2008 - Happy New Year!

Three big holidays since my last post: Christmas, Festivus, New Years.

After much debate, Christmas was held here, again. I was bummed b/ I was looking forward to going to my uncle's house, but, oh well. We had a small gathering of Grandma and Papa, Uncle Denny, Grandma Nancy, Anna, Dan, Tracy, the girls, Kate, and Phillip on Christmas Eve. A fairly good dinner of beef roast, squash, undercooked Larry Potatoes (the oven was mistakenly turned off early), green salad, tortillini, baked beans, various flavors of fruity sparkling ciders, and a spiced pear bunt cake. There weren't as many Christmas lights up this year, but we kids took the girls out for a short walk after dinner anyways. Upon return, we tore through the presents, and I got ready to leave with Phillip. This means that he had to help me to wrap up my other cake I made for the Toste family, (spice cake with cream cheese frosting) and I stole a piece of the bunt cake to taste it. This was my first time making it, and it was yummy! When PHillip and I said our good-byes to everyone, Miss Kieran clobbered Phillip with a hug. :>) It was cute! He was no longer the "man who brought the cookies".

We headed to the Toste house and picked up more stuff for his mom. We also collected a couple more family members (Mijo and Tijo - Phillip can correct me on the spelling later if need be) and made our way out to the Livermore house. It was a pretty calm evening of hanging out and watching a DVD of bullfights that took place in various cities around the island Phillip's family is from while waiting for Fred and Rouja to come home from Rouja's parents' house. Other people in attendence: Phillip's parents and Firmino (of course), and Phillip's cousins, Tony and Patricia. The presents were opened around 2am (yes! it was a long day), and Mijo, Tijo, Phillip and me left around 3am...

Christmas Day was less hectic. I had planned to be at the Toste house for dinner, so Phillip came to get me to head back to the Livermore house. We opened our own presents that morning, and I'm glad to say that both our fears of our present-giving abilities this year were put to rest. I got my first iPod!!! It's actually an iPod Nano, it's square, black, and supremely thin. I was dying to own one while working at Neopost, and now I have one. :>) As y'all know, I'm horrible with technology, so Phillip said he'd teach me how to use it and download songs and such. I got Phillip a much needed suitcase and some travel supplies. It may sound lame to everyone, but this new suitcase is from a good brand, small enough to be a carry-on, has wheels, AND it has a non-broken, telescoping handle. He even liked the color. :>) Yea Christmas gifts!

Anyway, we then had to go run carpool. We picked up Tijo, Mijo, and Mijo's boyfriend, Mike and drove out to Livermore again. Today, though, was the Christmas get-together. There was well over 20 people, and I'm not sure I can list everyone. Needless to say, the house was FULL. Fred made a couple of fried turkeys to go along with a ton of other food, and I have to say that watching them be fried was entertaining. It was my first fried turkey, and it was tastey. After dinner, I spent quite a bit of time in Fred and Rouja's room watching tv. Namely, the movie "Dreamgirls". I'd not seen it yet, but I liked it. Rouja and Patricia really love the movie b/ they were singing along to all the songs. Nice.

Festivus 2008 "Class Picture"

me, Carolyn, Lisa, Jen R, Phillip, Jen H, Greg, Claire, Louis, Dayni, Danny

Festivus was fun this year. Instead of buying gifts, we all had to supply a homemade gift. That had many interpretations and it was fun to see what people came up with. This year, our eighth year, we went out to dinner at Paradiso in San Leandro. I was surprised at the cost when the bill came, but I did enjoy my meal, so there were no regrets. Because Festivus was on Dayni's birthday, we also threw in some surprise birthday things for her. The Heystek home was decorated in a superhero theme with Wonderwoman as the star. We got goodie bags and a pinata too. For dessert, we had chocolate fondue and various dippable items. There were Festivus presents and birthday presents and a lot of laughter. In the picture, you'll see some stuffed animals. They were a present from Jen R. and they're various microbs and diseases. The big yellow things are bookworms, Phillip is holding syphilis, I have mange, and I don't remember the other ones. They were very entertaining, though.

While not exactly a holiday, a group of us (me, Phillip, Jen R, Lisa) did have brunch with The Tias. That was on Sunday morning before Lisa and Greg had to leave town for MI. Greg passed on the event as he was meeting an old friend in the city, but Lisa's trip down to Hollister stirred up quite a feast. We ate for many hours as there were appitizers, soup, meal, and desserts. All was wonderful, of course, and we left their house full. We enjoyed a nice wood fire in the livingroom, hot apple cider, and good conversation. It was hard to leave, but Lisa had to get home for her last dinner with her family while here in CA.

New Year's Eve was spent at the Toste home in Livermore. Since Phillip's grandfather was done visiting, we were able to stay in that bedroom (which Mrs. Toste was kind enought to de-cat for me). We brought Tijo out to the house with us and that was it. An extremely small family affair. Fred and Rouja stayed home and Firmino joined us after midnight when his date ended. We kids played "Scene It" and I was surprised that I was better at it than I thought I would be. Granted, the details escape me, but I knew a good portion of the questions. Phillip and I also put together the telescope that Mrs. Toste got for Christmas. It was kinda hard to use, but cool nonetheless. After midnight, we turned on the movie "Superbad" in Fred and Rouja's room. It is funny, but I couldn't focus on it too well. I watched maybe 1/2 before I said goodnight and joined Phillip in bed.

In the morning, New Year's Day, everyone crawled out of bed late. We ate munchies and toast for breakfast and hung out. I took a ride on the tractor with Fred. That was fun. It's a John Deer golf-cart looking thing w/o a top or doors. The bed of the truck can lift and dump stuff where you need it. We took the same ride around the property that Fred took Phillip on Christmas Day. The Tostes have so much more land than you think, but it's all on the downward slope of hte hill. An extremely steep hill. It's so steep that as you near the edge, the land drops out of sight. It could be an amusement park ride if there wasn't a fence and road at the bottom of the descent! By the time we left, there wasn't much time to do anything before dinner. On Christmas, Hernani's parents had invited me over for dinner, so that is where we all were headed. It's a family tradition for the Tostes to have a get-together on the first day of the year. So, we dropped Tijo off at home and quickly showered.

At dinner, there was Hernani, Carinia, Hernani's parents, me, Phillip, Fred, Rouja, Firmino, Mrs. Toste (Mr. Toste was sick), Vanda and Frank, Vanda's parents, and Grandpa. It was a nice mello affair. Great food. I liked the salted cod and potato casserole (can't remember the name of the traditional dish), and the beans reminded me of the "lucky beans" Grandma Nancy used to make for New Year's Eve. During dessert is when the music started. I found it fun and entertaining. Vanda, Rouja, and Fred started it w/ banging on plates and glasses and the empty Sprite contatiner - just having a jam session. Then, it got more advanced. Appearently, Vanda's father is a musician. He's toured the Central Valley to play in various Portuguese-speaking communities and has some of his music playing on the radio back home. He knows a lot of music and what he doesn't know, he picks up fast. He played a lot of folk music and then hit a few Christmas carols. I made the mistake of saying I knew "Noel" (cuz I don't all that well), and had the entire Toste clan listening as I tried to sing the first few lines in my sad little voice. Rouja taught the uncle "The Star-Spangled Banner". She sung, and he figured out the guitar music. Not soon after that did Firmino and Grandpa have guitars in their hands. I'd moved from the dinner table at that point, but it was a nice "kodak moment" of the three generations playing together. The music ended when Firmino left to meet friends and the party started to wind-down/break up from there. It was a fun evening.