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*NOTE: It’s worth it to click on the featured image above. It’s one of my favorite holiday shots… little Ruby, on Christmas morning.

Christmas is always my favorite time of year. Despite the cold, I was so excited to fly to Jersey and spend the holiday with my family. I know I’ve mentioned on here before that I have the most awesome family in the world. But I’ll say it again. I have the most awesome family in the world. Of all the amazing places out there in the world, there is no other place I would even think about spending Christmas. We have so many fun holiday traditions, and we’re creating more every year. (For instance, this year saw the first annual “Christmas Morning Bloody Mary Happy Hour.”)  Anyway, I flew from San Diego to NJ on the 19th, and Ben followed a few days later on the 22nd.

Every year, I make Laura build gingerbread houses with me. This year, Rich got to suffer through it too. But really, it’s a lot of fun. Mom usually hangs around as damage control. And of course, there’s wine. Always.

As soon as I landed, the full-blown holiday spirit kicked in. The house was totally decked out for Christmas, with no less than TEN stockings hanging from the fireplace. This was a record for us, because this year, both Ben and Rich (my sister Laura’s other half) were spending the holiday with us. I got to wrap all the gifts I had shipped over, and of course, force Laura to make gingerbread houses with me. She always rolls her eyes about it, but I think she secretly likes it. We always come up with some distorted artsy, sugary creations.

The festivities actually started early with a dinner party at Amanda’s place on the 23rd. Of all of my friends, I’ve known Amanda the longest, and we’ve shared over 20 Christmases together. (Wow. That’s scary.)

From left, Laura, Amanda, John, me and Liz. This crowd has known each other since high school and earlier. Crazy!

On Christmas Eve, my family always has company over and my Grandmom cooks the traditional seven fishes. (We’re not even sure where exactly this tradition comes from, but our taste buds don’t complain!) Now, my grandmom is pushing 90 and she is the most AMAZING Italian chef. Nothing compares to her creations (my fam calls her meatballs little gold nuggets), and the Christmas Eve dinner is like her flagship night of the year. She made crab imperial, two kinds of shrimp, bakalao (sp?), scallops, calamari, mussels, & fluke. Since she is getting pretty high up there in years, she needed an assistant chef, and I volunteered whole-heartedly, taking vigorous notes! As usual, she outdid herself. The meal was amazing, and the company was just as good.

Grandmom tends to her scallops, one of the seven fishes she cooks every Christmas Eve.

Not much changes over the years. On Christmas Eve, the “kids” hang out and watch the presents being carried down at midnight.

Christmas morning has always been an insane gift-giving extravaganza, and this year was no different. In fact, I think this one needed two intermissions! For us, the exciting part has always been more about giving rather than receiving … it’s the one time of the year where we just go all out on each other, and every gift is something sincere and thoughtful. The morning starts with emptying out stockings and then the gifts are opened, one at a time, taking turns in order of age. Yes, this is how we did it when we were kids, and it’s how we still do it now. Mom and Dad go last. Since our family has gotten bigger in the recent years, with Ben and Rich joining, we didn’t finish up Christmas morning until about 4 in the afternoon. Like I said, we DID take two intermissions … one for breakfast and another for a Bloody Mary happy hour. By the end of the whole thing, it looked like a bomb made out of wrapping paper exploded in the family room. We all had an absolute blast, and it was nice having an uninterrupted day of family time.

Laura and Rich with “Humphrey,” their new butler. My parents have a very similar “Henry” in the foyer and he holds keys, sunglasses, etc. He’s a crucial household figure, and Laura and Rich just bought a house, so… enter Humphrey.

My grandmom had been mentioning that her computer was getting very slow and non-responsive. It was a very old PC. For Christmas, my parents got her a new one. Her surprise and overwhelmed response was adorable and priceless. At 90 years old, Grandmom gets her first laptop. It didn’t take her long to fire up that smokin’ new solitaire either!

At the end of the “morning” (afternoon, really) the family room looked… well… like this.

I think the most fun gift of the morning was my Grandmom’s new laptop. At 90, she actually uses a computer, loves Google, email, and everything else that’s great about the internet. But her computer was getting old and slow. When she opened up her new laptop, her reaction went from tears, to surprise, back to tears, then laughter… you get the point. It was adorable. She was so overwhelmed. Santa was very good to me too. In the past year, I’ve grown very fond of Athleta, a comfortable yet stylish brand of clothing, and I pretty much got a new wardrobe of it! When I got back to the bus, 3 bags of old clothing went out to Goodwill to make room for the new! I’ve also got to mention another favorite gift. Ben got me the Alien Abduction Lamp, and it absolutely RULES.

I know I’m an oddball, but I had been wanting this lamp for a while. It rocks!

I stayed in NJ until Jan. 3, which is when I flew back to the bus in San Diego. I spent a lot of time visiting family, hanging out at the house, and getting a lot of work done. For New Years Eve, we went out to The Italian Affair, one of our favorite local restaurants. It was a wonderful way to bring in the new year.

Happy New Year everyone! More to come…

Me and Grandmom at one of our favorite restaurants on New Years Eve. This is Grandmom’s 90th new year!

My parents toasting on New Years Eve.