"The Most Excellent California Christmas Ever!"

This is the title that my daughter Sylvia has given to our family Christmas celebration.
No doubt, somebody in her family has a background in marketing.
In deference to my California friends, this will be Sylvia's first California Christmas, so her claim is not designed to slight those of you who have had a string of most excellent California Christmases.
This will be the Most Excellent (McLean/Elmer family) California Christmas Ever.
You know how people sometimes will say, "boy a year ago, I never imagined that I'd be doing this or that...?" When someone says that to me, my mind tries to imagine everything that is imaginable ever. I don’t want to be caught off guard in a year having something happen to me that I never imagined would happen. My brain is so actively ADD that I like to think that I've imagined everything that could ever be conceivably be imagined. It keeps me from thinking about the things that normal people think that I should be thinking about.
That having been said, a year ago I never imagined that I would be cheerfully anticipating the “Most Excellent California Christmas Ever!” I’ve spent the last five Christmases in Georgetown with my wife Karen, her ex- husband, their two kids, and four grandkids. One big happy family. O.K., I did feel a like an outsider, but over time it had developed into a manageable routine.
My three daughters spent Christmas with their mother Roz in Maine. That was the way it worked. Two years ago, however, the wall began to crack. Sarah moved to Hong Kong and married John. Last summer, Sylvia married Brad and, against all imagination (mine included) moved to Davis, California. A month ago, Margaret McLean Tsien came into the world. New grandmother Roz will, consequently, be flying to Hong Kong for Christmas.
Coincident with this family excitement, Karen decided that she’d had enough of me, so I raced to the Outer Banks to write, consult and, on a breathtaking day like today, ride the Knotts Island ferry five miles over to Currituck and back with only my camera and a book. This I happily could not have imagined a year ago.
The balance falls conveniently into place. Sylvia and Brad are eager to host Christmas for their displaced family members (Sylvia’s sister Martha, Brad’s mom Peg, his identical twin brother Chris, and me.) Three of us. Three of them. Perfect. It has all the makings of the most excellent (McLean/Elmer family) California Christmas ever.
Now, two weeks before the big day (we will in fact celebrate the day on December 26), my mind is again in overdrive. How could I not have seen this a year ago - Sarah and John have Margaret, Sylvia and Brad move to California, and Karen splits.
What will next year hold?
I can hardly imagine.
I’m hoping for the Second Most Excellent California Christmas Ever.
Two years in a row?
It will have become a tradition.
Thank you for visiting.
Jack