Sorry for the late post.  This is Steve and Erin asked me to post about our Christmas adventures…

Christmas morning we all met at Barbara’s house for the traditional Christmas morning stocking and gift extravaganza and breakfast.  My parents joined us this year since they are now neighbors, having moved to Woodland a few months ago.  After lunch Erin, the boys, Raquel, and my parents piled into two cars and made a trip down to Santa Cruz to meet the Smith family at their gathering at Anne and Ken’s home.

Ken is Erin’s first cousin and we used to hang out with them more regularly when we lived in Scotts Valley and San Jose.  It’s probably been at least a year since we’ve seen them, unfortunately, but Christmas was a ton of fun.

Their house has an entrance that involves about 8 steps down from street level.  Rather than work her way down in her wheelchair, Erin insisted on walking.  I think she just wanted to make a grand entrance.  Holding my arm, we carefully made our way down the steps and into their house.  Erin then stood at the kitchen counter for at least 30 minutes chatting with her extended family and friends.  She looked great.  This is when the photo of Erin and her cousins which we posted earlier was taken.

We spent that night in a hotel in Scotts Valley then got up the next day to visit some old friends in San Jose.  Debra Marquez and Erin met when Paco was in pre-school in Campbell.  Her daughter Natalia is just a few months younger then Paco and her son, Santiago, is about 6 years old now.  Paco and Natalia haven’t seen each other in a long time but seemed to pick up right where they left off.

What trip would be complete without some drama?  On the way from Santa Cruz to San Jose we drove over highway 17, a particularly curvy road.  Paco said he was feeling nauseous.  We stopped at our favorite little taco stand, Tacos Mexico, located near my old eBay office… it’s Paco’s favorite and he was all excited about taking burritos over to Natalia’s house.  When we got out of the car, Paco proceeded to throw up all over the sidewalk… I guess the curvy road took its toll on him, though he blamed my driving.    All was OK after he got his burrito, though.  He ate an enormous carne asada burrito during the 5 minute drive from the restaurant to Natalia’s house.  He’s still raving about the food.

All told, it was a great Christmas filled with family and friends.  Erin was doing much better than any of us expected just a few months ago and still appears to be getting stronger.