a very cowboy christmas
despite my initial misgivings, christmas with the family this year was actually a pretty good time.
first, the drive was nice. still way too bloody hot outside, but what are you going to do. it's california and global warming, etc. is in progress (i really need to stop watching the day after tomorrow, but jake gyllenhaal = teh cute and i am weak!).
dinner itself was pretty uneventful: i didn't get any grief for showing up late. we don't have a sit down affair, so everything was out and ready to eat when i got there, which was fantastic because i realised that i hadn't eaten all day. silly me! (also, who told starbucks they could close on xmas day?! buh.)
the real excitement didn't happen until almost everyone decided to leave.
because i don't visit very frequently, i forget that my uncle lives on, what is, for all intents and purposes, a ranch... with horses. he rides rodeo (and is, in fact, so busted up that he really should quit) and both of his daughters used to ride rodeo as well. every holiday he gets all of the kids up on horses (in fact, as i drove up, a few of the kids were riding off for a short ride around my uncle's place) and has tried every year to get me on a horse. all of this is to say that while everyone was leaving, one of his horses got sick.
i really hope you all know what i mean by that, because i really don't want to explain.
so, my uncle decided to take the horse on a trailer ride, while his next door neighbor (whom i will call ennis because his eye was lazy and it was clear that he'd been a rancher for a long, long time) proceded to explain to the ladies in the house all the home remedies that could be employed to help the horse. it would have been kinda gross (and really was v. gross) except for the fact that when he would get to the more... detailed parts of the remedies, as it were, he would excuse himself to all of the ladies in the room for the language he was about to use, which i found sort of adorable. (actually, that was sort of a trend with all of the men i talked to at my uncle's house on christmas... which was weird only in that you don't really find that too often in LA.)
anyway, after the trailer ride didn't work, my uncle decided to employ one of the remedies himself instead of calling out a horse vet on christmas day. i stayed inside and counted the cowboy hats on the rack (7).
after the excitement died down, and my uncle washed up, he decided he needed to listen to his new garth brooks box set at maximum volume and proceeded to roll up the rug (literally) and drag every woman still left (which consisted of me, my mom, my grandmother and my cousin, because she LOCKED HER KEYS IN HER CAR WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING) out to dance, which was fun because i haven't danced the two step since my mom taught me in high school.
THEN, i decided to support my native brothers and sisters here in california and stayed at the wonderful morongo casino and resort for the night. it was a good idea, mainly because i was out late with ixchelmala, hp_speculation, unreal_cinema, and flitzermusik for xmas fun and i was bloody tired, but also because i wanted to go shopping at the cabazon outlets. i've got two words for you: burberry. outlet. i was able to pick up a burberry scarf at an insane price and some l'occitane lavender linen water. there was a line to get into the coach outlet store. needless to say, i didn't stand in it. and there is a shuttle from the hotel to the outlets! pretty awesome.
the drive home wasn't too bad either. the hardest part was getting ON the highway. after that? piece of cake.
all in all, definitely good. my zucchini bread was a big hit (thanks, hp_spec!) and i managed not to get blasted off the tapestry, which maybe this year wasn't such a bad thing.
first, the drive was nice. still way too bloody hot outside, but what are you going to do. it's california and global warming, etc. is in progress (i really need to stop watching the day after tomorrow, but jake gyllenhaal = teh cute and i am weak!).
dinner itself was pretty uneventful: i didn't get any grief for showing up late. we don't have a sit down affair, so everything was out and ready to eat when i got there, which was fantastic because i realised that i hadn't eaten all day. silly me! (also, who told starbucks they could close on xmas day?! buh.)
the real excitement didn't happen until almost everyone decided to leave.
because i don't visit very frequently, i forget that my uncle lives on, what is, for all intents and purposes, a ranch... with horses. he rides rodeo (and is, in fact, so busted up that he really should quit) and both of his daughters used to ride rodeo as well. every holiday he gets all of the kids up on horses (in fact, as i drove up, a few of the kids were riding off for a short ride around my uncle's place) and has tried every year to get me on a horse. all of this is to say that while everyone was leaving, one of his horses got sick.
i really hope you all know what i mean by that, because i really don't want to explain.
so, my uncle decided to take the horse on a trailer ride, while his next door neighbor (whom i will call ennis because his eye was lazy and it was clear that he'd been a rancher for a long, long time) proceded to explain to the ladies in the house all the home remedies that could be employed to help the horse. it would have been kinda gross (and really was v. gross) except for the fact that when he would get to the more... detailed parts of the remedies, as it were, he would excuse himself to all of the ladies in the room for the language he was about to use, which i found sort of adorable. (actually, that was sort of a trend with all of the men i talked to at my uncle's house on christmas... which was weird only in that you don't really find that too often in LA.)
anyway, after the trailer ride didn't work, my uncle decided to employ one of the remedies himself instead of calling out a horse vet on christmas day. i stayed inside and counted the cowboy hats on the rack (7).
after the excitement died down, and my uncle washed up, he decided he needed to listen to his new garth brooks box set at maximum volume and proceeded to roll up the rug (literally) and drag every woman still left (which consisted of me, my mom, my grandmother and my cousin, because she LOCKED HER KEYS IN HER CAR WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING) out to dance, which was fun because i haven't danced the two step since my mom taught me in high school.
THEN, i decided to support my native brothers and sisters here in california and stayed at the wonderful morongo casino and resort for the night. it was a good idea, mainly because i was out late with ixchelmala, hp_speculation, unreal_cinema, and flitzermusik for xmas fun and i was bloody tired, but also because i wanted to go shopping at the cabazon outlets. i've got two words for you: burberry. outlet. i was able to pick up a burberry scarf at an insane price and some l'occitane lavender linen water. there was a line to get into the coach outlet store. needless to say, i didn't stand in it. and there is a shuttle from the hotel to the outlets! pretty awesome.
the drive home wasn't too bad either. the hardest part was getting ON the highway. after that? piece of cake.
all in all, definitely good. my zucchini bread was a big hit (thanks, hp_spec!) and i managed not to get blasted off the tapestry, which maybe this year wasn't such a bad thing.