Christmas: the California edition

 Jacob and I, along with my sister Heather and her husband, Dustin, had the good fortune of being able to drive to California to visit my family for Christmas. And it was glorious. Allow me to display about a million pictures, with minimal text, to record our adventures.

One night after dinner we decided to have a friendly competition to see who could suction a cup to their face the longest. Dustin was the ultimate champion by a landslide. Heather was able to stop laughing long enough to snap a picture, but that's about it. For some reason, my mom declined to participate.

I tried on Heather's glasses and marveled at how much more clearly I could see! She then proceeded to play "optometrist" by holding up various books from about ten feet away and having me try to read the title and author first without glasses, and then with them on. Her very professional diagnosis is that I need to get my eyes checked out for reals. And this is probably true.

One day we hit up the beach before going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The younger husbands explored the seaweed and a dead seal, while the wives (and my dad) admired the ocean from a distance. Emily, as is tradition, took off her shoes and socks and thus needed to be carried by all three of the men at varying times back to the car (lest she get sand in her socks before cleaning her feet off).

The aquarium was really fun. We didn't get a ton of pictures, but the jellyfish, otters, and sea horses were definitely some of my favorites.

One night Robyn, my good friend from high school (and before, but high school is when we really became close) came over and helped make delicious cookies and our traditional candy trains with us. My sisters and I have been making candy trains for years, and they've evolved to include elaborate themes. This year my mom purchased enough candy for each family unit to make their own. (You may want to click on the pictures to enlarge them, because they're really quite fabulous.)

Heather and Dustin with their tropical island themed candy train, complete with volcano and palm trees.

Our "Elf" themed candy train, with the seven layers of the candy cane forest, sea of swirly twirly gumdrops, and the Lincoln tunnel.

Emily and her "Occupy Train" train.

For years my mom has put on a "Bethlehem dinner" on Christmas Eve. We eat on blankets on the floor, and we eat what shepherds in Bethlehem may have eaten the night Christ was born: "Shepherd's Stew," crackers and cheese, olives, dried apricots, and so forth. We used to wear bathrobes and towels on our heads to try to dress up like shepherds, but the costumes were cumbersome while eating and when we grew up we kind of hated it. But the dinner remains!

My expression is clearly saying, "Dad, I'm in the midst of chewing. Don't you dare snap that phot . . . Oh."

Naturally, we have about half a million pictures of the family opening presents, but I'll just let you imagine our expressions of delight instead of actually posting them. And I think this entry might break if I add any more photos.

In sum: My family is awesome. And our Christmas vacation was fantastic!

A grave concern

One day, I should probably update this thing with Christmas festivities of the sort, but there is currently a more pressing matter at hand:

Jacob started working the graveyard shift on Monday, and will continue to do so until August. He leaves for work about 5 pm (the man likes to be early), and doesn't get home until 6 am. This has several pros and cons.

Pro: Since he is now sleeping during the day, I have access to the car. No more walking to my substitute jobs in the bitter cold and snow*!

Con: Since he is now sleeping during the day, on the days I only work in the morning I have to resist the urge to jump on the bed to wake him up at noon. In fact, I have to wait until at least TWO O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON before I can justifiably wake him up, at which point he should've slept for about 8 hours. I don't know what I'm going to do on the days I don't work. Be bored out of my mind probably! Oh, the angst!

Pro: Since he is at work during the evening and at night, I have access to the computer. Which means I can watch shows on Hulu like Project Runway without being judged.

Con: Since he is at work during the evening and night, I have to fall asleep without my favorite cuddle buddy. I knew I shouldn't have given away Chester at a white elephant gift exchange a year ago!

For some reason, Jessica later pawned the man pillow off on our other former roommate, Cari (who originally owned Chester in the first place, so I suppose all is right in the world).

Pro: Since Jacob and I only see each other (awake) for two to three hours a day, we've been spending our time together much more meaningfully. It's nice to have him without the distractions of the computer and the television!

Con: Jacob and I only see each other (awake) for two to three hours a day.

So there you have it.
*So we really haven't had that much snow so far. But I have walked to jobs in the snow before, and I'm trying to garner as much sympathy as possible.