Christmas decorations make an impressive sight in Johnson Lane

I found a great house that is decorated as a must see in Johnson Lane. If you take Johnson Lane north on East Valley and west on Shirley, you can't miss it. Wow, my family thought it was so beautiful.

I remember for years in San Diego, there was a family in Ramona who would decorate to the hilt. And, they would also have an empty coffee can set out front for donations to pay their huge electric bill. I think going overboard is just feeding the utility companies but we still like to decorate with economical small lights.

A strand of lights on the chicken house even though we don't have chickens anymore, one strand of lights on the play house and a little bit of lights on our home. Well, OK, this year we put out all of our decoration because all three of our grown boys will be home for Christmas or shortly there after.

Garrett, our oldest son is out playing in the Atlantic Ocean on the USS George Washington nuclear-powered aircraft carrier until Christmas. He and his fiancee Rachael, who are in the Navy on the same ship, will fly home on the 29th for about six days.

Taylor, our middle son, who is at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, will try to make it home for his favorite dinner, turkey enchiladas, hopefully on the 30th. And Davis, our youngest son, flies in on December 27th for about eight days. Our daughter Jenee says she can't wait for Davis to show up because he is going to take her skateboarding at the skate park.

We are so looking forward to the boys coming home because in April 2008, Garrett and Rachael will be shipping out for a four year tour to Yokosuka, Japan. Then there's Taylor, who will be going on a mission in May 2008 for two years. Boy, it's hard to watch your children grow up and have such busy lives. So this year we figure will be our last year with all three boys home for Christmas, at least for a while. Jenee sure is looking forward to it. She hopes Garrett brings home the Xbox so she can play a racing game with the boys.

My plan is to make each of the boys their favorite foods while they are home. A turkey dinner with all the trimmings, a ham one night with cheesy potatoes, the enchiladas of course and do I need to mention desserts? An apple pie for one night, our family tradition cherry dessert and some oatmeal cookies will be laying around for nibbling. I could never forget to make a pan of brownies every day for the oldest kid, that's his favorite. Aren't comfort foods great this time of year?

More about the mountain lion

I haven't heard anything else about the mountain lion. But, I have received lots of calls from neighbors wondering what is going on with that. Most are concerned about the times they go out to feed their pets and whether they should still be concerned. I would say, stay on guard.

-- Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.