Unlike snowy Thanksgiving, on Christmas Day the weather was clear, so we drove the short but steep route up past Mad River and over the top to spend the day with my sister, her family and my parents. Gifts were exchanged beside their extraordinarily wide Christmas tree, purchased to display their large collection of ornaments. The way it works is Jay buys a huge tree that's really too big to fit in the house but has super long branches. Once the top is lopped off, they can get it inside and then they've got more than the usual amount of space for hanging ornaments. Still, even with the branches covered, only about half their ornament collection can fit. Truly wonderful food followed for the Christmas dinner and we all got to dine at the chef's table. Only Mike was missing, unfortunately sick back in California.