Christmas recap

OK! I'm almost not believing it, but I've somehow managed to finish posts on Christmastime over here and here. Moreover, I managed to finish them before Madeline woke up from her nap. Huzzah! Naturally, she'll wake up while I'm typing this... so I'm going to be brief. You'll find more information than you probably wanted on both of their blogs anyway.

We had a really good trip down to CA, despite all of the driving, and I'm glad that we decided not to fly. We originally rented a van to drive down, since we had a ton of stuff to haul and still have van chains from last year's drive, but thanks to all of the fun weather in Portland they weren't able to get a van to our pick-up location. Instead we ended up with a small SUV, which was considerably tighter (especially with everyone's generosity this Christmas), but we made it work! We were pretty much sardines coming home though -- I'm beyond impressed with my boy's ability to figure out that packing puzzle.

We did a lot of visiting while we were in CA, so I'm not even going to attempt recapping all of that, but here are some silly pictures:

the family, in all of our exhausted glory

my sister and grandpa

I'm not sure we're even related...

yeah. pretty sure.

(much better!)

*SHOOT! Baby's awake. We pause for nursing....*

Some friends of mine from high school have come over every year since 9th grade to make gingerbread houses. They even came when my parents lived in Nipomo! (Well, at least once...) Every year I'm grateful that we continue the tradition, even though it's morphed somewhat over the years. For example, we rarely put the houses together anymore... they tend to fall apart after a few minutes and then we're left with piles of over-iced mess. It's still fun to get together and decorate though, and to catch up on all the news. This year there were a few people missing so our group was a bit smaller, but I had so much fun seeing everyone!

pieces of house and cookies (Emily's)
(I had a ton of dough this year so we opted to decorate some cookies)

Beckie always shows pride for her current school/mascot/state/life situation.
Can you guess where she's living??

Jen and I created a themed house -- a dangerous and slightly crazed pet shop
(except I forgot to take pictures of the other sides. They were much better, I promise. Complete with a crocodile and Jen's version of a chicken on acid. Am I allowed to say that?? Maybe a chicken on... something else.)

Sarah always puts us to shame by actually making hers look like a house...
(Psh!)

the cookie I'm most proud of. Can you guess what it is???
(OK, it's a zombie. See the insides on the outside? Also, it's wearing bright sneakers and frothing at the mouth.)

the group this year (minus Rae, who left early)

the spread

Sarah, trying to manhandle too-sticky left-over dough. Use those muscles!

We had a really great visit with family and friends, and even though it was different than past years it was nice to celebrate the end of 2008 with people we love.

I'm working on more kid posts (3 months, 20 months, the usual) so check back soon. In the meantime, check out their blogs and let me know if there are pictures you like... I make the files way small (and hence blurry) to put them on the internet. Originals are much nicer for printing!