Happy Holidays

We had a great time in Berkeley this Christmas, visiting my grandmother Sigvor along with my parents and Lauren and Melissa. She lives near the top of the hills overlooking Berkeley and Oakland, which affords a splendid view of the bay. Once can see all the way from Alameda (to the south), the Bay Bridge, downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Angel Island (to the west). There was a wonderful sunset the first day we were there. It was unseasonably sunny and clear for most of our stay, raining just a bit at the end. We went to San Francisco for a day, doing some shopping and hitting Ghirardeli Square just after dusk. Then we got to hang onto the side of a cable car as we rode up and down the hills back to the BART station.

We decorated the Christmas tree and hung up the stockings with care. 24 people came over for Christmas Eve, the table stretched from the dining room into the living room with barely room to spare! After dinner we sang carols and danced around the Christmas tree, then people settled into chairs and presents were given. It was a lot of fun, it had been many years since I had last spent Christmas at Sigvor's and it was better than I remembered.

We went on walks through Tilden Park. Dad and I went on a few runs. We also visited the redwoods at Big Basin just before sunset, with most of the family posing inside the trunk of a rather large tree. I don't think I had ever been near huge redwoods before, it was very cool. On the drive out of Big Basin, it grew very dark and misty. Jen and I lamented over not having brought along a Lord of the Rings soundtrack to play.

It was a wonderful trip.