Another Christmas, come and gone. My 21st Christmas. Jeesh. Does the 1st one really count? I was less than two months old. Guess so.

It was a nice Christmas. I got to spend some real quality time with my friends during the week before. Kim, Matt, Martin, Josh, lil bro Chris, and I had a fun dinner at Taxi's in Palo Alto on Saturday. Then we all packed into Matt's car to see Christmas lights in Monte Sereno (crazy house there) and Willow Glen. Then Jamie dropped by and we all had a nice get together at my house, played yet another version of Uno and then a great game of Cranium.

Sunday was a false tamale day. No one showed up so we moved it to Monday. Had a birthday dinner for my aunty Cheri. At night, my family and grandparents went to see Christmas lights in Monte Sereno (that crazy house again) and in Vasona Park. After complaining about a guy honking at us on the way there because we were all stuck in a traffic jam......dad goes ahead and accidently sets of the honking siren alarm of my grandpa's van secons after entering the park to see the light displays. That kept us laughing for a good five minutes.

Monday was tamale day. Made tamales. Monday night, Jen rounded me, Martin, and Jamie up....Chris tagged along again too. We had a fun time at Christmas in the Park in Downtown SJ. Then we met up with Josh at Jamie's house to decorate (and eat) Jamie's mom's great Gingerbread cookies. Jamie refused to allow Chris's "evil nick" gingerbread man to remain in her house.....i still don't think he's been eaten yet.

Christmas Eve was different this year because my cousin Jason and his wife Liz were in Oregon with their baby for the first year. We missed having them here. Another break from tradition was a visit my uncle's godparents house. They're really nice people with heavy Italian accents and great senses of humor. When my grandpa Perry was alive, they were best friends with my grandparents. Their house has been completely unchanged since the 1960s.....so cool.....especialy since everything looks new even though it has to be 40+ years old. It was seriously like stepping into a photo from the 60s and sitting down in it for half an hour.

Christmas Day....was something different. All the normal traditions, a tamale dinner, a few games of Santa bingo, a brutal (but fun) game of spoons and uno, pictures on the staircase, video games with my cousins and brother, presents. But thoughts of certain people that were not there put an unexpected damper on the early evening, and thoughts of people that might not be there in the coming years put what many felt was an inappropriate and untimely cloud over the end of what otherwise was a fun family celebration.

Ah well. Nothing is ever perfect, especially in a big family. At least for me, the good outweighed the bad. So much to be thankful for on this Christmas, for my family, my friends, and the great memories we can share from the past few days. (A lot of nice presents too.) Plus, I have more than a month of beautiful beautiful break ahead of me!

So...that's it. A Merry Christmas to All, and to all, a Good Night.