Thursday, January 8, 2009

Christmas in California

I'm so happy to report that I made it through this Christmas at home almost completely unscathed! Not that I don't always enjoy my time at home, but this year was especially great. Here's a short breakdown. Well, short for me. We all know how verbose I can get.


The Chinn Family Christmas Party with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

We got to visit Disneyland! I really like Disneyland. It was a rainy and overcast day, so all of the season-passers weren't there! It was so nice! Our longest wait was for Indiana Jones, and that was only 30 minutes. We basically walked right on to every ride!


On the Pirates of the Caribbean


In front of Tom and Huck's Island


The Tree. See all of those presents? Well, we (meaning my siblings and I) were supposed to get Disneyland tickets and only Disneyland tickets for Christmas, but the Chinn grandparents contributed to the ticket purchases and we each put in $20 for our own tickets, so we got more Christmas. There were more presents for us than for the poor niece and nephews, who's Christmas really was mostly Disneyland. Poor kids. *evil grin* And yes, we were watching A Christmas Story.


The Heywood Grandparents


My youngest nephew really likes tape. His parents are trying to help him get over his tape obsession, but he was indulged while at Grandma's house. Here he thought he was pretty funny, walking around with a long piece of tape covering his eyes. Yes, he's strange.


Here's my oldest nephew, chillin' on my uncle's couch. We spent a few hours on Christmas day with the extended Heywood family, but I think my nephew got a little bored. He spent most of his time playing video games, though, so maybe he wasn't bored.


Of course Dad wasn't bored. He had a piano to play!


Here's my niece modeling her new PJs. She's pretty cute, huh?


We played games a few nights. Jana stole my camera and took this picture. Not very flattering of us, but it's real. Yes, that's my adorable double-chin!


This is a demonstration of Wasco: fog and orchards. This is a moving picture taken through the car window of an almond orchard. Imagine these trees in full-bloom, covered in pink and white blossoms. It's gorgeous and reeks havoc on my sinuses.


Need gas? Oil? It's ALL over California! Why are we so worried about oil?? It's all over the place, and we dig it up constantly!! It baffles me, really.


On the first day of the new year, my sisters, Mom, and I took a three-hour road trip to San Luis and Pismo Beach. Here's a great shot (in my humble opinion) of my Mom watching the frustrated surfers. (My mom is the one in the white sweater with her hand covering her eyes--I don't think she knows about this picture.)


Pretty poetic: Christmas in California. The tree, the poinsettia, and the bright, happy sun!


It was such a beautiful day on the coast! It couldn't have been less than 72 degrees and there was a slight breeze. That sun made it warm and happy!

So, that's all. It was a great trip home. I loved being there, relaxing, not having any time-constraints, no papers to write, no required reading, and mostly being with my family! I hope everyone else had equally wonderful Christmases!

2 comments:

Dox and Ash said...

We watched A Christmas Story too!

ROAST said...

That sounds like fun.