Let the Holidays Begin!

Finals are OVER, and it is offically Christmas vacation, which is just a wonderful thing :) This past weekend it seemed like everyone decided to throw a Christmas party to celebrate, and while it wasn't possible to attend all of them, I did manage to hit 4 different parties and a Christmas show at Chuck's church. (That's the other thing I realized--when you are dating someone, your social calendar doubles because you now get invited to all of his friend's events as well...not a bad problem to have!) So here are some photos from the last 3 evenings:

Friday evening started with a happy hour celebration at Bodega, a wonderful wine bar nearby, for Alethia who as of Friday is offically a Fuller grad! Ryan put together about 25 of her friends from school and church who were there to surprise her, she had NO idea anything was being planned! Here are Alethia and Pocket toasting the end of the quarter and Alethia's graduation.

Sophie and I in front of the big tree in the Paseo mall on our way home from Bodega
Then, Saturday night, Pocket and her roommate threw an "Elf" party, centered around the theme of the movie Elf. (Pocket is dressed here as a Christmas tree--i think...). So we watched the movie Elf, made snowflakes, and got a moment to celebrate Christina. Her birthday was over Thanksgiving, but she was home with her mom who passed away a few weeks ago. She's from Houston and we had a huge Texas-themed party planned for her but cancelled it when she flew home. So Sophie had found a cake pan in the shape of texas to make her a cake...so she did...and then frosted it upside down, so now Texas is backwards. And Sophie got an awful lot of grief about that all evening seeing as how she has been to Texas a LOT these last few years!Pocket, Sophie, me, Christina, Chuck, and Steve (Christina's boyfriend)

Then, as soon as Elf was over, Chuck and I drove to Hollywood to a party that one of the guys in his small group was throwing.

Then, on Sunday night, Becca and her roommates threw a VERY cool party. One of her roommates heard this guy, Jon Troast, perform on a Prairie Home Companion one day, and she thought he was great, so she signed up for his email newsletter. In one news letter he mentioned he wanted to do a tour all across the US performing in people's living rooms, smaller crowds, no cover charge, just hanging out with folks, performing his music, getting his name out there. So they signed up to have him come to South Pasadena. Last night they cooked dinner for about 25 of their friends, and then Jon came and performed for an hour, and he was wonderful! It was a great, low key party with a delicious meal, dessert, and fabulous music.

Becca was in charge of decorating their mantle, she did a beautiful job :)Dave and I were asked to hold drinks for people....we promise, they aren't all ours!Becca, Jenn and Dave enjoying dinnerJon Troast performing -- check out www.jontroast.com for more on his musicfolks watching the showAnd what would be a party without a photo of the foursome?

So the weekend of Christmas parties is over and the traveling is about to begin! I leave tomorrow to go visit Jean in Anchorage for several days, come back to LA for about a day, then take off for Minneapolis to spend Christmas with my parents, sister and brother in law. Then on the 29th I fly to Charleston to spend New Year's with Chuck and his friends/family before heading back to LA to begin winter quarter--talk about traversing the country! Although I'm having trouble packing--I need to pack for Minnesota and Florida in one suitcase (Chuck and I are driving down to Jacksonville to spend New Year's with his community there). I'm sure photos and stories will be posted here over the next couple weeks. Merry Christmas everyone!