game unit that plugs right into the TV and has a bunch of 80's arcade games on it. There was no shortage of fun things to do on this relaxing vacation.
The kiddos loved helping Grandma in the kitchen. On New Year's Day they prepared a salad bar for dinner and the kids helped chop and arrange all the vegetables so that everyone could make their own custom salad.
We sure enjoyed spending the time with all of Damon's family that week. It's possible that it was our last visit to Redwood Valley and Ukiah. Damon's parents are building a new home on the central California coast and hope to have it finished in 2012. So, maybe next time we're all together it will be at the beach!
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