So, it's Christmas day, and it's been a hell of a few weeks. A little over two weeks ago, my great aunt died. The next day, we found out that my grandmother had a serious infection that they could not take care of without amputating, which would kill her anyway. This meant she had probably no more than six months to live. Later that day, we found out that the very sweet old lady who worked in the front office at our apartment building had passed away. Not a great weekend, right?

Then, my dad flew off to D.C. and New York, and discovered when he reached D.C. that he lost his laptop. Fortunately, LAX security recovered it, and he was able to pick it up after returning from his trip. While he was back East, my brother Ben and I decided to take a road trip up to the Bay Area, just to visit our grandparents, since we hadn't been in a while, and we didn't want to miss the chance to spend any time we could with our grandmother.

We spent some time with them (not too much, as neither was terribly with it), talked with our uncle and his girlfriend who had come down that day to visit as well, and had dinner in Berkeley with our Israeli cousin who has been living here for a while. We drove back down that Sunday, and we agreed that as sad as it was seeing our grandparents like that, we had needed the trip.

Dad went up this weekend, partly just to visit, but also to tell his father about Grandma's condition. When he got there on Friday, they were returning from a trip out to the coast. Saturday morning, Dad sat down with Grandpa and explained what was going on to him. He was, understandably, pretty upset. Dad convinced him that it might be nice for my grandparents to go into the city, so they did, and they had clam chowder for dinner, and by all accounts a very nice night. Yesterday they mostly spent around the house, and Dad says that Grandma was smiling and seemed very happy.

My grandmother passed away this morning, in her sleep. My uncle came down, and he and Dad told my grandfather. Dad spent most of the morning and early afternoon calling everyone and handling everything. I told Ben, who is in England visiting his girlfriend, and I told my mom. Needless to say, they were not easy calls to make. Mom decided to come straight down, I think as much for her sake as for worrying about me. We actually spent a very good morning and part of the afternoon together. I'm glad she came down, because we talked, and laughed, and told stories, and it was good.

There will be a memorial service, but I don't know when yet.

I think I'm ready for 2007 now, thank you.