This year for Christmas, Ben and Beth drove down from San Francisco to Los Angeles, where Ben's Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and Grandma live. Also, Ben's parents flew out to L.A. from Florida. To start off, we must show the difference between a West Coast and East Coast Christmas. OK, so that's a bit overgeneralizing. However, it is still amusing. This is the Christmas tree in L.A., about a 12-13 footer.

And this is Ben's parents' (makeshift) tree in Florida. Where do you feel more Christmas-y?  :)

It seems an abnormal amount of the visit was spent watching the dogs play. Much was learned. Amber doesn't hate other dogs and Effie doesn't fight fair. She just kept biting Amber's legs and feet. Here's the typical view of the dogs over the weekend. It really was amusing.

Turns out Ben's dad is quite the dog lover. Here he is trying to get Effie and the resident dog, Amber, to share "Piggie." It just wasn't in the cards.

It must be understood that when holiday-ing in L.A. with Ben's relatives, a lot of incredibly good food is on the agenda. Two huge meals were prepared (one for Christmas Eve, the other for Christmas night), with a very filling breakfast in between. Everything is always delicious. And then lets not forget the various pies (we think there were about 6), a huge chocolate cake, ice cream, and a cheesecake. No diet can withstand such an onslaught.

The calm before the storm.

Here we all are on Christmas morning, dogs included. It's like a "Where's Waldo?" book. Let's start at the fireplace: we have Nana (in red), Max (peaking out from behind the tree), Jack, Jan, Megan, Tom, Wen, Barb, Beth & Ben. Hank is taking the picture. As you can see, Santa came this year. I guess we were all good. It was great to spend Christmas with such great family and friends.

Here's Jan, Megan and Barb enjoying opening their stockings. Notice the dogs vying for position to get some Christmas present scraps.