My judge wasn’t around the second half of December, so I floated to various criminal courtrooms instead. Criminal is tougher than it used to be for me, because of the new Proposition 36 in effect (eligible drug offenders can opt to go into a drug treatment program instead of getting a sentence, and if they successfully complete the sentence, their case will be dismissed; I’ve been handling way more violations of this program than completions), some changes to the criminal computer program, and because I’m just slower now, having been away from criminal law for so long.

Christmas was low-key and uneventful, just the way I like it. Mr. W tried to coordinate the stepkidlets for a dinner or lunch, but when one is available, the other is not. We ended up going to Original Mike’s with Son for ribs as an early Christmas Eve dinner as Daughter was singing at 4 Christmas church services back-to-back, then we spent some time with Daughter Christmas morning exchanging presents before she rushed off to spend the day with her best friend’s family and we went to have hot pot with my parents and grandma. My parents recently went on a small trip during which my dad found he disliked his current camera, and has been trying to convince my mom to go get a new camera with him since their return. The problem is, my mom knew I had already bought him a new camera for Christmas, so it was her job to stall him. She managed to convince him to hold off on the camera-shopping until after Christmas so they can catch a good sale. He was VERY happy when he opened his gift, and he and my mom have gone hiking since then and sent me photos they took while on the trails.

New Year’s Eve was spent with Eddie and Michelle at their house. They invited a bunch of friends over and set up three long tables for Chinese hot pot. Each table had their own hot pot, half clear broth and half red-hot spicy Szechuan. Mr. W was in hog heaven. They bought so much stuff for ingredients, and there were tons of stuff we’d never tried before, such as a calorie-free noodle tied in a knot. There were a lot of new moms and a pregnant woman in attendance, and toddlers running around. I guess that’s how friend gatherings are going to be now that we’re all at “that age” or that stage of life. Since Eddie and Michelle live in Pasadena, very close to the annual Rose Parade route, we’d planned to stay the night and visit the parade in the morning. However, as Mr. W and I were up chatting with Eddie and Michelle until 3:30am, we woke up after the parade ended, so we walked ot a quaint nearby town and had lunch instead. Another couple met us there, with their ultra-friendly 10-month-old boy in tow. The mom is pregnant again. Both the mom and dad are Asian Americans whose jobs transferred them to Beijing, where they met and started their family. They’re back in the States visiting their respective families for the holidays. The lunch table conversation was very informative (for me and Michelle, both thinking of having our first this year), and now we want to have our kid in China and get pampered the way this friend was. There’s new information to consider, definitely.

On our drive home from Pasadena, Mr. W called each of his kids to check up on them. They both seemed to have avoided big scenes out; Son spent the time at a friend’s house with many more friends playing beer pong and hanging out. He said his New Year’s Resolution is to stop smoking all things — marijuana, cigarettes, anything that requires inhalation, he was going to avoid. Even if he doesn’t stick to this 100%, any little bit of bad stuff avoided is extra good stuff banked in his life. And at least this means he knows better and has made a decision about where he feels he should and wants to be. Daughter had dinner with her boyfriend and his parents, then because he wanted to attend a couple of parties and she wanted low-key, he went out and she went to her best friend’s house to just hang out and watch TV and sports. Mr. W and I stopped by the Irvine Spectrum on the way home for lack of anything better to do, and seeing a sale sign, I went into a Levi’s jeans store and bought my first pair of Skinny-cut jeans. They have a new “curvy” cut that allows for more room in the butt and hips with a smaller waist, so that was a winner for me. I never wanted to get “skinny cut” jeans but if I want fitted jeans with legs that would fit inside boots, this is all the fashion world has to offer anymore. No more slim cut, no more fitted cut, just “skinny” and “ultra-skinny.” This just means I’ll have to work harder to look good, I guess.

Yesterday, Mr. W baked a lasagne I’d assembled on Friday and I spent all day watching a House marathon on TV, as Mr. W watched sports, played games on his iPad and his PC. The only time we got out was when we did a 4.5 mile run soon after we got up, and got back just in time to miss the rainfall.