Christmas!!!

What? I was six months behind on the wedding; a six week delay on Christmas blogging should be viewed as an unqualified success. 

So....the day after Tom and I got back from Florida Christmas, we headed down to my parents' for San Diego Christmas, which for those not in the know, was on December 27th this year. My brother and Erin had arrived on the 26th, so it was one of those all-too-rare weekends when my family is all together in one room.

Not only did I get to spend real, live, in-person time with Mike and Erin, but I also got to hang out with a puppy, which as we all know, makes everything that much better.

{Coya}

{I'm confused by Tom's expression... but I mean, really. How cute is that puppy?}

We did Secret Santa this year, and Michael got Buckley this totally rad hipster giraffe t-shirt.

{Remember how I said he was weird in all the best ways? Case in point.}

Mo got all the ladies matching bracelets.

{faith, hope, and love}

My dad was very excited to surprise my brother with Chargers tickets.

{They had a great time despite some hail and a near miss with a vomitous fan who was seated behind them.}

I had ordered Michael a Chargers shirt for the occasion, but it was late to arrive so I had to improvise.

After some present opening, we broke for a trip to the movies. The guys were having a hard time generating the appropriate level of enthusiasm for the planned viewing of Les Miserables, so we split up. The boys got their Tarantino on at Django Unchained while us girls bawled our eyes out at Jean Valjean's noble struggle. [Side note: Is Jean Valjean not the best character? Ever? Sigh. I love him. And the music. Oh, the music... I know every word. I found myself mouthing the lyrics to just about every song...Castle on a Cloud being the obvious exception. Baby Cosette is kind of a whiner.]

After the movies, it was beer tasting time. Apparently, this is becoming a holiday tradition.

{Coya obviously can't hang.}

After a delicious dinner (popovers, mmmmm!), I broke out Cards Against Humanity, a Christmas gift from Tom and my new favorite game. It's like the adult version of Apples to Apples, and some of the cards are pretty x-rated. We censored a few for my mom's benefit, but after the beer tasting and the wine with dinner, everyone was feeling pretty loose.  

Still, we don't mess around when it comes to games....serious decision making (and more wine, naturally) going on here.

The prompt on this round was, "What gets better with age?"

{I don't remember which card won, but I really hope that it was "Home video of Oprah sobbing into a Lean Cuisine."}

I'm not sure how long we played (an hour? two?), but there was a lot of laughing. Like tears streaming, can't catch your breath laughing... Playing this game (and hearing my mom say things like "Harry Potter erotica") - probably my favorite memory of San Diego Christmas '12.

Lastly, just because I love it so much, here is a series of Meghan with Lucy, the biggest lapdog of all time, and a jealous Coya. Just over a month ago, Meghan left for Haiti to spend six months teaching a school in Port au Prince because she's a badass with a heart of gold. Seriously, I'm so proud of her, but I miss her face so for now, I have to get my Midgey dose from pictures of these.

Birthday Month Continues

On Sunday, Tom and I headed to my parents' place so that we could be showered with more birthday love. My sisters and I decorated our parent's tree before a delicious birthday of grilled shrimp and steak. I dodged the reflection question over dinner but did spill the beans about the blog and some of the other things on the yet-to-be completed list.

After dinner, my always-generous family pulled out all the stops. My sisters saw to it that I will have luscious lashes and dewy skin as I sip my favorite tea from a lovely, perfectly-sized mug, and my parents gifted me with a copy of the Christmas classic that I had mentioned just the other day (maybe they were already reading!). I was already feeling like I had scored big time in the birthday gift department, not to mention the family lottery, when I opened a second gift from my parents...

Ta da!

I am so excited to enter the realm of digital SLR photography! Sadly, the camera holds no magical powers, and I did not transform me into Annie Lebowitz overnight despite the fact that I slept with the manual under my pillow. It will definitely take some work to learn how to take full advantage of everything my new friend can do, but I am really looking forward to getting to know....her. I'll have to work on a name.

In any event, my lovely husband knew how anxious I was to start playing with the camera, so while I was at school yesterday, he ran out and picked up a 4 gig memory card. As I am buried in grading this finals week, all I could manage yesterday was a picture of said work.

Today I managed to get a little farther from the kitchen table when Tom and I walked to the library so that I could pick up some books on digital photography that I plan to devour over Christmas break. It was, however, a quick walk that turned dark quickly.

Hopefully, with the practice and fancy pants new camera, the photos will start improving soon!