🎉⛷️👨🏼🦽Our Family Holiday Party That Almost Wasn't, Jan. 2025🔥‼️🥳
- Barbara Levine
- Jan 9
- 12 min read
Updated: Jan 24
January 9, 2025
Written by Barbara Levine
🎉 Preface 🥳
Each year, Stan and I attempt to choose a date around the Christmas and New Year holiday periods to host a Family Holiday Party for as many of our immediate family members as possible. We also always invite the only one of my 10 siblings who lives nearby and our close friends who stood up for us at our wedding in 1992.
We were successful in getting almost everyone together the past two years in January of 2023 and 2024. Our two sons, our daughter, and five granddaughters were all able to attend, along with their significant others.
Immediate Family Members at Our Family Holiday Party in January 2023
Upper left: Stan is on the right with his daughter Tiffany and son Dave
Upper right: I am seated at the dining table beside my son Mike
Lower left: Stan's four granddaughters – Tiffany's daughters Jessica & Juliet with Dave's twin daughters Sammy & Maddie (insert on upper right)
Lower right: I am on the right with my granddaughter Charlotte and my sister Liz
In late November 2024, I send out invitations for our Family Holiday Party for this season, It looks like we will succeed once again in gathering the whole clan together when nearly everyone says they can make it on Thursday, January 9. And even better, Stan's only sibling Bernie who lives in Arizona says that he and his wife Kathy can attend. Only my sister Liz and her husband John are unable to join us.
Assuming that three of our five granddaughters will bring a guest, the estimated count as of mid-December is 20 attendees – four more than our dining table with two extensions will comfortably hold, but we'll make it work somehow if everyone shows.
⛷️ Stan Crashes & Burns in a Ski Race🧑🏼🦽
Every December for the past 17 years since I had to stop skiing, Stan has participated in the Ski/Ride/Race Camp at Mammoth Mountain. He has been skiing with the same group of mostly ladies and an instructor for five days each year. On the last day, everyone who wishes to competes in a race.
This past December 2024, Stan has a wonderful four days of skiing, even though he is demoted to a less advanced group because of his poor eyesight. On Thursday, December 19, he decides to compete in the race.
While skiing at full speed at the bottom of the race course, Stan becomes confused when he can't distinguish the final gate. He crashes into a pole, becomes entangled in ropes. and his skis wind up 180 degrees to each other. He ends up fracturing his right knee and left ankle, and spends two days and nights in the Mammoth Hospital. Click on the photo on the right of Stan on the racecourse to read all about it.
I drive Stan on the eight-hour journey back from Mammoth, equipped with a brace on his right leg, a substantial boot on his other foot, a walker, and a wheelchair.
🧑🏼⚕️👨🦽➡️ Busier Than Ever 👩🍳🏋️
We get home on Saturday, December 21, just 19 days before our Family Holiday Party on January 9. We are fortunate that Stan is in very little pain. He is able to transfer from his wheelchair to his walker to the couch, bed or toilet on his own. He must wear his leg brace and boot at all times and is not allowed to put any weight on his right leg for four to six weeks.
Jennifer, our personal trainer (as well as physical therapist), arrives on Monday, December 23, to resume our thrice weekly workouts – now with Stan in bed or in his wheelchair, and with me in our gym in the stable. She moves Stan's weights and elastic bands into our bedroom, and he also lifts weights on the days she isn't here.
Stan Exercises in His Wheelchair and Bed
Upper left: Stan working out with his seven-pound weights in his wheelchair
Upper right: Stan in his wheelchair lifting his 20-pound weights
Lower left: Stan exercising in bed
Lower right: Stan in a doctor's office with his right leg artfully taped by our personal trainer Jennifer
Since Stan is doing so well, we decide that we do not need a caregiver's help. On December 30, 11 days after his accident, Stan sees a local orthopedic trauma doctor. The large 'boot' on Stan's left foot is replaced with a soft 'shoe.' He still is not allowed put any weight on his right leg.
Now I am busier than ever. In addition to being a caregiver, I assume Stan's many chores around our home including those of chef (I am normally the sous chef) and grocery shopping (Stan normally does the shopping at Costco and I shop at Vons). I also need to drive him to his medical appointments and lift his wheelchair up into the Tesla and out again – it's a good thing I have been working out with Jennifer!
⁉️ Whether or Not to Have the Party 🎉
We debate whether we should cancel the Family Holiday Party, but we decide to go ahead with it. I have our cleaning lady scheduled for the day before the event and I have hired a party assistant.
My daughter-in-law Carrie (with assistance from my son Mike) volunteers to step in and take over Stan's chef duties. Carrie also helps me set up the two large dining table extensions that Stan built.
