California Christmas and feeling lucky

This past week has been insanely busy, but one of my favorites since the move. Sorry if this reads like a journal entry.

For the past couple months I've dreaded my first Christmas away from home. That may seem silly, but I really was worried about my family, how they would handle me not being there for the first time, and well, myself away from them. I was extremely lucky, in that some of my closest friends from home, my neighbors in fact, came to visit, which made the holiday much more enjoyable. We had a wonderful time. I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas, but when I wasn't at work, I was with the Peters in Newport Beach. We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at the beach and then went to a nice dinner, where we were most definitely under-dressed in our beach attire. The place was called the "Rusty Pelican", but unlike it's name is quite nice--probably one of the nicest places in Newport Beach. On Christmas day, I made it to them in time for Chinese dinner and a movie. I was really hoping the waiters would sing "Deck the Halls" so that our Christmas could be just like the one on "A Christmas Story", but this did not actually happen.


The day after Christmas, I worked 4:30 AM to 8:30 AM, which was rough, but I was happy to be done early enough to go to Disneyland with my neighbors from home. Disneyland may not be the happiest place on earth, but we had a great time. I, of course, purchased some Minnie Mouse ears and pretended that I was 6 years old for most of the day. Kate and Nancy and I rode a lot of kiddie rides, which was nice, because I didn't get sick.I was underwhelmed with the castle, but it was still pretty cool to see such an iconic place. Disneyland is beautiful at night--especially at Christmas time. Everything is lit and looks magical.

I was teary-eyed telling the Peters goodbye, but they had to get to Vegas so it was a short goodbye. I'm going to see them in a couple weeks when I go home for a visit, which also made goodbyes easier. I'm beyond grateful for their visit and for all of our adventures. They are the closest family to my family, and since I couldn't have my actual family, I'm so thankful that I had the next best thing.

Thursday I was supposed to have the day off, but ended up getting called in for a few hours, which ironically, made me late to my work Christmas party. When I did finally make it there, it was really entertaining. We ate a lot, played charades (my team won!), and exchanged Secret Santa gifts. Afterwords, a few of us went to play pool and and have a few drinks. I warned everyone that I work with that I don't lose , and I don't think they believed me (until they were defeated). It's ironic that I normally win in pool, because I'm probably the worst player I know. I always get really baller partners though, and was lucky enough to con Glenn into being my partner. It just so happens that he has a pool table at his house. He's pretty alright. It's always fun to beat people you work with.

Friday I worked (of course--not worthy of much discussion), but Friday night and Saturday morning is definitely worthy of a blog post. I went on a hike to the Deep Creek hot springs near Hesperia, CA. We arrived around midnight and hiked by moonlight (and occasional use of a few head lamps and flashlights) It was absolutely beautiful. We hiked down the mountain a couple/few miles to the base, where we arrived at our destination--the hot springs (which are as hot or hotter than your average hot tub). We wasted no time getting in to the springs after stripping down to our swim gear (it was probably around 30 degrees). We spent the next few hours enjoying the springs and then hiked back up around sunrise. It was a chilly hike back, and parts of my ponytail actually froze solid. Crazy! I sprained my ankle near the beginning of our hike back while jumping across a creek, it hurt initially, but it was numbed quickly because of the icy cold water and the freezing air temp.The adrenaline helped as well. I'm not complaining though--I'm sooooo thankful that I couldn't feel the pain on the hike up. It didn't hurt until I woke up after a nap at home. The adventure was definitely worth the injury. My roommates have been taking good care of me. I feel very fortunate to have landed in this place. I'm sure the recovery will be speedy. So for today, I'm laying low, and keeping my ankle high.

Such a great week, and a nice end to a crazy year. It seems insane that tomorrow is the last day of 2012. I should probably do something exciting tomorrow night. We'll see.

Stay golden,
LH