Catching Up

The weekend of December 9th we went to The City with Jesse and Lyn to shop and Photoshop and got to meet up with Jamileh, Matt and Erin so there was a small FHS class of 99 reunion. We left Josh's truck overnight at the BART station in the hopes that it'd get stolen and we could get a new car, but unfortunately it was all present and accounted for when we returned. Next time we'll leave it at the Richmond station instead :P
The next weekend we drove to San Diego with Travis, Amber and Atticus to help BonBon pack up her too-few boxes (in this clotheshorse's opinion) and hang out in America's Finest City for a bit. We deserve medals because we managed to sit in traffic in 3 out of the 4 CA cities that even have noteworthy traffic. Jesse and Lyn flew in (they follow us around because we're THAT fun) and did a little filming for Bonnie and Andy's wedding video. It was cold. i stood on a cliff holding a big shiny disc in the wind. After all that we got to show Les Rostens Our City and they had the appropriate response: rapture. San Diego rocks. We miss it alot. It was strange though, to be there and not have a bucketful of people to see. They've all moved away to better housing markets. But Ashley and Josh took me out and Whit and TanTan joined us for tacos so it was still a very productive visit.
As soon as we got back it was time for the final Christmas push. Josh and i were up late every night painting masterpieces to give as gifts and we had a good time. We make a very good team, artistically, with his technical know-how, creative ability, artist's eye and my capacity for eating paint and getting it everywhere BUT the canvas. Cosmo helped too, by batting at the paintbrushes while we were using them and rolling around on the expensive paper. i'm glad he's smart enough to not try to drink the turpentine.
Then it was time for Josh's mom's birthday. We all gathered at Chili's, where we learned that little children should not eat candy canes, chips and salsa, pizza, fries and milkshakes in quick succession. Josh and i also realized that out of our group of married friends, we hit the jackpot in in-laws. (we'd known this before, but we got the thinking about it again)
The next day we had early Christmas with the Extended Bakerses in Loomis and got into some cutthroat Uno. We met Mrs. Roy, who is a male puppy, and watched the gloves come off when the gift exchange began. Battle French Press will not soon be forgotten. Everyone scored new socks and had a good time.
Christmas Eve was spent at Robyn and Gary's with gift exchanging and other deliciousness. i got a cool book on Steinbeck and California, Josh got a bunch of women's underwear that he'll have to return in order to get the Target credit, courtesy of Adam. That evening we vegged watched the Vatican's midnight mass with Brandon.
Christmas Day meant helping Laverne make dumplings, gorging ourselves with those tiny chocolate liquer bottles and duking it out in the annual Walth gift card exchange. Evidently no one in Josh's family likes bookstores or movies, so we left with the same gift cards we brought. Score! Then we drove to Redding and had gift time with my parents and siblings while Cosmo drank the tree water and ate houseplants. More fun presents including a fondu set and some new clothes.
THEN we looked at real estate until our eyeballs fell out and picked out a few good future residences. Now it's up to the loan folks to decide how many millions of dollars to give us.
We left Redding, spent one night back at home, waved to the roommates, and got in the car again to drive to Redlands and keep Winter and Jason awake when they got back from Costa Rica. No jet lag allowed! Future Supreme Court Superstare Aaron Friberg joined us and we had a superfun New Year's Eve with cards, shots, and cats. The next day Matt, Bren and Lizzie "Miss New York"Alexander arrived along with Laurie and we got a very brief but very worth-it reunion squeezed in before we had to get back on the road and come home.
Tons of driving, mucho quality time, oodles of hugs and yummies. A good holiday season. Pics to come when we unpack.