Home for the holidays

My parents have never asked much of me, but coming home for the holidays is one of them. During my overseas Navy years, that was a hard request to fulfill, but now that Uncle Sam doesn't determine my geography, there aren't a whole lot of things I consider to be more important than for me to be in my parents' house for Christmas! As you can see by this picture of my mom & dad, they are happiest when all their chicks are in the nest (kids and grandkids)! In fact they've picked up more "chicks" over the years; Dave came with them to the airport to pick my up last Thursday! I love the way my family and Navy worlds have meshed together over the years!

In our house, Christmas morning has always been about the kids. For the smaller kids, it's all about the gifts. Julia & Gavin must've been really good this year; it seemed like they opened gifts for a solid 15-20 minutes! For the grown-ups, it's all about enjoying the rare event of having all of our immediate family in one place for a joyous occasion. I'm still not sure that I'm a grown-up though since I ended up at the kids' table for Christmas dinner again this year!

As usual, Christmas was an all day event of eating and visiting. Dwayne brought Julia & Gavin over in the morning and we played with their new toys until the rest of the gang showed up for dinner (that's lunch for those of you not from the South!).

You know your getting older when the nephews have to split their time between here and the girlfriends' families homes! Andy & Lauren and Philip & Jessica hung out and played board games well into the evening with us. It's become a tradition that the girls take on the boys in a round or two of the game Pictionary on Christmas evening. For the third (or is it fourth?) year in a row, the girls have been victorious. My sister's boyfriend Dean thought this would be the year for the guys, but I think he wants to switch to a sports trivia game next year. Now, now Dean, how about a game that involves mechanics in some way just to keep it fair?!

With Christmas 2007 behind us, I'm savoring my last week at home leading up to New Years. On the first, my mom will be flying back to California with me to help me unpack all the boxes and set up in my new apt. on Coronado.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a low-stress week before New Years!!! For my foodie friends out there, not to worry- I'll post some pics of home cookin' later this week!!!