Our friends Harold and Linda are bringing veggie and cheese platters for hors d'oeuvres.
🎉 Party Dropouts👎
As January 9 quickly approaches, we begin to receive notifications from guests unable to attend. Stan's twin granddaughters Sammy and Maddie, along with their guests, will not be able to come. Stan's brother Bernie, and his wife, Kathy, are unable to undertake the trip from Tucson. Son Dave's partner, Cassidy, is unwell and likely won't recover in time. Daughter Tiffany's husband, Jason, has to work after all and can't join us.
Our expected attendees have decreased from 20 to 12. The food is all purchased, the helpers are ready, and the table is set. So, what do we do? We invite more friends.
• Jennifer, our personal trainer, is happy to join us.
• Dan and Debra, our neighbors who live directly above us, want to come, and Dan will bring a couple loaves of fresh bread he bakes. Dan has been regularly bringing us bread fresh from his oven and eggs fresh from his hens since the pandemic first hit.
• Our guardian angel Cathy will be happy to join the party. Cathy ensured that Stan and I made it back safely from our hike to Crystal Lake near Mammoth last October. To read all about it, click on the photo on the right of Stan and I on that hike.
Now the number of attendees is at our optimal level of 16, with room for Stan's wheelchair on one end.
On January 6, Cathy texts that she has to work until 6 pm and won't be able to attend. I tell her to join us after work, and she agrees.
🦷 I have my own dropout during this time when my upper right incisor breaks off at the gum line. Now I have to live with a large gap for a couple of months when I smile. 😂
🔥 The Los Angeles Wildfires
On January 7, two days before our party, the first of several large wildfires in the Los Angeles area starts in Pacific Palisades, 35 miles north of our home (see the map on the left).
For 38 years, Stan and I have lived in Rolling Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula – a very hilly area with lots of canyons filled with fodder for wildfires.
We were once packed and ready to evacuate after a wildfire broke out on the ocean side of the peninsula in 1993. If the fire had come over the top of the hill, the winds would have driven it down on all of the homes on our side. Fortunately, after destroying several homes, it was extinguished before it reached the top, and we were saved.
We d0n't fear that these wildfires in the Los Angeles area will reach our home. However, we are afraid that one might start somewhere on our peninsula in these very dry and windy conditions and consume everything where we live.
🥳 The Party Begins
Most of the guests arrive around 3 pm on Thursday, January 9, and the party is soon in full swing.
Fifteen-year-old Juliet with some help has managed to maneuver our pingpong table from the garage to the front patio. After playing with both of our friends Harold (almost 95) and his wife Linda, Juliet runs up to me and gushes, "I can't believe it. Both Harold and Linda totally whomped me in pingpong!"
Juliet is playing pingpong against Harold while Linda and Juliet's dog Maple watch. Note the brown, smoky haze in the background from the wildfires where there is normally a beautiful view of the mountains and the Los Angeles basin.
My daughter-in-law Carrie, aka Stand-In Chef, is busy in the kitchen with Christian, our Party Assistant (see photo on the left).
Carrie and my son Mike arrived early this morning to prepare the food for the dinner.
The menu is typical Thanksgiving fare, including tossed salad served with our neighbor Dan's freshly baked bread, roast turkey with dressing, yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans with slivered almonds. This will be followed by apple and pecan pies with Häagen-Dazs ice cream and coffee.
Our family room table is also loaded with hors d'oeuvres for the first hours of partying.
Several guests are seated on our new patio furniture around the fire pit table on our back patio opposite the pool.
🔥 Emergency Alert ‼️
Around 4 pm as I am setting more hors d'oeuvres out, I hear a loud blaring sound on my phone that sounds like an amber alert, which I get occasionally to announce a missing person. When I glance at my iPhone, I am startled to read the following:
Then I realize that everyone's phone has sounded off at the same time! Does everyone have to abandon the party just as it is getting started and head for home to pack up their emergency kits and wait for an evacuation order?
Our neighbor Debra, who is also our neighborhood Block Captain for emergency preparedness, is busy on her phone with our city officials. She reports that the emergency alert message that we all received was sent out in error to all residents of Los Angeles County. It was supposed to have targeted residents in a specific zone of the western region of the San Fernando Valley known as the West Hills where the Kenneth Fire has just started.
🥳 The Party Goes On
In spite of party dropouts and wildfire alerts, the party is still going strong!
Upper left: Our neighbor Dan and Stan's daughter Tiffany
Upper right: Our neighbor Debra petting our Boxer Henry
Lower left: My granddaughter Charlotte, my son Mike and I in front of our pool. Charlotte is a sophomore at my alma mater Michigan State University.
