Holiday Highlights

Now that all of the extended family and Alex have left, I have a little time to catch up on my blogging before the new year. It has been a good break. Here are some highlights and pictures:

On Christmas Eve we had our usual big family dinner and gifts. This year we decided to do a White Elephant like game (but with good stuff). Despite some contentious steals, I think everyone had a lot of fun and liked what they got. I got books but I also had my eye on stealing the Clapper, which is what my grandma ended up getting.
On Christmas some of my younger cousins opened their Christmas gifts while we all watched Mamma Mia sing-along-version. The highlight gift was definitely Rockband, since the whole family could play. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone try out different instruments and my grandma sing Duran Duran's "Hungry Like A Wolf."
And I helped my cousins decorate a gingerbread house . . . which subsequently was attacked by ants :( It's ok, they didn't need any more sugar.
Day after Christmas was Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which is one of the few zoos I actually enjoy going to.
After all the family left, Alex came. No pictures, but we went to my friend Doug's Christmas party to hang out with old friends and see his cute new baby, Charlotte. The next day we went to UCLA to watch the basketball team destroy Louisiana State and then had sushi with my parents.

Finally yesterday we drove up to Santa Barbara and along the way we stopped to buy produce and grab a quick lunch. Oh taco trucks, how we love thee. 3 tacos = $3.75. It was good seeing Alex's family and playing games.
For all pictures of my winter break thus far, you can check them out at my Flickr account. And I still have one more week of California left for me to enjoy.