Bill and Jen's Adventures: Christmas in California

I was in much need of some family time, so Bill and I flew to California for a whirlwind, 7-day visit. My whole family made it to Mom and Dad's house, so it was quite the special treat.

It's always fun to have kids around on Christmas morning, and our youngest nieces, Ella and Emery, infused quite a bit of fun for all of us to enjoy.

Christmas morning

And my sister's dog, Malik, who is one of the best behaved dogs on the planet, also gave everyone a chuckle or two as he "helped" the girls (per their request) open many of their presents.

"I openz de pressents, tooooo!" - Malik

During present opening, my brother Todd had to keep a watchful eye on his girls, who had a hard time waiting for their turn. Don't we all remember that? Being so excited, and having a hard time waiting for your turn to open another present? I sure do!

Todd and his girls

Ella was very pleased with an outfit she received - a very smart ensemble!

Pretty Ella and her sassy new outfit

I got a super-cute hat that is sure to keep me warm now that I'm back in England. I sure didn't need it in CA, though - it was in the low 80sF for the week we were visiting! And all I packed were long-sleeved Ts!

A much needed hat for the Yorkshire winter

Dad got a present from Mom that we're all excited about - a National Geographic genome kit that will tell him where his ancestry was from. My Mom knows she's mostly Danish, but Dad's side of the family has been in America for so long, they don't know their origins. We hope we find out we're descendants from the Mayflower or related to some cool historic figure. But truth be told, we'll probably find out we were originally sent to the New World from somewhere in Europe because of various misdeeds and random hooliganism!