Merry Christmas everyone!

We went to our annual Christmas Eve service at our local Episcopal church last night.  My family has a very long tradition at that church.  My grandparents attended church for some 30 years, my mother was baptized there, my parents met and married there, and I was baptized there.  Its great seeing the old place.  I have plenty of fond memories at that church, such as helping with Halloween parties & assisting my grandfather with fixing the stone wall lining the front of the church (I was only 12 so I’m sure I didn’t do much, but I’d like to think I helped!)

Going there always reminds me that no matter what, remember and visit your roots.  Whatever you may think of them, they’ve made you who you are.  And when you find success, be sure to go back to 1) remind you of where you came from; and 2) thank and donate to those people and institutions that supported you during the hard times.  It keeps you honest and keeps you in touch with reality!

So the past few years my wife and I lived in Oregon and visited California maybe two times a year.  Man, I absolutely hated that drive!  We would wait until finals were final (love using the same word twice but with different connotations in a single sentence!) before we could make the drive.  The problem with that is the mountain pass that separates California and Oregon suffers tremendous blizzards during December and January.  Of course, that never deterred us.  Instead, insanity stepped in and gently pulled us along.  Last year, black ice lined the roads for most of our journey, turning a usual 10 hour trip into a 13 hour trip.  And the year before that, we hit a massive blizzard while traveling through the pass.  Needless to say, the past few holiday drives have been very nerve racking!

Anyways, last year it snowed while we were still in Oregon.  It was a lot of fun! (except for the whole driving a compact car in the snow thing).  We’d never lived anywhere where it snowed.  It definitely made things feel like Christmas.  But this year, things are different.

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