Christmas 2018 Chico, CA

Christmas 2018

We spent the morning helping Mike and Lynette sift through the ashes of what was their home in Paradise. The last 6 weeks has been a major challenge for all of those involved and affected by the Camp Fire.

Temperatures plummeted and we all were freezing by the time we finished. We were lucky enough to find a few valuable items, especially Amanda's ring that her Mom gave to her. A delicate band of diamonds and sapphires.

We all cleaned up and met for dinner at Nash's in Chico.

Lynette and Mike

Alan and his fiancé Danielle

Lynette and I

Me and my girl Chanelle

Chanelle and her fiance Mark

Mom and Dad

Michael and Heather

Olivia and my sister Jackie

My love, Chris

The waitress was nice enough to take a pic of the whole gang!!

The food was great and it was nice to have everyone together.

We went back to Mom's house to open gifts. Heather is modeling her Happy Birthmas scarf that I brought back from Spain for her.

Even the ribbon became a lovely headband.

Gifts for all!

We all stayed at Mom's for the night. This is not the normal routine as we usually stay at Lynette's. After the first, there seems to be no new normal yet. It's all still so shocking that so much is gone. We are making the best of it and they are showing how strong they really are in dealing with all that has been dealt to them. Mom's house can accommodate some of us, but not everyone, so we brought Ruby Teardrop and had a cozy night in the trailer.

Lynette is not only dealing with trying to get all of her documents, housing, financing, new car and insurance galore, but she was promoted to manager and has had to assume a new role at work, adding to the stress of this crazy time of year.

It's been a crazy year and I know everyone is looking ahead to 2019.

The next day, Mark wanted to revisit an old place he'd been to 8 years ago when he discovered this magical thing called a taquito burrito at Tacos Mary. We looked it up and found that it's still there and opens at 10. We will pick up burritos on the way out of town.

It's a whole in the wall place on Ivy Street. Right in the heart of fraternity row.

The burritos are massive.

He's enjoying every bite.

A burrito with 4 chicken taquitos inside. All of it made fresh to order. Michael and Chris had one too and everyone was in a food coma on the drive home.