I just ate a pommelo. It happens to be the largest citrus in the citrus family, ranging from the size of a grape fruit to the size of a basket ball. I did not consume the basket ball variety, but it is now my mission to do so. They were originally found in Malaysia though mine was Sunkist and probably came from California. It's rind is INSANE! And really, if you try to peel this thing, it is more effort than it's worth. If I had been smart and looked it up before I ate it I would have known to eat it more like a grape fruit. If you peel the thing it seems to generate five times the amount of garbage than there was ever fruit to begin with. It was quite the experience.

Oh, so you were probably expecting this to maybe be about Christmas, since that did just past. Well, Christmas was interesting. First off, my Mum and Dad are five hours away, and neither me nor really my little sister Erin own cars that would make it there. Well, actually Erin's car probably could have made it, but it is a Neon and Jason is over six feet, and it's a five hour drive. No, Jason and I rented a car.

Well, it was suppose to be a car, but Enterprise ran out of cars. Actually, I got a call on the 24th, the day I was suppose to pick up my rental car, telling me that Enterprise had no vehicles to rent to me whatsoever. Yes, the car rental place had. no. cars. I thought that was kind of funny. I guess no one turned in the cars on time! Finally, about three-thirty I got a call saying that someone turned in a Dodge Caravan and that they would rent that to me at the same cost as the standard size car I WAS going to rent. So I ended up being the proud renter of a very nice, very comfortable mini van. I think that was the only way four adults were able to survive the five hours in the car! It was a NICE ride!

Why are families so stress filled? I generally like my family. For the most part I think we all get along pretty well. But. Well, you put EVERYONE together in one house for a holiday and I can tell you we all feel a little bit of stress!

For me, mostly, it's my dad. That man stresses me out like no one else! I get along with my Mums great. She, in fact, is probably my second biggest confidant under Jason whose my first. Mums is always the bait that gets me out there. I want see her, and then I remember how much my father just stresses me out!

The bait was doubled this time because my big sister Jenny and my brother-in-law Mark were going to be there. I haven't seen those two in AGES! I really enjoy getting together with them and I really really really missed my nephew! So, with SO much pulling me in, I HAD to suffer the five hour drive Christmas DAY and go up to see my family.

It was a decent time. There are always bumps and hiccups. My dad likes to pick on my Chinese pronunciation, which is ridiculous because I took the language and he merely listened to tapes now and again. That ALWAYS grates on me. Apparently he has gotten it into his head that his pronunciation is better than mine. I keep telling him that I started learning while I was in Sichuan and that my first TA was FROM Chengdu, so my Sichuan accent continued which is why some of my pronunciations are different from his Beijing speaking tape. There is a HUGE difference between southern and northern Chinese pronunciations. The Beijing people like their "r's" what can I say? But yeah, he kind of pushes that. Sometimes, to get on his nerves, I might write a thing or two in Chinese because he can't read it. Take that dad.

There was more, but I'm just going to let it go. Family is family, right? It just means that these big family things are STRESSFUL. And I was very very happy to make it home last night.

I've been reveling in my home all day today. Dancing with Jason, eating a leisurely breakfast, hanging out. I think we are BOTH very relieved to be HOME. Even with the crazy storm that just hit and took away the powers for the last three hours! But that will be a different blog.