Still Leftovering
December 2, 2025
Five days out and still…
I mean…
Time for the Brazilians to Go Home
December 1, 2025
That is a Frame family saying and harks back to a time long ago when the two Piedmont Frame families (two sets of parents and eight kids) hosted a steady stream of family visitors from Brazil (where Jim’s mom and aunt were from). There would come a point in a visit when the kids were done with family, done with Portuguese, done with having to be on best behavior.. and would implore their parents to clear the house of Brazilians.
Jim and I use that phrase a lot .. like at the end of a marathon holiday gathering (for example). It’s great to have family around; it’s great when they all go home.
The last of our TG guests left today:
And then Jim got to making turkey/ham soup.
And with that, Thanksgiving 2025 is a wrap.
Last Day of Hanging Out
November 30, 2025
I know… just a few more Thanksgiving week pics. These are on the last day of hanging out and kind of define the week. It was incredibly cold, grey and gloomy, buried as we were under tule fog for 7-8 straight days. We spent a LOT of time in the living room with the fire going.
We ate out more than I thought we needed to (having a huge supply of leftovers), but I was content not to pull dinners together and clean up afterward! Tonight, Sunday, we ate at Janet’s.. that was a nice change of venue. (We also ate at Burma twice, Mikuni’s, Burgers and Brew, and Bernardo.. hit all the Davis haunts over the course of a week).
We set up a Chihuly jigsaw puzzle.. which proved to be tedious and difficult.. not sure I’ll finish it, but here’s Betsy’s and my start on the thing:
Gin
November 29, 2025
Matt treated us to some gin cocktail concoctions throughout the week (I opted for vodka), but this gin is about the cards. Which we played a lot of.
Nothing says downtime like gin rummy.
Requisite Day After Shots
November 28, 2025
Breakfast of champions….
Lunch of champions…
And, our first departure. Chris and Pam were last to arrive (Wed) and first to leave (Fri). Here’s a nice just-about-to-part shot of Chris…
I will say this about Chris: Since mom started going downhill .. (heart surgery in 2009 and then 8 more years of pretty challenging health), Chris has been on the scene. He’s always been on the scene (if unconventionally and on his own terms), but he really stepped up and became ever present in those years. The importance of family really clicked in for him and we noticed, and appreciated it. He has become somewhat of a family spark plug, a Jay whisperer, someone who seems not to hold grudges and floats among all the difficult family members without the complicated burdens some of us can’t seem to shed. After mom died in 2017, he remained family-committed, in fact his urgency to be a regular part of the clan increased. He has become sort of the spokesperson for tradition, and upholding our parents’ legacy (a term he uses a lot with loads of sentimentality) now that they are both gone. He had his own health scare in 2020 with a heart attack (while surfing, of all things), which intensified his need for connection. Pam’s coming on the scene (I want to say sometime around 2019?) has formalized his role in the family. She is the consummate in-law (though they aren’t officially married just yet), ensuring that not only do they show up, but they do it with a hot dish (or two), a bottle of wine, flowers… and then help clean up. She has introduced social protocols to his world and I think he actually likes it.
I’m just amazed and grateful they agree to come all the way up here every year for Thanksgiving. He thanks ME for being the one to make it all happen. His toasts about us kids needing to hang together because that’s what mom and dad would want are from the heart and emotionally delivered.
And that’s what Thanksgiving and family should be all about, ya?
One more.. this one with Pam (I wonder if I’ve mentioned that they have been engaged since last Christmas?):
The Perfect Combo
November 27, 2025
I was pleased about two things today (among dozens of things, actually): smooth logistics and warm vibes.
As a host person, the logistics are always on my mind. It is important to me that the day is well orchestrated: that our house is comfortable to be in and festive; that there is food when people are in a mood to eat, well spaced out throughout the day, but not too much; that the dinner is full of yummy dishes, all ready to serve at the same time, hot and beautiful. Those kinds of logistics..
Exhibit A
This was one of many lists that kept me on task from Monday to Monday of Thanksgiving week.
As fastidious as I am about all that, I have to remember that the reason for the season is the other part… the feels: good conversations, flowing gratitude, love, fun, laughing. I feel like we had a ton of that this year. And the table toasts were just the best.
Yay for all of that.
A few pics on the day:
Those are green beans I’m holding up.. and Matt’s mashing pototoes.
Annual photo just before eating.. (Janet took this one):
Serving it up…
P and J:
About to consume…isn’t this nice?
Chris and Pam..
Conversation with Michael who wasn’t here…
Chris and Peter have been playing chess together a long time…
And… dessert that few had room for, but scarfed down anyway..
Truly awesome.. the whole day.
Tuesday is Birthday Cake Baking Day..
November 25, 2025
… and cranberry sauce and Harvard Beet making.
