Good Monday morning from the golden state. It is a frosty, yet clear and cloudless day. The sun is working its magic on the frost that still clings to the trees and rooftops and the result is a steam that gently rises into the air. It is nice to view the surroundings from the warmth of my office with a mug of hot coffee within easy reach. A group of joggers in shorts and sweatshirts with hoods pulled over their heads jogs by, the steam from their breath obscuring their faces as they run to who knows where for who knows what reason. I admire their tenacity and take a long sip of my hot coffee.

This past weekend went by in a blur as we enjoyed two Christmas parties with two vastly different groups of people. Friday night was my annual golf Christmas banquet and Saturday night was a Christmas dinner with Darla's co-workers from the Auburn office. I still don't know how or why we were invited to that gathering as Darla works in the Roseville office, but it was a nice outing with excellent food from one of Folsom's better restaurant's, The Cliffhouse over looking the American River. We stayed on after dinner and did a bit of dancing in the bar.

The combination of two outings on the same weekend tended to crowd the weekend and it seemed that Sunday night was upon us shortly after I got off work on Friday. I was able to get the car washed and the lawn mowed over the weekend, but it was a rare golfless weekend.

I talked to Jennifer last night and she survived her week in the field. She endured rain and cold and spent Monday and Tuesday running phone lines between the groups of tents and then dismantled the communications network from 9-11 pm on Thursday night and they broke camp Friday morning. It is important training for the military, but grueling work and, as Jennifer said, it makes you appreciate the warmth and comfort of your own bed after sleeping in tents for a week.

David's Mustang will be back in his possession on Thursday after two weeks of inactivity. The transmission was shot and it was prohibitively expensive to rebuild his transmission. They ended up buying a rebuilt transmission from Ford and a local transmission shop is pulling the old transmission and installing the rebuilt. His father decided that the work was too much for he and David. I was actually glad to see that and David will now have a warranty and the work done right. He is tired of driving his Dad's old Ford F250 truck to school. He said he's embarrassed by the beat-up appearance of the rusty old tub. I think the Mustang has spoiled him a bit. I also told him that he could have his grandmother drive him to and from school. He said that the truck isn't THAT bad.

David is doing very well with his basketball team. It is still non-league season and they have so far played three games and won them all. The fun part is that they have played three Division 1 schools and dominated in all of the games. The only game that was close was against Folsom High School, Jennifers alma mater. We actually had a 13 point lead late in the game only to survive an onslaught of three pointers to win by two points on a missed final shot by Folsom. David is the starting small forward and he is enjoying himself. His team is the defending Nor-Cal champions from last year and they have a nice team this year. Two of their starters are juniors and one is a sophomore, so they should be good for the next two years. Tournament season starts next weekend and David will play in tournaments two of the next three weekends.

Darla and I have decided to get the boys a pool table for Christmas. I'm still a little conflicted about turning my living room into a game room, but frankly, like so many modern homes, our living room sits empty most of the time as we sit in the family room enjoying television or just reading on the big sofa or recliners. We will move out the sofa and coffee table and replace those with a pool table and perhaps another television and some barstools. Darla and I have decided that we want our home to be inviting to the boy's friends and a place that they can come and relax and play pool or listen to music.

I admit that infrequently I would steal away into the living room with a cup of coffee and the paper and sit and relax. I'll miss that, but it was not very often and the joy that the boy's and their friends will get from the game room will make up for my small sacrifice.

That's it for this week. I hope all of you are well. Darla and I have another Christmas party this weekend at my boss' home and then we will take some friends to our church's holiday play, It's a Wonderful Life on Saturday night.