You can catch me on the motorway

Another sunny sunny Christmas in beautiful Encinitas. Ever year I wake up to thoughtfully wrapped gifts and my dad's traditional pancakes and eggs breakfast.

This year, after eating and throwing on my new 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" tshirt, I hopped in the car, put some MIA into my stereo, and headed down to the Schmuckle's house to participate in their Christmas madness. Traditionally, I go with my sister ever year, but with her new "wife obligations" she went over to Jeff's family's house to open gifts.

At the Schmuckle's I found Bryce watching The Hills and Kyle passed out on the couch. I then heard noises from the garage and went to the back alley to see Tyler and Uncle Brian gathered around this:

That's right, it's a black, 4-gear dune buggie for the desert.

The next thing I know, I'm in the Schmuckle Painting truck driving to a vacant parking lot to test it out. Good thing I learned how to drive stick, the buggie is freakin fun. The best thing was however, watching 13 year old Bryce learn how to drive a stick shift and tear it up in the parking lot after 5 min of instruction from Tyler.

From the parking lot it was off to the cousin's house to set up their new pingpong/beer pong table. It took Darren, Tyler, and Uncle Brian about 1hr to set up the beast. Meanwhile, Bryce and I played chicken on the fence railing and fielded phone calls from the adults asking where we were and why we weren't helping get dinner ready.

Back at my house, Uncle Carl cooked an awesome prime rib complete with all the delicious Christmas sides. Gift exchange was constant through out the night. My personal favorite was the giant martini glass my Aunt Linda gave my Aunt Arlene:

After dinner we took the dune buggie out for a spin in my neighborhood. 35mph in a black, windowless cage is nuts and bananas -- my hair was a flurry once I got out. Besides all the stunned looks from my neighbors, the situation got even funnier once the dune buggie's spark plugs broke and Uncle Brian had to hook it up to the back of the truck in order to jump start it:

The crazy fun day ended with the family gathered around my living room to watch Superbad.

Oh Christmas in Encinitas, it's one of a kind.