Time for Family

With Thanksgiving ringing in the holiday season, I decided to take a few days off from blogging and spend the time I'm usually online, doing things with the family. So Thursday, after savoring the warmth of the covers well past when the alarm clock usually rouses us from sleep, we ran a few last-minute errands which included stopping by Polly's for a few pies and some fresh-baked rolls. Then, Caesar headed to his family's get-together in Pico Rivera while I headed to my own in Huntington Beach. I barely missed my cousin's skype chat, but my Mom filled me in with tales of my cousin's husband treating him to a traditional American turkey dinner (which for Spain must be fairly interesting) and the debacle of the pumpkin pie. (It turns out that they were late arriving at the grocery store so instead of the canned pumpkin, they bought a real pumpkin and made the pie from scratch. They both assured my Folks and my Aunt and Uncle that it tasted much better than they thought it would.) My Brother arrived shortly after I did and filled me in on the details of the marathon he ran on Santa Catalina Island. Then, the six of us sat around the table, passing plates of turkey, stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and string beans to each other, laughing, chatting away and enjoying the time together. My Sister-in-Law stopped by in time for dessert, having spent much of the day with her own family.

Friday, Caesar and I slept in again, ran a few more errands, bought the final cans of paint for the bathroom, and cheated on our diets with some burgers from McDonald's. We spent the remainder of the day on the couch, switching between TV channels, Nintendo games -- Caesar bought the latest Lego Indiana Jones 2 -- and Tana French's In the Woods. A nice day filled with nothing terribly important to do -- which we both needed.

Saturday we finished painting the bathroom, a light shade of brown called Cliff Rock that sets off the white baseboards and other white wood nicely. While the paint dried, we watched three more episodes of Dexter, season one, before heading out to meet a few friends for dinner in at Avila's El Ranchito in downtown Huntington Beach. The restaurant was only a few blocks from where I used to live, and though I'd walked by it many times, I'd never stopped in for a bite. Man, what I had been missing! The food tasted incredible -- I loved the chingolingas, which was a pastry filled with chicken then rolled and fried like flautas. What I enjoyed even more, though, was catching up with Rob, Clark and Shane, laughing and talking and having a great time. It felt like our own Thanksgiving celebration, only with salsa and salty tortilla chips instead of turkey and gravy.

Sunday was another day to stick around the apartment, reading farther into the Tana French novel and perhaps a short walk down Retro Row to window shop. A nice, relaxing end to the holiday weekend.