A picture gallery of our family in 2013 – how blessed we are! Happy holidays everyone!

If you have a cell phone with a camera, I am sure you have more photos than ever before in your life. So do we. And grand-kids go together with an abundance of photos. So here are some of our best of the year – to go along with our holiday newsletter – we are very blessed with much that was good in 2013 – some tough bits too – but that’s life! Here is the holiday letter – and the photos to go with it! Happy holidays everyone!

As always, 2013 was all about family and as the pictures tell, our only child James has been very productive.  He and his amazing wife Donne, have created a beautiful life filled with the energy of four little boys – Jack now 6 in first grade, Jonah  who is 4, in preschool ,and identical twins Noah and Gabriel who just turned 2 at the end of October. Their presence in our lives and that of our extended family is what brings us the most joy and happiness. We are truly blessed. James concluded the sale of his company and continues with his partners and team to grow the business, while making happy plans for the future. Donne  is a pediatrician with patients and their parents who adore her like we do,  and a fabulous mom and athlete. Clive had a second partial lateral knee replacement and is thriving and back to full activities ( within a week!) as a  busy orthopedic surgeon. The Little Farm is always active – this year we did two fundraisers  for Netiya, the interfaith non profit Clive chairs, where volunteers from 34 churches,  mosques and synagogues in Los Angeles  convert parking lots into urban farms.  It was rewarding and what a lot of work! We donated 2/3 of our 40 dozen jams and hundreds of pounds of cheeses – ricotta, chevre, feta and camemberts to benefit the charity.

We got to know some wonderful new Chefs this year – Salvatore Marino from Il Grano, and Celestino Drago – both with fabulous restaurants in LA.  Clive completed his water conservation project at the Little Farm  with Max, our farm manager, so we can save rainwater, and grew his Bee Hive population while adding multiple new exotic fruit trees ( finger limes, wax jambu etc.).

Travel was fun -we went parasailing in New Zealand with friends – and bought a 1927 Baby Austin Chummy car there which Clive is loving and upgrading here.  Cabo is also an annual treat with more friends. And Larraine still has lots of business travel to New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and more.

Larraine continues to serve on boards,  both public, private and non profit, and to devote a lot of her time to Chairing the Foundation of the Committee of 200 Global Women’s CEO’s group.

Keeping healthy, exercising daily, and eating our glorious Little Farm produce, eggs and cheeses, rounds out a very blessed life filled with amazing friendships  all over the world, for which we thank YOU!

We wish you  health and peace of mind for the upcoming year – and send love  – from Larraine and Clive

Here are the photo highlights of our year!

My sister Pamela receives her OBE at Buckingham Palace from Prince Charles – what a thrill!

Incoming Governing Board Chair of C200 Gay Gaddis and myself ( I am Chair of the C200 Foundation and Vice Chair of the Governing Board) just before we appeared on Bloomberg News to talk about Women in Leadership. What a great opportunity!

Identical Twin Grandsons Noah and Gabriel turned 2 this year! And a good ( messy) time was had by all! Reading to them is my favorite thing to do!

Four year old Grandson Jonah LOVES my new Tesla ( so do I! and am saving $500 a month in gas that I don’t have to buy anymore!! GO ELON MUSK!)Jack (6 year old grandson) and Jonah helped us with our Netiya Fundraiser – wearing their Little Farm T shirts! Aren’t they cute?

Here they are again with Clive and Max getting ready for the hundred plus folks who came! What a day!And here is Jack playing with our Rottweiler Sunny. Of course I am biased but I believe that he is the spitting image of James his dad, as a little boy.  Here is James as a ring bearer at a friend’s wedding – four years old – see what I mean?Donne and Jonah having a ‘date night’ – Jonah loves when he can have his mommy all to himself!And here is James – reading to his children ( all except Jack).

And Clive, our Little Farm inspiration, with one of our baby goats this year – more coming in March of 2014!So all in all – a truly blessed year – and we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.