Christmas in America (in pictures)

So, as I previously mentioned on this blog, I flew back to the States on Christmas Eve.  This made me feel far too cool.  My dad picked me up from the airport and we headed right to my grandparents' house, where I ate some food (I was a very bad child and ate fast-food sesame chicken, my great love that cannot be found in Spain, at the Philadelphia airport and was therefore not super hungry) and opened presents.  Christmas morning my sister and I apparently woke up too early, so got sent back upstairs while *Spoiler Alert* Santa came.  I got perfume, some nice bling, and other fun things.  My dad's gift, a shirt of the "Moo brothers" was a big hit, even if my mother was thoroughly scandalized by the bulls' testicles.

There were a lot of presents for everyone!  The dogs also got involved in the festivities.  This is Otto.

The two frog kings, little known fact, were present at the birth of Christ.

Christmas afternoon we headed to my uncle's and then to my other grandparents' house for dinner and more presents.  I must admit that while I love adulthood and sincerely appreciate the presents I inexplicably continue to receive from my extended family, there is something just a little bit depressing about being able to hold all of my Christmas presents in one hand.  It's like... yep, I'm old.  After dinner we went and saw the two Crazy Christmas Casas, a McCawley family tradition.

We also, of course, visited Nay Aug Park.  This is a regular feature on uglychristmaslights.com.  Nothing says Christmas quite like a stegosaurus.

Ginger and I felt the group was getting out of line, so we whipped everyone back into shape.

And of course we made Christmas cookies, even though Christmas itself had passed.  There were a few traditional styles to please the conservative folk, but Zombie Reindeer Apocalypse Army and Ninja Snowmen were the vast majority.

We also created the most beautiful gingerbread house in the history of gingerbread houses.  Each dog was represented with its favorite toy.  And, oddly enough, my dogs pulled it to the edge of the counter and ate it, or at least ate off the parts they like.  They ate their own representations, googly eyes and all.

Ashley came to visit me, yay!

I relaxed and bonded with my puppies.

We played in the snow and on the frozen lake.

Sadly, the poodles don't handle the cold so well, despite their dapper little jackets, and eventually need to be cuddled.

The shepherds, however, love the snow.

It was all very bleak and pretty.

Yes, a self portrait at my own house.  How meta.

Weasel and me on New Year's Eve, where we saw a hockey match and hung out with some family friends.  It was actually quite fun.

Jackie's going back to school party

my parents nomming

My mom had the whole week off, so we did all sorts of stuff: shopping for precious American goods (velveeta and bras, of course), eating, seeing movies, eating, gambling, visiting family and friends, more eating... I felt very full for two straight weeks!  And we managed to see a Penguins game, too!

My grandparents, who were lovely enough to feed me spaghetti and meatballs on my last full day.  Then I packed up my pounds of treats to bring back with me and headed back to Spain, well-rested and happy.