A Kissing Christmas

I grew up in Minnesota.

Minnesota is cold.

In Minnesota in December, you stay indoors and stare at the Christmas tree day in and day out (mostly) because it's freezing outside.

This is my sister's family in Minnesota playing outside in December.

Contrast that with me and Nathan, also in December, below.

Christmas this year was very different because we went to Nathan's parents' house in California! The weather there was the equivalent of Minnesota's fall weather. We even went to the beach a couple of times (although it was a little too chilly to swim)!

I'm the little black dot. See me smiling?

This year I was even lucky enough to sit at the adults' table for Christmas dinner! Yay! Being an adult sure has its perks! Also at the adult table were Sarah, Josh and Kelly, Jason and Jasmin, and Nathan's parents (Darwin and Nina). It was so fun to see Nathan around his brothers. They all sound the same when they laugh!

For Christmas, Nathan got me a gift certificate to a salon and spa! I'll get a hair cut, massage, and a manicure. I can't wait! This was the look of disbelief on my face when I was reading the brochure.

Avery had lots of fun because she got to eat big peoples' food that had been mashed up. She also got to eat organic baby food all week because there was a buy-one-get-one-free special at the grocery store in California. Her favorite was Blueberries with Roasted Apple. That was actually my favorite too. Here's Avery just after eating it.

Oh, and Nathan's dad also took some family pics of us in a park near their house. It was so pretty!

All of my nieces and nephews found tons of newts! It was my first time seeing a live newt (I saw a dead one in Idaho last summer). They were so slow and squishy! The kids found them all over the place.

I decided to try my luck with one of the newts and look what happened!!!!!

It went from this ...


... to THIS!

HUBBA HUBBA!

It was incredible! I told Nathan's parents to send me a box of newts so I can try my luck with the rest of them. :)

I tried it again at the beach...

but all I got was some nasty sand on my tongue. Oh well. Maybe next year.