Because we have 3ish more inches of snow on the ground and we are below freezing (high of 16 degrees) and the next few days are going to be cold and brutal in our area and many other areas, I’m stealing all the joy from photos that our Laura and our nieces Debbee and Kristin shared on Facebook from their cousin time in California Sunday and Monday, where the sun is shining and there is no snow. (That is one long sentence and this is one photo logged post)
Our Josh and Laura are intentional in their relationship building and keeping. God has blessed them with the means to follow-through with the desire to use their discretional time wisely in the love and care of others. Here it worked out for them to fly to Southern California to be at the annual cousin Christmas time with some of our nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephew and spouses.
They bumped into Santa at the airport.
The party this year was at our nephew’s home on the beach where the cousins were treated to the extra bonus of the Christmas boat parade that they could watch from the deck. Dave and Kristin hosted our kids overnight, too.
Our kids, Josh and Laura. My sister Kathy’s daughters, Melissa and Michelle with Michelle’s husband and Jack and Avery (our grandnephew and niece). My sister Vera’s son and daughter with their spouses.
Our beautiful girls…we claim them all.
My brother Steve’s son, Tim, and his family arrived so they had a re-do of the deck photo.
Some of the crew gathered at Disneyland on Monday and had a magical time together.
All day and into the night at the Big D.
Josh and Laura made the most of their 2 day stay in Sunny Southern California. They are coming home to snow today on their side of the mountains.
These cousins have had so much fun over the years together. Now they are enjoying the added fun of the spouses that their cousins married. We are so thankful the love continues. My mom and pop would love seeing these times continue.
“Stay together, Love each other” Their Dzeda (grandfather) left them with that encouragement and they are doing a good job listening.
The photos above are from the 80’s in California.
And speaking of World Cup Soccer (Futbol), (That is a weird segue!), here we are arriving at LAX from Seattle in 1994 to attend some of the World Cup Games when Los Angeles hosted the games. My sister Kathy and her girls picked us up from the airport. Our sons were able to get tickets for some of the games in Los Angeles and San Jose. Brazil beat out Italy to win in 1994.
World Cup 2022 just ended this past Sunday and what a championship game it was. Argentina came out ahead of France in the end and are the World Cup Champions for 2022. It was fun to see Lionel Messi finally add a World Cup Championship to his soccer accomplishments.
Congratulations on making it through this post. I like to document these special times to look back on as a kind of journal of life as it happened. Sometimes they flow well and sometimes they have diversions…
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
This was such a fun post, Ellen. I love that your kids still make an effort to keep those special cousin relationships going. Someone did a good job of instilling the importance of family. Merry White Christmas to you and yours. We are visiting in Northern Indiana and looking forward to the winter storm reaching us on Thursday. Don’t you just love it when southerners say things like that? LOL!
…neat, but no snow.
It is wonderful to see the family together having fun. They clearly like each other!
Your dad’s advice has been perfect for them.
Everybody’s happy on this side of the continent regarding Argentina’s win. ⚽️
Stay warm!
Love,
Vee
Nic to see all those happy smiling faces. Looks like a fun time.
That’s wonderful that your children’s cousins get together! Looks like they all enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed seeing the photos through the years of their times together. Special memories I’m sure.
Fun photos of the cousins, I like the Disney photos, very cute! happy memories!
Take care, enjoy your day!
What a beautiful family and the spirit of joy that shines on their faces throughout the images! Cheers to these sweet and unforgettable memories of 2022!