Living in Munchkinland

 In early January, my Grandma passed away peacefully in her sleep. My mom had driven home from Taos in time to spend time with her and my Aunt Char and Uncle Mike had come in from Arkansas. She was surrounded by her children all that day. She was 94.  I had such a wonderful and special relationship with my grandma. I grew up on her ranch next door to her house. When I used to "run away", I'd run up to her house and she'd make me snack and let me watch cartoons till I cooled off. I stayed with her whenever my parents needed a sitter. I made brownies with her while she courting my Gramp. She made all my clothes and gave me home permanents. She prepared candy for every Halloween so I could trick or treat on the ranch. We often swam together at the pool. I went to church with her. She threw the best Christmas cookie parties where we made huge messes and decorated cookies. She made fudge in every flavor, but I especially loved butterscotch. We all adored her "grandma ...

 We were so happy to say good riddance to 2020! We drove home from Taos on New Year's Eve and decided to have a quiet evening. Leah and Garrett came over for a bit and Leah helped us shuck oysters. We had both raw and grilled oysters and they were delicious. We opened a bottle of nice champagne and Michael and I saw in the hot tub with our books and read and sipped. We watched television in front of the fire and went to bed early.

  We drove down to Taos a couple of days before Christmas after having quarantined for two weeks. We met mom and Paul there and it was so good to be together! Tiffany and Keith and Kade arrived the next day. We really enjoyed being together. We celebrated Christmas eve with music, posole and tamales, a zoom call with "Merry Christmas from the Family" with the Larry Davis family, Christmas Eve gift and a viewing of Elf. Christmas morning followed tradition with Santa, gifts, bloody mary and mimosas, breakfast, stocking game, a fancy Christmas dinner with prime rib and chateneuf de pape and french fries, and a game of dominoes. Tiffany and Keith and Kade did some skiing  a couple of days during the holiday. Tiffany and Mom and I took a hike to the gorge and mom and Tiffany and I took lots of walks through the sage brush. We went snowmobiling with Marcie and Ann and the kids one day and then they came back to the house and we visited, masked, outside on the patio for as long as ...