Home for the Holidays

We flew out to California to visit with friends and family for Christmas. We started out in my home town area and then went to Andrews home town area and visited people there. Saturday , before Christmas, we went to my dads wood shop while he used his saw mill to cut up a log. Shortly after, we went over to Genoa's in Morro Bay and baked gumdrop cookies. While we were there we watched the lottery Big Spin show with her family. This was funny, because one of the contestants to play for the Big Spin was named Jesus (pronounced Hay-soos) but we were all joking around that Jesus (the religious figure) was gambling and about to spin the Big Wheel. Jesus won about $2 million and we were all rooting Jesus on. This was two days before Christmas, which made it more of a funny Christmas special on Big Spin...I guess you had to be there to laugh about it. Then the Sunday before Christmas Andrew and I went to Emily's where she was cooking Christmas Eve Dinner for her mom and dad. We visited over there for a bit and I helped with making mashed potatos. She is 4 months pregnant now and will soon be finding out if it is a boy or girl. Back at my mom and dads house I left some cookies and milk out for Santa, and a potato for the reindeer. Christmas day I woke up and the plate of cookies and potato was still there. Santa must have been in a hurry, that he did not see the plate or the glass of milk. We opened presents and watched old home videos. Most of these videos had me on camera with a bad hair style, dyed brown and permed! My brother was about 12 years old on these home videos, his voice is before puberty and was funny to hear him speak. Later in the afternoon we headed to Cambria, and visited my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Currently they are living in my grandmas old house while they look to buy a home in the area. It was nice to be at my Grandmas house again, and I liked how warm and cozy my Aunt decorated the house. Across the street was a family of deer laying around in the field. I took a photo of one of the deer.

There were three of us girls in the family, and seven of the guys in the family. Photos below. A photo of Aunt Barbara, my mom, and me. Photo of the guys: Andrew, James, Brian, Jake, Britt, Robert, and Mitch. 3 generations there. We exchanged gifts and headed back to my folks house for Christmas dinner.
The morning after Christmas (Tuesday) we went to the beach. Down at the rock we started out eating lunch and then walked around looking for shells and rocks. Andrew and I on the beach.While we were walking I noticed our shadows and took this photo as a modern family portrait. The shadows are my dad - Mitch, mom - Gail, brother - Robert, and me - Martiel.

Second post pending to talk about the rest of our time in Andrews home town, durring the holiday week.