The Adams family was together, as is now our tradition, in Sarasota for Christmas. I arrived on Saturday the 18th. After brunch the next day, Grandpa, his aide, and I went out and bought a tree. That errand turned out to be a bit of an adventure, as the place Dad has gone to for years was no longer in business. We had to drive around for quite a while to find somewhere with trees left. My brother and his family had arrived the previous evening. We all left on Thursday the 30th.
Each year Lauren and Evan make a Christmas gingerbread house. For the last 3 years they have done it in Sarasota. The decorations change each year. This year Evan was not very interested in making the dough or assembling the house but was heavily involved in the decorating.
Nowadays we open presents on Christmas morning. Once again there were quite a few packages under the tree, even though we had said that we would not buy too much. Evan volunteered to distribute the gifts, as he often likes to do. Based on a strong hint, my brother's family gave me a beautiful photograph of Ile St Louis and the Seine in Paris.
Lauren made a delicious version of Grandpa's signature sourdough pancakes for breakfast on Christmas morning. We followed that with the Bay Club's Christmas buffet at noontime. Lauren made most of our dinners, and as usual each was better than the last. She has us quite spoiled! To give her a break, I made roast leg of lamb one evening, and we went to the central dining room for a couple of dinners.
Late Monday morning I picked up a rental car at the aiport and drove to St. Augustine to visit my friend Eirc Allemeno and his family at his mother's house.
Evan displaying a motorized Lego - a climbing monkey at the time -
that he brought from California
This year Evan brought an elf's cape from Oakland to wear for the occasion, and he added Grandpa's hat. Here he is giving his Mom a paper model airplane that he made for her.
Grandpa inspecting his model airplane
me displaying my hand-made gift and the proud creator
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