Christmas Day

It's Christmas morning!

 Santa came!

Stocking excitement.

Even the rats got something.

Checking out some of the loot.

Time for some dinner prep!

Bad sweaters, merry Christmas!

Xmas Eve

This year it was just the family for Christmas again. This year we continued our new tradition of heading into San Francisco on Christmas Eve for fun and steak!

Checking out the gingerbread house at the Fairmont with everyone else!

We stopped in for a few minutes of the mass at Grace Cathedral.

Then it was time for Ruth's Chris steakhouse.

Yum!!!!

Then it was time for bed with these amazing PJs.

Elima Kearsley Higgins

Sadly, three days after Kearsley returned home, Gram (Elima Kearsley Higgins) passed away. Kearsley is so grateful that she got to say goodbye and be with her. She was 97 years old. She lived her life well and we will miss her.

Elima was born on November 3, 1922 in Fiji. She had four sisters and a brother. Some of them are pictured here. She's the girl furthest to the right.

Gram holding up one of her sisters on the beach in Fiji.

Gram's mother and her five daughters (and one granddaughter). Gram is the furthest on the left.

Gram met Grandpa during WWII when he was stationed in Fiji as a doctor. They fell in love and got married in Fiji. Gram then embarked on a harrowing adventure to America on her own while Grandpa was finishing up his tour in Burma. 

Pop was the first child they had together in 1946.

They settled in Cortland, New York. Gram had three children, David (Pop), Betsy, and Susan. 

Gram and Grandpa loved upstate New York. They particularly loved Skaneateles lake where the whole family spent most summer when the children were young and was a favorite spot for all of us to visit. 

Kearsley, Coco, and Marimar with Gram and Grandpa at the lake. 

Gram with her children at Kearsley's wedding.

Gram and Grandpa with Maya. 

Grandpa died 8 years ago while Kearsley was pregnant with Dexter. Gram was devastated, but she stayed active and enjoyed visiting with family. Here we are in Montana for Christmas together.

She still loved to have us visit her. and we would go to Skaneateles Lake.

We've loved having her as part of our lives for so long.

Gram and Kearsley.

Here we are together in July. We are grateful that we got wonderful time with her this summer. She lived a remarkable life and we will miss her so much.

"Rise of Skywalker" Premiere

With Kearsley in New York, Todd, Dexter and Maya went to the ILM premiere of "Rise of the Skywalker", the new Star Wars film in San Francisco.

Popcorn and Star Wars! A winning combination!

Let's start the movie!

Gram

Sadly, Gram's health has been declining rapidly. Meredith and I decided to visit her in Cortland. She was still very lucid, but was not able to move around very much at all. We cherished getting to be with her for three days. 

 This is where we spent most of our time.

This was a very special time for us. 

We set up a small Christmas tree in the room to make it more festive.

Holiday Party Time

Time for the Lucas Holiday Party. This year the theme was prom.

 Somehow that translated into tuxedo shirts for both of us.

Looking good?

With Nelson and Connie also in their prom finest.

Cool photo of cool us.

One of the cool ballrooms with Rob Bredow welcoming everyone.