Middle right: Stan 's granddaughters Juliet and Jessica (holding their dog Maple), my daughter-in-law Carrie (holding her dog Gracie) and my granddaughter Charlotte. Jessica is a junior at Pepperdine University which was threatened by the recent Malibu fire, and is now being threatened by the Pacific Palisades fire.
Lower right: Stan and his rock climbing star granddaughter Juliet. Juliet, age 15, recently took 14th place in the World Youth Sport Climbing Competition in China.
🔥 Fire Casualties
Around 4:30 pm, Stan's son Dave calls to say that he and his partner Cassidy are running late. They live 84 miles away in Oxnard, west of all of the fires, and they have the longest drive of anyone. They have to take the 101 and 405 Freeways, which pass between or near to where two of the wildfires are burning.
Dave reports that they have been on the road for over an hour and are still in the San Fernando Valley, stuck on the freeway with loads of traffic and a lot of smoke. Stan tells him to turn around and go home because the party will be over before they get here.
At 5:30 pm as dinner is about to be served, our personal trainer Jennifer says that she has to leave for an appointment with her coach* at Gold's Gym in Venice beach, not that far from the large Pacific Palisades fire.
* Jennifer's coach is training her to compete in the next International Bikini Muscle Contest. She won six medals in her first competition in October 2023 in the photo on the right.
Jennifer misunderstood my invitation, thinking that 5:30 pm was when the party ended – not when dinner would be served. A half hour later, Jennifer returns – her coach phoned her to say that Gold's Gym has been closed because of the fires.
Our guardian angel Cathy is another fire casualty. She doesn't come late as she had hoped because she has friends who lost their homes in the fire in Malibu who have moved in with her.
🍽️ Dinner Is Served 🍗
The number of party attendees has dwindled to 12 as we line up in the buffet line to fill our plates.
Upper right: Seated on our new reclining, massaging sofa prior to dinner, Jennifer is viewing videos that granddaughter Juliet is showing her of Juliet's pet rats that she trains. On the right, granddaughter Jessica is chatting with Stan.
Upper left: Stan is in his wheelchair at the dining table. The helicopter over his head is a decoration – not a fire rescue helicopter 🤪.
Lower left: Guests seated at the dining table. On the left are granddaughter Jessica, friend Harold, neighbor Debra, granddaughter Charlotte and son Mike. Across from them is our neighbor Dan.
Lower right: Stan 's granddaughters Juliet and Jessica
🥳 Epilogue
The Family Holiday Party That Almost Wasn't happened after all, albeit with fewer guests than we had planned on. We certainly had enough food, and our helpers Carrie and Christian were wonderful.
Below is a collage of the immediate family members who made it to the party.
Upper left: I am on the right with my granddaughter Charlotte and my son Mike
Upper right: Stan and his granddaughter Juliet
Middle left: Stan's daughter Tiffany
Middle right: Granddaughter Juliet, granddaughter Jessica (holding Maple), daughter-in-law Carrie (holding Gracie), and granddaughter Charlotte
Lower left: Our Boxer Henry
Lower right: Stan 's granddaughters Jessica and Juliet
🎉⛷️👨🏼🦽Postscript
Six days after the party on January 15, Stan has his 4-week checkup with his orthopedic specialist following his ski race accident, and the results are amazingly great! He no longer needs to wear his knee brace or soft ankle boot, nor does he need his wheelchair and walkers. He is using crutches for stability and balance most of the time until his body recovers from a month of inactivity.
We are looking forward to the next family holiday party in 2026 – hopefully with no skiing accidents or wildfires to complicate things.
🎶 A Song to Go with My Missive 🥳
I enjoy the song titled, "Don't Take the Goodtimes for Granted," by David James and Daniel O'Donnell. The lyrics seem appropriate to Our Family Holiday Party That Almost Wasn't, when things can suddenly happen like a skiing accident or a wildfire which can change everything in one's life. Click on the album cover below to hear James and O'Donnell singing the song.
Lyrics:
I met with an old friend last evening
And I mentioned concerns that I had
About things that unfurled and the ways of the world
And how sometimes it makes me feel sad
I said life can be so complicated
And I’m scared I might lose my way
When a friendly hand pressed on my shoulder
He smiled and I heard him say
Chorus:
Son, don’t take the good times for granted
For things keep on changing each day
Make time to be with the ones that you love
Let nothing stand in your way
We don’t know what waits round the corner
We never know what lies ahead
So, if just for a moment, forget all your troubles
And count all your blessings instead
I often dream of the future
And of all of the things I might do
Son, follow your heart
Cause if you never dream
Your dreams they can never come true
Should you choose a road that’s less travelled
Just know I’ll be there to the end
You’re not just a shoulder to lean on
I thank you for being my friend
Chorus
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