The great christmas white-elephant exchange with my dad's family went off like an absolute dream. I ended up stealing something from my favorite nephew so that he wouldn't be stuck with it (it was that or a bunny serving bowl, and really, no one needs a bunny serving bowl do they?), and our family is pretty much built to have a slew of random and weird presents ready amidst the few pretty cool ones (like the deep fryer that went to one of my other nephews - it will probably go over well in his dorm at military school.... or the dust buster that went to one of my other nephews' girlfriend... and if you're wondering how many nephews I have, it's 6... 1 niece). Much laughter, only a few grumbles of 'damn, i really wanted the deep fryer', and it was time to eat. Of course my parents serve cold honey baked ham every year and I really am not the biggest fan of ham, but the rest of the food was good and it's not the end of the world. I'm still more of a contemporary with my nephews, and every year I like them all better, and it's a delight to hang out with them.
The eldest of these guys is getting married in spring to a Japanese girl he met while he lived there. He teaches Japanese at a highschool, and he's so enthusiastic (while being sarcastic) about teaching ... it's really cool. We don't talk to each other enough, though that's not really surprising. The next set, the twins, are now studying to be ambulance paramedics because they had trouble finding jobs as firefighters. They're just ... good guys. And my next youngest nephew (incidentally my favorite, for random reasons) is just 20. And ok, I'm a little worried about the volume of alcohol he implies he drinks, a little concerned about the disinterest in (and inability to pass easily) school.... BUT. He's getting into tattoos now, and piercing, and death metal, and psycobilly punk, and I have to say.... is finally old enough we can start to talk on that adult level and, ok, yes, i'm heading into being an old fogey compared to him, but ... ack. It's just awesome to talk to him not as a kid, but as a real person.
So yeah, rest of the day was kind of lovely, and now there are all these cool adults around I don't have to feel weird about my middle sisters being total strangers - they hug me hi and good bye and there you go.
Oh, and there's the possibility that my littlest sister and her boyfriend are actually going to be in los angeles and will actually let us know that they're in town. I'm grinning at the thought.
And as the night ended, my dad drove me to meet my mom about halfway in between Sacramento & the little town she lives in - which was the old 'hand off the daughter at the end of the weekend' routine we did when I was growing up. More nostalgic than I've been in a long time on a car ride, even if we did meet at a different place and my mom was early to the pick up spot.
Today, however, there was much christmas shopping. I'm not even calling it last minute since it's the only christmas shopping I've done. It was, however, quite productive and quite pleasing to run aroudn the downtown of our little town with my mom, in the rain, checking out the shops and talking to the shop keepers and basically having ourselves a grand time.
Tomorrow we'll be visiting with one of my highschool teachers, doing a christmas lunch, and finally after almost a week I'll be flying home and bringing my mom with me. Can't wait to be back, even if this little break from los angeles life has been so good.
The eldest of these guys is getting married in spring to a Japanese girl he met while he lived there. He teaches Japanese at a highschool, and he's so enthusiastic (while being sarcastic) about teaching ... it's really cool. We don't talk to each other enough, though that's not really surprising. The next set, the twins, are now studying to be ambulance paramedics because they had trouble finding jobs as firefighters. They're just ... good guys. And my next youngest nephew (incidentally my favorite, for random reasons) is just 20. And ok, I'm a little worried about the volume of alcohol he implies he drinks, a little concerned about the disinterest in (and inability to pass easily) school.... BUT. He's getting into tattoos now, and piercing, and death metal, and psycobilly punk, and I have to say.... is finally old enough we can start to talk on that adult level and, ok, yes, i'm heading into being an old fogey compared to him, but ... ack. It's just awesome to talk to him not as a kid, but as a real person.
So yeah, rest of the day was kind of lovely, and now there are all these cool adults around I don't have to feel weird about my middle sisters being total strangers - they hug me hi and good bye and there you go.
Oh, and there's the possibility that my littlest sister and her boyfriend are actually going to be in los angeles and will actually let us know that they're in town. I'm grinning at the thought.
And as the night ended, my dad drove me to meet my mom about halfway in between Sacramento & the little town she lives in - which was the old 'hand off the daughter at the end of the weekend' routine we did when I was growing up. More nostalgic than I've been in a long time on a car ride, even if we did meet at a different place and my mom was early to the pick up spot.
Today, however, there was much christmas shopping. I'm not even calling it last minute since it's the only christmas shopping I've done. It was, however, quite productive and quite pleasing to run aroudn the downtown of our little town with my mom, in the rain, checking out the shops and talking to the shop keepers and basically having ourselves a grand time.
Tomorrow we'll be visiting with one of my highschool teachers, doing a christmas lunch, and finally after almost a week I'll be flying home and bringing my mom with me. Can't wait to be back, even if this little break from los angeles life has been so good.
scribble?
