A New Year

Another Christmas season has come and gone and we are finding ourselves at the start of not only a new year but a new decade. Christmas this past year just wasn't the same. It was a year of firsts for us. The first year we didn't put up any of our decorations, the first year we made a ginger bread house, the first year we didn't do Christmas shopping, and the first year we celebrated Christmas without the rest of our families. It was definitely weird not going crazy cleaning the house and making sure the turkey was going to be ready in time to eat, that we had enough room for everyone to sit, and enough plates and cups to serve everyone. In a way it was nice to not have to stress over anything this holiday season but at the same time it felt like something was missing.

This year on Christmas morning, instead of opening gifts and getting ready to eat lunch/dinner with family, we decided to face the crowds and go to Disneyland. To our surprise, it wasn't as busy as we thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong, it was still busy, but not as crazy as one would think. Even with the crowds, we had a really good time. One event that made the day a little more special was when we were picked out the entire crowd in the park to participate with 18 other guests from the park in one of the parades that take place in the park. For those of you that don't know, there is a lake in the middle of the park that has a giant river boat that circles around a small island and there is a parade/show that is done on the river boat and that is the parade/show we got to be apart of. The show is about the new Disney movie The Princess and The Frog and after the show, we got to take pictures with the characters from the movie. Needless to say it was a lot of fun! After our time in the lime light, we walked around the park some more and actually got to see Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony hanging out in Disneyland as well (without their kids)! After our exciting day in the park, we went and watched A Christmas Carol movie starring Jim Carry (very good!).

The Sunday after Christmas we hiked up to the Hollywood sign with some friends. Even though it was a little cloudy that day, you still got a good view of downtown LA, Hollywood, and Santa Monica from the trail. Once we got to the top, we were actually behind the sign, which was a little disappointing since we were hoping for some really cool pictures. But it was still neat and a lot of fun. The 5 mile hike took us about 3 hours total including a 20 min lunch break at the top. On our way back home, we blew out a tire while on Interstate (wasn't on one of our cars). Talk about a little scary. Thankfully the driver did an awesome job at controlling the car and getting us off the freeway safely. After about 20 mins, the spare was on and we were back on the road again.

The Monday after our hike in Hollywood was not a good one for Ross. While he was helping with house work and washing dishes, he cut himself pretty bad with a knife on his right index finger on the first knuckle. He cut it bad enough that it bled for quite some time and he needed to get a finger splint to keep from bending it and splitting it open again. And if you know Ross, going to the doctor was out of the question (even though we have insurance). At least it is starting to heal with a little bruising.

As for New Year's Eve, since most of the people we know out here either have money to go to a fancy hotel or family to go home to or both, we hung out at home just the 2 of us. We played some games, watched a movie, then went to the beach and counted down to midnight watching the waves crash on the sand under the full moon. Even though we didn't stay out there long, we still had a good time.

Ross has one more week left of his break before he goes back to school and I think he is actually starting to get a little bored. Especially since he cut his finger, he wasn't able to play video games for a couple days since we couldn't bend his "trigger" finger. So this week may be his video game catch up week. I go for my second interview for a new job at this other company I originally interviewed with about 3 weeks ago. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and they offer me a job! It would be more money, closer to home, and more towards the area of work I am interested in. Other than the above, not much new going on in our lives. We miss everyone back home and wish all of you a wonderful new year. Hopefully we can make it home next Christmas.