Christmas 2009

I realize Christmas 09 has come and gone, but I have yet to post some pictures from the grand adventure.

My trip started on Sunday, December 20th with my flight into LAX. I was picked up by one of my good friend's husbands (he's my friend too, but I was her friend first :)). I stayed a few nights with them before heading up north with my friend Kristel. After a few pit stops, including lunch with my friend Kristin at In-N-Out (yep, I ate there 3 times) Kristel and I made it to Ripon, California. On the 23rd of December, I had a sisters/roommates get together...see if you can follow...

I was roommates with Kristel

Kristel is sisters with Melanie

Melanie was roommates with Sarah

Sarah is sisters with Jessica

Jessica was roommates with Christa

Christa is my sister.

Phew. Three sets of sisters who have all been roommates with another sister. AND, this happened at three different schools at three different times. Upon conversing a few months ago, my sister and Kristel and I were trying to figure out if there would ever be a time we met. Wedding, no. Funeral, no (and morbid). So we decided to get together for a sisters/roommates lunch. It was a BLAST! On top of that, my sister came up with a fun game, like the newly wed game to see if you knew your sister or your former roommate better. Again, a blast!

Christmas eve was spent with my sister and my dad.

Christmas day was spent with my mom, sister, and extended mom's side.

On the 26th, my mom, sister, and I flew up to Portland to celebrate our Christmas.

The rest of the week, I spent hanging out with my mom and sister...and just kind of relaxing. It was a great trip and for as much 'traveling' as I did (SoCal, NorCal, Oregon) it was very restful and extremely rejuvenating!

Here are some pictures from the Christmas 09 adventure!

First stop: Jenny & Erics. We went to Upland to see the lights. In my years of living in Southern California, I had never been. It was a neat time of visiting with Jenny, Eric, and her family (which was my second family when I lived in SoCal).

Jenny and I as we walked around the neighborhoods looking at lights.

Of course, after a long night of looking at Christmas lights, one gets a craving for 21 CHOICES! And for those of you who care, you can get ANY special flavor at ANY time (I got animal cracker)...yumm!

First set of sisters: Melanie and Kristel (my former roommate)
Here is Sarah and Jessica
And of course, my sister and me.
Ahhh, and all six of us together! I guess the only question is, which set of sisters look most alike?
Oh yep...now roommates: Christa and Jessica
Sarah and Melanie
Kristel and me
Now isn't that one of the craziest, most miraculous things?! And even more miraculous that each set of roommates are such good friends! Obviously good upbringings ;) and God's good grace that brought us each together!

Below is a picture on Christmas eve with my dad.
And Christmas day at my grandparents. We had a hoot looking through old photo albums. The current one was a lineage of my grandma's side way back to...sometime a long time ago.
My sister and me and the infamous bear that plays music and it's heart blinks along to the beat. That bear has lived at my grandparents house for longer than I can remember.
The four of us looking at photo albums of my grandma's growing up years; prior to and after meeting my grandpa.
The next picture is just wonderful! We got snow in Portland, AGAIN! I was in the shower when my mom interrupted letting me know it was snowing. I quickly jumped out of the shower as we all figured the snow wouldn't last. Ten hours, and about 4 inches later, the snow stopped falling.The coldest part was not making the snow angel, but rather posing for the picture. Cold, wet, butt.

I made snow cream...yep, ice cream with snow. :) It wasn't awful, but next time, I've got a better game plan. Maybe next Christmas? Here's to hoping for snow!

What wonderful memories! My Christmas was a blessed one with family and friends! Yay for 2010 and all the possibilities that it holds!