Christmas

We drove down to Mom's early this year, so we had lots of time to get ready for Christmas. A good thing too, since I wasted one of the days being sick. (Note: If you're shivering in a sleeping bag wearing a long-sleeved shirt, two vests, and a sweatshirt and you're not camping, you might have a fever.) Luckily we were all in good health for the big day.

We had a great Christmas, following our traditional routine: We had a big dinner at Mom's on Christmas Eve. Ham and scalloped potatoes, with double cream lemon pie for dessert. Then we opened our stockings (cause when we were little Andrea and I couldn't wait until Christmas morning). Christmas morning, we opened presents with Mom. Then I was in charge of making waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for brunch. After that, we waddled over to Dad's house and exchanged gifts with him. Then we enjoyed Christmas dinner with Dad. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits... Haley helped "Grandpa" open the biscuit tubes, which was a very exciting experience for her. It was apparently a little disconcerting popping the tubes with someone who startles as easily as Dad... *grin*

Haley got the watch she had been desperately hinting for


She also got one of the Fancy Nancy books


Mom got a bottle of Arpège perfume


Here's a photo of Andrea helping Haley to open one of her presents:

Thanksgiving

Another successful Thanksgiving :) The weather was nice, as usual, so we played tennis every day. Here's Dad, ready to serve.


Somehow, Andrea manages to look a bit more intimidating when she's about to serve. Course, that may be because I've seen how fast she sends the ball flying!


Every morning, two news papers were carefully dissected over the breakfast table.


And as usual, we got our "let's get a family portrait before we go!" photo.


We stopped at the Golden Gate rest stop on the way back.


And took turns taking photos :)