Thanksgiving 2005

Rich and I met up with Rich's entire family in Highland California for Thanksgiving, a group of 40+ people for dinner.  The thing I find most amazing about Rich's family is that absolutely everyone gets along fantastically, no black sheep (or all black sheep depending upon your perspective), no elephants in the living room, no territorial squabbling, even the kids play nicely with each other nearly all the time.  The photo below is of the adults.  Someone needs to email me a picture with everyone in it, including all the kids.

Rich & Kids Hit the Beach

Rich picked up his kids at LAX on Wednesday morning and decided to play for the day before heading inland to San Bernardino County.  First they went to Venice beach and met some crazy people (the guy behind Jessica eating pizza kept repeating everything he heard).  Then it was up to Ventura, where Rich did the Polar Bear thing and jumped in the wintery waters.  Finally, before heading to Steve's, they stopped by Duke's where the younger Rich worked as a teenager.

Thanksgiving Gathering

Rich's Uncle Steve is going to be selling his house this spring and moving to Montana in the summer, so this will be the last gathering at his house.  Steve and his girlfriend Sue were delightful hosts.  Bert's car broke down in the desert so Rich drove five hours round trip to pick him and they boys up, and they arrived just as the family was saying grace.  To avoid confusion, we simply told everyone to call each other cousins if they were within a half dozen years of their age, and that everyone older than them were aunts and uncles, and younger were nieces and nephews.

After Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving, Jessica and Rich organized an early morning shopping spree.  It was cold out and we stood in lines outside stores at 5:00 AM, and we got to everything just as they sold out.  Although we have had good luck in the past with these sales in other states, I don't think we will be doing this again in California.  Jessica was delighted to test-drive Sue's Boxster (with the top down), but unfortunately, Sue was not thinking about giving it up any time soon at Black Friday prices.

Christmas Card Photos

Sue was such a gracious host inviting all nine people from the McComas clan to bunk at her house for Thanksgiving.  She had just closed on a new house, and had partially moved in, so she gave us her old house to use for the week.  While staying there, we walked over the the fountains in front of her neighborhood and took some snapshots to use for Christmas photos.  The sun was setting by the time we did this, so the photos are dark, but below are some of the best images.