Christmas Eve

December 24, 2025

Christmas Eve was much like the first part of the week. That is up until the Pig Out Paloosa began. We all put in our orders and as it turned out, two of the places closed at 3:00 and three of them were open until 5:00. We adjusted the orders so that one trip would catch the 3:00 fast food places and those were orders that would be ok to reheat or that would stay good until 5:00 we would then make a second trip to pick up the food from the 5:00 fast food places.

At around 2:30 Alex and I headed out to Chic-Fil-A and Cotijas but when we got home both of the Lisa’s were hungry and they decided they couldn’t wait until 5:00 so they started eating right away. Alex and I looked at each other and wondered what we were waiting for so we headed out again to get our food. We went to Panda Express, In N Out and a Mexican restaurant calle Mi Ranchitas. It was good but we should have done everything in one run so we could eat together.

After dinner it was time for the annual talent show. It was a bit of a bust since no one was actually prepared. Alex claimed that the game he had planned for tomorrow when everyone was here would count as his talent (it was a fun game) and Queen Lisa claimed that her baking would have to be her talent and Princess Lisa bowed out so the only e real talents performed turned out to be me and James. James showed us all how to fight

and I demonstrated my newly acquired CAD skills.

It was then time to open the Christmas Eve pajamas and then we sent the little ones to bed. The four adults then watched a new movie that recently came out. It was called “Eternity”. It was weird but it was good. I guess it could be called a romantic comedy.

It is always so peaceful on Christmas Eve after everyone else has gone to bed.

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Frost flowers form under very specific conditions and rarely last for more than a few hours

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Tuesday before Christmas

December 23, 2025

Tuesday mom and Lisa continued to cook and get ready for the crowds to arrive and Alex and I helped where we could. That evening Alex, James and I headed out to watch the new Avatar movie. Avatar, Fire & Ash. It was a good movie. James was entranced by the whole movie but by the end of the three hours he was starting to get a bit antsy.

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E-bikes are cutting demand for oil by a million barrels per day — four times as much as all the world’s electric cars, but, inuries have risen ten fold.

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Monday Before Christmas

December 22, 2025

Monday was a relaxed day. This week California was predicted to be the wettest place on earth. So far we had lucked out and had decent weather.

There was this little elf who kept showing up at Alex’s house and somehow he managed to start showing up at my house. One day he even went for a ride on the Star Ship Enterprise.

The Elf wasn’t the only one who was somewhat fascinated by the Enterprise.

I think every one of our grandkids want to make lemonaide as soon as they arrive at our house. It has become a rather fun tradition.

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A recent review of 45 studies that included almost 10 million people suggests that diets high in ultra-processed foods are linked to more than 30 health conditions including depression, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and other health conditions.

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Sunday before Christmas

December 21, 2025

Sunday morning we all headed to church and then we were invited to the Odenwalders for dinner and to make gingerbread houses using graham wafers. It was a rather ingenious idea.

James and I made a pretty good house if I say so myself. James ate all the peanut butter shingles on the roof and left me with the candy corn shingles.

It is always good to see Mandy and her family. Alex and I went and picked Princess Lisa up from the airport around 8:30 in the evening.

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Many large companies such as Amazon and JPMorgan are requiring their employees to be in the office five days a week. This really annoyed many of the younger employees who started their careers working from home. However, they are starting to change their tune as they are watching their "in office" colleges get the lions share of raises and advancements.

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Happy New Year

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

We just got through another amazing Christmas. Four of the six kids and their families were able to make it and for a few days we had twenty four kids in the house. It got very loud at times but we had a ton of fun. Let me start at the beginning.

December 20, 2025

Alex, James and Adelaide left for San Diego Saturday morning and had a rather uneventful drive to San Diego.

They were excited to see us and we were very excited to see them. Princess Lisa had to work Saturday night so she arrived the next day.

A Walk Through Bethlehem

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

For the last few years our stake has combined with the Poway stake to set up a “Walk Through Bethlehem” experience. It was an amazing experience from the start but each year it just gets better.

