Christmas in Camas

I flew up to Portland for Christmas this year to spend the holiday with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law. I stayed with Mom, who lives in a really cute house in Camas, Washington. Camas is home to a huge Georgia Pacific paper factory, or as it appeared to me, a tree crematorium. Paul and Anne live across the river in Portland, and they came over to open presents Christmas morning. Lots of presents. I think I like giving presents better than receiving them, especially when I get to give presents to the fetus that is nestled in Anne's tummy right now. I gave the fetus a black one-piece outfit that says "ABCD: for those about to read we salute you". Awesome. It snowed a little on Christmas day, but was otherwise gray, dark, rainy and cold. Huh - who would have thought that winter in the Pacific Northwest could be so dreary? I enjoyed sitting on the couch by the fireplace during most of my visit, staying warm and dry. Here are some pictures to enjoy!

Christmas Eve - yup, that's a pink tree, and "A Christmas Story" on the TV behind it.

A very bad picture of me, but clearly Mom's cat (Leo) and I bonded during my visit.

Below, Bailey savors the remains of his stuffed turkey, destroyed and eviscerated within 15 minutes of presentation.

Everything's turning up...PREGNANT!!!

My god, everyone is getting pregnant these days. I feel like some old freak, single, not wanting kids. That's ok though - I'm perfectly fine being "Crazy Aunt Marci". Here's a list so far:

Cousin Beth and OB
Brother Paul and Anne
Friends Kristi and Adam

Yay, pregnant people! Anyone else I need to add to the list? Huh? Huh???

Festival of Lights

Can you believe I haven't been to the Wild Animal Park in over a year? It's true. But that all changed when Janet (from work) invited me and a few other girls to go see the park at dark, a.k.a. the Festival of Lights. Apparently, the wildfires of October destroyed a trailer that contained most of the lights, but they were able to cobble together a fairly decent display. It was really cool to see the lions and tigers I regularly visited while I was guiding for Roar and Snore in 2005; I got to see Delta's three Sumatran tiger cubs, Izu at Lion Camp - all grown up, and Mbari in the big lion exhibit. I can't believe how huge those lions have gotten!