Four Christmases Part 4: Costa Mesa

At last our Christmas story came to its close yesterday. My mom, Tauni; step-dad, Curt; and brother, Jared all came to our place for our fourth and final Christmas. We had some snacks and chatted. When Ben woke up from his nap he was all smiles and showed off all his new tricks and talents to his grandparents. We opened presents and shared a nice meal.


Every year (well, most years) I do something fun and creative for my borther's gift. The gift itself isn't usually that interesting...but I make him work for it. It started I think back when I was in high school. My mom was going to give my brother a hundred dollar bill for him to buy his climbing gear or something. Because it was technically just a little piece of paper, she asked me to wrap it creatively to make it more exciting. So I put the bill in a picture frame and put the frame in a giant gift bag. Then I went outside and got a brick, which I wrapped in tissue paper and also placed in the gift bag. It got wilder every year. I've sent him on scavenger hunts, put trashbags all over the house with his gift in one of them, wrapped it inside a box wrapped in another box, etc., burried it in mac and cheese...I honestly don't even remember all of the weird things I've done. Last year my brother took it took a whole new level. He hid my gift and made a detailed treasure map on distressed paper, complete with cryptic directions. I was giddy with excitement. So this year I had to do something good. So I sent him on a scavenger hunt with photo clues. My poor little boy was in every clue. I'm pretty sure my charade bordered on child abuse with all of the strange places I put him in...but it was totally worth it. In the end, my brother found his new towels in the bathtub. It was very fun.


My mom, step-dad, grandma, and step-grandpa got Ben a high chair, so we were very excited about that. Ben didn't like it much at first, but he seems to like it now.


All in all it was a (mostly) quiet (my step-dad, God bless him, is anything but), casual afternoon, and it was great to get together with my family.

After they left we spent a little more time with our fussy little boy, put him to bed, then had a nice, relaxing evening curled up on the couch watching a movie.

While our two weeks of Christmas were fun and action-packed, I have to say I'm glad it's over. We really enjoyed spending time with our loved ones, but we are looking forward to moving back to some semblance of normalcy. Well, kind of looking forward to it. But that's a whole other blog.

Merry Christmas, everyone!