Catching up

So, of course christmas vacation is never relaxing. With all the people I want to see, all the people that want to see me... lots of running around.
First stop, Kathy and Chloe

Then Tiffany, my best friend growing up. That's her boyfriend Peter.

Katherine and Bella at Powell's, the best bookstore ever!

And this is Justin, one of John's good buds, and someone who I've never gotten a good picture of. so, when I actually did, I just had to show you! He's telling a story about his 'lovely' boss.

Games and giggles

We went to Nick and Shannon's for Christmas day. Time with Moms side of the family. It snowed in the morning, but didn't stick. made for pretty trees though.

Momma

The Anistasiadis family is all about playing games.In an attempt to relieve the boredom of watching basketball on Christmas day, a few of us started a game of Taboo that eventually took over all house activities. Keith and I made quite a team. Nice to know we've still got it!

Keith loves this hatGabe, looking cool

Christmas adventure

You may be asking why.

I definitely am. You see, it was a very interesting Christmas Eve eve. Our beautiful little tree, as it slowly heated up next to the wood stove... when you expect the lovely scent of pine to come wafting out... started to remind us of a miserably wet dog. After much consideration, we realized that the damn thing had been pissed on by a dog. Our Christmas tree smells like dog piss! Dad tried the air freshener to cover it up, but it ended up smelling even worse than the dog.

Then, the power went out. Just to remind me of the joys of winter in the middle of nowhere. Now, you may be thinking I am saying that sarcastically, but I'm actually serious. I love losing electricity. It gets wonderfully quiet. There's no city sounds because we are 7 miles east of the last stinking town. The refrigerator is suddenly quiet, and all you can hear is the rain on the roof. And so... no TV, no computer... we turned on the battery powered radio and talked till we fell asleep.

Then, it snowed.

Dad was freaking, the roast needed to cook 6 hours and it was approaching noon with the power still dead.

I went down to visit my favorite neighbors. Charlie and Emily. Said hello to the girls, Nikki, Lottie, and Angel.

The power finally came on and Keith and Dad cut the roast down a little (it had been a whopping 15 pounds!) and threw it in the oven.

Kendra's Son Jay and his lovely family came for dinner.

Jay and Christy

The kidlets were eager for pie.

Keith goofing off with Grandma's traditional gift of airplane goodies.

Diana and Jake

Industrious Rachel

Nathan

Boaz

Nathan is a goofball, just like his dad

It was fun to watch kids at Christmas again, more exciting than the polite and simple gift giving with all the adults. We survived the dog pee, the power outages, and the snow storm. And tomorrow, we do it again! Ah, the joy of the American family.

Almost Christmas

Ok, I can't resist. I just have to keep posting pictures of the absolutely adorable little Bellamonster. This little one is so damn cute!

Katherine and John took the little one off to his family's christmas party on the beach. And off I went to my own family.

Last night I went to a party with some of my old high school friends. Some of these people I haven't seen in 7 or 8 years. It was a ton of fun! I only just reconnected with this crowd last year. It is fun to see how much they have changed.

This is Paul. He's now a musician/composer with a kick ass apartment. Like all of us, he was a bit of a geek in high school, but now he is pretty darn cool.

This is Brady. I adore Brady! He's a big teddy bear. Funny. Sweet. Adorable.

This is Brady kicking a little ass.This is the other Paul. Seeing him was a bit of a shock. I haven't seen him since sophomore year in college. I think he was the most dramatic change. Living in New York has put quite a gloss on the boy, and the brilliant, shy boy I knew has become a pretty smooth character. Makes funny faces when the camera comes his direction. I admit to playing with that a little, not even taking pictures, just pointing. amazing what can be funny when you are drunk.

This is Anna. Conversation with Anna was interesting. It centered for a while around Japanese tentacle porn. Paul even supplied pictures. Definitely not boring.

Here, everyone is watching a certain scene from Borat. oh boy.

It was a fun night. I can't wait to move back to Portland so I can hang out with these guys more. Might be a while though.

Oh, and yeah. We are definitely on the west coast. Here are the local sheriffs patrolling the mall. They look so wild west, don't they?

And this morning I picked up my brother and we headed out to Estacada for Christmas with Dad. The tree is pretty small this year, but exceptionally... wet. It is a tradition in our family to have a giant tree. I am actually enjoying not having to have to work on a shaky board balanced on minuscule ledges of the logs. Ever since I've gotten big enough, Dad gave to job of decorating to me. Don't know why a board 10 feet above the ground should be so terrifying, but it is! So the tree this year is tame, requiring only a ladder, yippie! Dad is putting on the lights as I write this, but soon I must decorate. Exciting stuff!

Christmas with Bella

I got to come home for Christmas, and I'm spending as much of it as I can with Miss Bella Rose. Isn't she cute?

Goodbye :(

Today was the last day of class. I am so sad. I absolutely loved this group and it is going to be so hard to come into work without seeing them to look forward to. But alas. Proud of them though, they survived, and that isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do. With Eliska breaking laws, my teasing, both our driving... all that on top of the incredible work load? Good kids.

A man of my own heart

Dasa sent me this picture of Hugo today. He is getting so big! I love that even at this young age, he's all about the cooking. tee hee

Candy!

I continued my Christmas tradition this weekend, heading up to grandma's house to make Christmas candy by the boatload. Every year, Grandma grumbles over the amount of sugar we use (but she wont let me bring any), the amount that we make (yet she eats it all), and the mess we leave (but we clean it up!). Honestly, for all her grumbling, I think she loves it and would be crushed if I stayed home and did it like I used to in my little kitchen. Grandma time!

Do you like how I look so angelic here? With the russian icon halo behind my head?
I brought our Czech student Bara up as well, to get her out of her obsessive work zone, as well as to force her to see some of the beauty of California. The poor girl is working so hard, and hasn't even been to San Francisco, much less seen the sierras. A bit of a kidnap, but I do believe she enjoyed herself thoroughly.
I even put her to work making candy! When we became totally overwhelmed by the smell of sugar, we escaped toBig Trees State Park, so that Bara could at least see the beautiful giants.

Here she is in front of one of the trees that was cut down to prove to the skeptics around the world that the trees were indeed that big. They didnt seem to care about the fact that they killed the thing to do this, but alas... that's the american way for you.Lovely, no?