But, I have no picture of any of that, so I’ll share this one (taken on Wednesday by Betsy, thanks, Betsy!) of me baking a pecan pie. Forgive the time warp. And the weird smile.
It’s the Calm Before the Thanksgiving Storm
November 24, 2025
Matt’s coming, so’s Chris and Pam, also Betsy, Paul and Janet..and of course our wonderful Peter. We’ll have a week of guests, lots of meals and I hope some fun times together.
Matt’s already here… somewhere… maybe still on the last few miles of I-80, but on his way. We’re having dinner with him downtown somewhere. P and Boo arrive tomorrow. C&P on Wednesday and P&J on Thursday. I’m done with all the menu planning and shopping, the fridge has been cleaned out and a bunch of stuff’s been relocated to an ice chest. I’ve drafted a cooking and baking plan for the next three days and it seems totally manageable.
We’re doing something new and easy this year: In addition to the the usual Honeybaked ham that we get, I also ordered (and picked up today) a Honeybaked smoked turkey breast and plain roasted breast.. we’ll see how that turns out. What are we going to do with ourselves if we aren’t stressing about how to finally roast a tasty, moist turkey after decades of failures? What will we do without a huge, greasy, nasty carcass to deal with?!
Boy, am I excited about this!
And… Miguel and Mary worked their magic on the house and garden today.. and everything looks clean and spiffy.
Mary planted some welcome flowers…
I’m so looking forward to the week. And will be thrilled when Monday of next week rolls around. Bring it all on!
The Holidays in a Few Pics
January 2, 2025
Well… as I begin blogging 2025, I have to fess up that I missed a LOT of 2024. It was my intention to backfill all of my missed blogs. I just hated that I missed so many days and fully intended to right that wrong. But as the year wore on and the missed days piled up, I realized backfilling was an increasingly daunting task and was probably never going to happen.
So, I am accepting that 2024 will remain an under-documented year and, in the interest of looking forward and not behind, I am NOT going to spend a single second stressing about that.
For the record, I do plan to do a Guatemala travel blog thing and an Italy-Dolomites-Germany travel blog thing, because I do want a record, and I especially want to enjoy those memories. I may also, from time to time, reach back into 2024 and write about some of the notable goings on, like some of the political stuff, and/or some family milestones…
With that in mind, how about a few photos from the holidays.. an easy place to start!
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On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, folks started to arrive in Davis.. Chris and Pam, Matt, Betsy (for just an overnight on her way to Karen’s), Peter and Maya (who will arrive later this night)…
A lot of catch-up conversation ensued…
On Wednesday, we celebrated Chris’s 65th birthday..
Pam made wonderful lasagna, and I made a spice cake that was amazing..
Thanksgiving day, Peter and Maya were assigned corn bread stuffing — Kamala Harris’s recipe (remember her?). It was beautifully made, but we all agreed we prefer traditional bread stuffing. (Other assignments: turkey and gravy: Jim; mashed potatoes: Matt; sweet potatoes: Pam; green beans, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, Harvard beets: Kari; other pies: Janet.)
Pam also took charge of appetizers again…
We played a bunch of poker while consuming those appetizers..
Here’re a couple of our TG day gang…
We managed some Zoom connections with family far away…one call with Jay and Saythong in Thailand, another call with Aunt Joy in Pleasanton and Heidi in the desert…
Day after hanging out…
Peter’s guitar playing has gotten really really good. Such a joy to hear him play and sing. Maya and Peter do a lot of singing & playing together.
Chris and Pam took off Saturday morning, and the rest of us headed first to Putah Creek Cafe in Winters for breakfast with the John Frames…
Then wended our way over the mountain to Napa/Sonoma for some wine tasting at BR Cohn, and dinner at Mustards Grill.
It was really pretty in Napa in the final days of fall…
And some holiday seasonal flora, Davis style (our front porch Japanese Maple and the colors at Putah Creek)
A couple shots around the house getting ready for Christmas…
A new thing I baked this year… a goat cheese/pesto/parmesan puff pastry Christmas tree, this was for a Christmas gathering with our hiking buds — Ricker, Susan, Heidi (Jimmy J got Covid)
Annual favorite holiday concert — Home for the Holidays…front row, always!
A fantastic holiday neighborhood open house at the Slabach’s. Holy cow they can entertain… this was one of numerous tables loaded with stuff Lisa had made. Ted made a fabulous eggnog martini.
Baking tasks… this year cheese crackers, butterballs and a new almond/walnut brittle with chocolate.. fantastic all.
Christmas Eve was so mellow.. the three of us and Janet for a cranberry pork tenderloin, roasted sweet potatoes and salad.. and plenty of tasty Christmas gifts for dessert.
Added some new ornaments to the tree this year.. photos on acrylic.. fun!
This was a Christmas day surprise… and this is us hearing the news.. that Chris and Pam got engaged!
And those were some of the highlights from Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2024.
Life of Wry 