Okay, so more on Christmas....

We stayed with Whateley's parents since we figured most of our friends were in the OC area or else it'd be closer from there than my parents in Chino. We were suppose to take a family picture with my family, but we couldn't get it all organized in time, so it's postponed. It's kinda sad, though, cuz we weren't sure if we could make it next year for Christmas. I think if we budget our vacation days, we should be able to swing it.

So yeah, the bed in Whateley's parents' guest bedroom was what can be best described as "a rock." Maybe we've just gotten spoiled by our memory foam mattress, but it was just very difficult to get comfortable. Yeah, we woke up each morning very stiff.

We juggled Christmas Eve and Day the same as last year, though we visited my family before Whateley's on Christmas Eve rather than later. We got my siblings gift cards (aren't those wonderful?), but due to the no-gift-card rule for Whateley, we got everyone T-shirts that either said "Keep Austin Weird" or some of the more funky ones from the Alamo Drafthouse. Well, we got a few gift cards for the picky people. The shirts went over well, I thought, especially the Alamo Drafthouse ones. We were going for an Austin theme for our presents. I'm not sure what we're gonna do for next year. You can only do the "new area" theme for so long.

Funny enough, due to the $10 limit this year, Whateley's step-sister-in-law ended up getting 4 or 5 tongs, and his aunt ended up getting about 4 boxes of Cheerios. It seems that people went for the first item on the list rather than the others. Good thing I didn't end up getting 3 copies of Deceptively Delicious.

Whateley's family was wondering why we were asking for a book about feeding vegetables to kids. No, I'm not in a family way. We just needed a way to get vegetables in our diet that was palatable for Whateley. We're trying to eat healthier but it's hard when he hates the texture of vegetables.

Anyway, it looks like we're gonna wait until we get a house before we begin to do all that sneaking vegetables.

The rest of our vacation was spent visiting friends. It seemed like we were just eating all the time, since everytime we ended up going out to eat. We made sure to eat at In-N-Out a couple of times, though. There ain't no equivalent in Austin!

Anyway, there isn't much more to tell. Oh, and it turns out, we're allergic to Texas, especially Whateley. That must be the case for my sinuses to be clear while we're there and for it to be all plugged up here. Whateley ended up with his ear canals being stuffed up. Cedar Fever, they call it.

Sigh. The sad part is, my eczema-ridden skin hates California and the dry air. They confiscated my lotion at the airport (forgot that whole liquid/gel over 5 oz prohibition), so I ended up using my petroleum-jelly-based moisturizer, which I can't quite put all over me as I can the other one. So my skin was not liking SoCal, even though my nose was happy. My body is a warzone, and they just won't get along!

Okay, if I think of anything else, I'll make another post!