I very much like to live in the present, but last night, Kate and I started remembering all the Christmases we have spent together. It was fun.

She recently remembered a few years when I gave her $100 cash and she walked to Burlingame Avenue to buy all the stocking stuffers for her sisters. Can you imagine doing that these days?

For some years, I had to go back to the December posts on this site to recall. For others, for some reason, there were no pictures, but plenty of delicious food memories.

One sweet memory worth immortalizing here is the very first Christmas I did not put up a tree in my living room and headed out very early one morning to drive to Kate’s.

Driving down, I made my traditional dog-friendly-overnight stop at the Motel 6 in Red Bluff.

Behind the motel, someone had tossed out a potted nandina bush. I rescued it. I saw it as a miracle: my Christmas tree.

When I got back to 1880, I planted it in the garden and every Christmastime since, I have brought a bit of it inside.

A memory of a Christmas past and a happy Christmas present to add to the list.