For the last couple of years Lisa and I have volunteerd for one of the evenings. Last year I was a wise man and Lisa was an angel. This year we were both shop keepers. I had a vegetable stand and Lisa sold spices. I kept caller her a “Spice Girl”.

The experience started as you walked up to the front door. They had signs with quotes from the churches statement on the “The Living Christ”.

You then entered the front door and were led directly into the gym where they had hundreds of Nativities set up. They called them “Creches” but since that sounds like a made up word I’m going with Nativity. They were amazing. Perhaps my favorite was one from Africa. I think Alycia and Trevor should get one of these.

After spending an hour in the gym, we were then led out the back door into the village of Bethlehem. You walk into the Bethlehem market place filled with shops.

When Lisa and I were there it was packed and I was trying to sell people my vegetables. We were encouraged to keep our voices low so it would have a reverent atmosphere. I may not have done a great job of that but it was fun.

Here is a picture of me with the Spice Girl. Those are her spices in the background. She had these weird looking little goards that we figured someone picked up off their lawn because they looked cool. Before the night was over Moms curiosity got the better of her and she finally broke one open. It smelled amazing. She googled it. They were dried black limes. Knowing that, they smelled like limes. I’m not sure what the shop keepingers in ancient Bethlehem thought of her cell phone.

They had a lot of shops. The ones I can remember are, basket maker, bakery, candle maker, flower shop, grain, and then of course, my vegetables and moms spices. There were more though.

They even had centurions walking around who kept harassing me for my taxes. Mom buttered them up though. The kid next to mom is Zander, my buddy Jeffs kid.

We then left Bethlehem and watched Mary sewing something when suddenly the Angel Gabriel came and told her that she would become the mother of our Lord.

From there we went to Persia and saw the wise men looking at the new star, they knew the prophecies a new star would appear in the heavens as a sign of the birth of our Lord. They decided to follow the star.

And then it was back to some shepherds just outside of Bethlehem who were watching their flocks at night. An angel suddenly appeared to them and told them of the birth of our Lord.

We then went back to Bethlehem where we saw Mary and Joseph with their new little baby. Do you see the donkey just outside the stable? There were many live animals including chickens and goats. I didn’t see any sheep. I guess they couldn’t come up with any sheep.

From there we were led to a reception area where they had a video and hot chocolate and cookies. 

It was an amazing experience.

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Experts have long wondered why American poductivity has been higher than European productivity. They came to the conclussoin that it is due to the lack of air conditioning in Europe.

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Eyes

Friday, December 12, 2025

Last week Alycia commented in the Family Chat that she looked up Junes eye color and learned that they are called “sunflower eyes”. Blue eyes with a yellow-brown center around the iris. The next thing we know, Alex posted a picture of his eyes and asked what kind of eyes they are.

Kira then posted her eye and she figures that she might have “sunflower eyes”.

Justin then posted his eye and he figures his eyes are blue. If you look to the left of Justins iris you can see a small vertical line. Apparantly he had surgery on his eye when he was young.

So now we're on a roll.

Princess Lisa posted next and it was unanimously decided that her eyes are hazel.

Queen Lisa shared her eye next. We all agreed that she has blue eyes.

Lisa then took a picture of my eye. I’ve always said my eyes were brown but Lisa insists their hazel. I have no idea what the difference is between brown and hazel.

Alycia started all of this but it took her a while to post.

And then Sarah.

Ben has this interesting little dot in the lower right corner of his iris. He loves to call it his “eye freckle” or his “Jupitor dot”.

And finally Brandon. He made sure we could see as much of his eye ball as possible.

So in case you were interested, that is everyones eyes. At least everyone who shared them.

At one point during the whole exchange Alex said, “Can we talk about how eyes are so freaking cool? I love how cool eyes look”. I agree completely, eyes are cool.

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- Half of your brain is dedicated to your vision

- 80% of your memory is from what you see

- Babies can only see in black and white

- You can't sneeze with your eyes open

- Your eyes don't grow, your eye is the same size when you die as it was when you were born

- If your eye was a camera it would have 576 megapixels

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