Christmas in California

Well, after a glorious two weeks in California, we are back to the gloomy grind of life in England. We've been back now for a week and are starting to settle back into our normal routine, and it does help to know the days are getting longer.

But California was wonderful, if at times a bit of a whirlwind. We flew into LAX and met up with my brother Matt and his wife Katie. Then we drove down to my Aunt Stephanie and Bill's place in the hills outside of San Diego. It was strange to see that many of the homes all around them had been entirely gutted by the recent fires; they themselves had only been back in for a few days when we arrived. There we met up with the rest of my immediate family and spent the next couple of days eating good food, seeing a live production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr. Suess was from San Diego), and attending a fascinating exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls (where they had, among other things, 4QTestimonia itself [!], for those who care).

Then we drove up to Visalia and spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's side of the family. It was definitely great to see all of them, and especially nice to be able to spend more quality time later in our stay with my Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Steve and Becky, and cousin Stephanie at different times. The next day we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with family. Probably the highlight (apart from the iPod Shuffles that Julia and I received!) was watching our niece Abri and nephews Luke and Eli open their gifts. To be a kid again!

Other high points in our trip include the drive to Redding with Amy and the kids, playing golf with my brothers Matt and Brandon and making a wild comeback against the Hammond clan, hanging out with Josh and Stacy Mathews in Mill Valley and Matt Walters in San Francisco, seeing high school friends Heath and Kat Blair (who probably have a little girl by now!) and Eric Riley, and meeting for the first time Ryken and Margot Armerding (twins born to our cousins Connie and Taylor) as well as Clark's wife Melissa. And we have to mention the Mexican food, the ribs, and the chance to catch up on recent cinema...

To all these lovely family and friends: we loved the opportunity to see each of you again and only wish it could have been longer. Next time at our place?

A couple rare pictures (we forgot our camera yet again):