A German in SoCal: Expect nothing and you will not be disappointed - OR

OMG, my parents spent Christmas and New Year's in California. It was so awesome. Their flights were the bomb dot com, both ways and they had minimum jet lag. The fur children could not get enough of them and I think my dad actually got a little sunburn in the WINTER! I am a very lucky young lady, I have to admit, because with the flexibility of my job I was able to spend a ton of time with my parents. We all went to San Diego for a weekend, fur children included, and the weather could not have been better. We took bike rides, went shopping, watched the sunset twice and cooked up a storm for Christmas. We continued the California tradition to watch the sunset on January 1st and I don't think my parents could have imagined a better first day to the year after they had the best steak of their lives on the last night of the (previous) year. As we booked the tickets, we all, I guess, did not realize that they would depart just a couple of days before my birthday. After we realized, they would have liked to stay longer and actually spend that day with me. I guess it would have made a difference, because I spent the day on the couch pretty much in my pajamas watching the "Golden Globes" - not much different from any other Sunday when I am being honest. Last year my sister and I were in Hawaii and we turned 30. We also had a big party celebrating it, so this year my "special day" could not have been more opposite from last year's. Either way, I suppose people that know me well know that I care more about your birthday than mine, so it is ok that nobody made a big deal out of it. One thing that's really important to me though is to have a cake with a candle on it to blow out and make a wish. My parents called me deliberately late the day before so it would be midnight in Germany and technically my birthday. They sang happy birthday to me and lit a candle which was super sweet! Anyway, here are some pics from the time my parents spent here with us.