the plum of my pudding

So the break isn't over yet, but it sure feels like it is winding down!
The house has gotten quieter.
The grocery cart doesn't need to be nearly as full.
We don't have to sit in the back seats of the van.
There aren't as many dishes to wash. .. . . ..
Yes, the Shepard household is down to 4 kids now. 4! How weird.

We were all together except for my oldest sister Elisabeth, this year. Very unfortunate, but Elisabeth now lives in England with her little family. I hadn't seen Jim since Thanksgiving a year ago, and hadn't seen Colleen since last Christmas, so it was AWESOME seeing them all together again! And Walter and Christiana came too, of course.

We were up at Big Bear (in the mountains here in California) for 4 -almost 5- days renting a cabin for us to be in some SNOW around Christmas time ... because it just doesn't feel like Christmas time without some cold, wet (or frozen) weather! It was Niiice. Of course Colleen and Sarah had to go to Goodwill because they don't own anything snow-approved... they came back with a great purple nylon jumper (jumpsuit?) and a teal full body waterproof onesie! Oh and Sarah found some GREAT snow boots. Colleen got rainboots for Christmas so that worked out okay. They looked like genuine snow bunnies (from 1960)! Not that many of us looked STYLIN out there.... but they just looked the funniest! Jim of course has his nice legit snowboarding pants and boots, and nice winter clothes... Walter has plenty of winter clothes but he just didn't play out in the snow with us, and Christiana sort of struggled. We had to all donate some of our layers to her since she just came out of CongoLand! Mom, Theo, and Christiana didn't own any waterproof boots or shoes so they tied plastic grocery bags around their ankles over their shoes!! HAHA! It was a sight to see:-) Now I had just recently bought some Granny-boots--waterproof, fur-lined, warm, dry-- and I had plenty of silk or spandex layers to keep me toasty!! BOSTON! Hello! I had some great nylon pants that went perfectly over a pair of sweatpants to waterproof them. It all worked out. ;-) I'm not gonna lie. We all looked really funny!

I have more than enough pictures from those 4 days. We played in the snow -- made a "Snow Cat" and "Snow-Woman" (not -man), made a sweet hill for sledding, and roasted by the fire. Told lots of stories, had some discussions...one that ended in some tears but all was okay! ... played some games, watched some tv,....and ate LOTS. On the 3rd day we were there (i think), Jim took me, theo, and sarah to a rental place and we rented snowboards and skis! Sarah skiid (her snowsuit matched with the skis much better than a snowboard anyway!), and Theo and I attempted snowboarding! Jim of course has his own board, boots, and binding. We bought lift tickets for the full day and off we went.

After about the 5th or 6th time going down the bunny slope, Jim said I should try some bigger hills. I don't know why I agreed. ... . no, it was actually okay! But what i did NOT get was why it was so easy to start going down left foot first, then switch over to right foot first! Jim tried teaching me to lean forwards on my toes and sorta go backwards (hard to explain but maybe if you have snowboarded you know what i'm talking about?) to slow myself down instead of doing the snowplowing or switching over to right foot forward. I just couldn't do it. I smacked my butt and knees SO hard SO MUCH! I cried coming down one hill. I just kept getting back up and trying again, but it was way too hard to do what I was supposed to. I slowed myself down the wrong way most of the day for fear of breaking my butt. Not fun! But it was fun ... i really enjoyed snowboarding even though I was pretty bad at it. I like the feeling of it a lot better than skis. I don't feel as in control, but i think that's half the fun of it. You know how I love the rush of anything extreme!!
I stayed on the blue and green diamond slopes all day though. I wasn't stupid enough to go on the black diamonds;-) ... plus when you fall a lot just getting off the LIFT... that is embarrassing enough!
I met one guy on the lift with Sarah and he told me I was pretty and that if i am ever on tv (as a reporter), i should signal hi to him. We have a secret signal. Haha, he was funny! Of course I blew up the story when I got back saying "I met someone..." all excited like... but i can never keep a straight face long enough so no one believes me very long.

So being in California this long has gotten me missing it SOOOOO much. this is only (sarcasm) the 3rd time i've been back this year! WOW! We've been to the beach a couple times already and are TRYING to go this weekend. I really hope!
Okay enough for now. I want to tell the story of New Years Eve & New Years but can't. Sleep is a little higher up on the priorities list tonight.