2005 Christmas letter

Hello Everyone,

Here is part 4 of my 4-year gap in my Holiday letters. Hey I’m just about done! I really need to keep up with these. It’s entirely too much work trying to remember everything that happened in a 4-year span.

2005 started off with me being a new father, doing well at my job and already having received a promotion, living with my wife Maria in our townhome, and driving a Honda Accord (family car) and not having a bike for the first time in a long time. In January, Maria went back to work again part-time after taking time off to recovery from giving birth and spending time with Camila. Since my work schedule was usually later in the day, I normally went into work at 1pm and left at 10pm, we were able to arrange things so we didn’t need daycare. Maria went back to work in the mornings and got off at noon, plus she worked a full day on Saturday. So I would watch Camila in the mornings and hand over baby duties to Maria when she got home before leaving myself. Camila seemed to sense our schedule and usually went to sleep late so I got a chance to see her again when I got home. With this schedule we only get to see each other on Sunday pretty much but we were really happy to find something that allowed us not to have to leave Camila with a stranger or worry about the costs of daycare.

We quickly settled into our new family routine and months began to fly by. There was another little girl about Camila's age on the block next to ours that Maria bumped into and they invited us a their daughters baptism. This is something Maria and I had been talking about and in May we had Camila baptized in the same church. Camila looked super cute and afterwards we had a small reception for family.

Also in May was the premiere of the last Star Wars movie ever, Episode III Revenge of the Sith. I met my friend Kevin and saw it on opening night at the Arclight theater in Hollywood. It was a crazy night with lots of people dressed up in costume, lightsaber fighting demonstrations, protestors claiming Star Wars is a tool of Satan, and news crews to get the festivities on film. An all around great time.

In July the office I work at was moved from nearby Sherman Oaks to far away El Segundo. Luckily though my odd schedule seemed to be a blessing again because I missed rush hour times which could have easily doubled the length of my commute. A little later in August we celebrated Jeffrey’s 2nd birthday with a small party at Nohemi and Jose’s apartment. My mom also retired this month from Foster Farms. This was kind of a surprise to me but I guess she wanted a more flexible schedule to visit family here in the LA area and up in Oregon.

Camila turned one year old in September and we were so excited we decided to throw 2 parties. We had a early party with my family and then another party with Maria’s family. I’m not sure if Camila really knew what was going on but she still seemed to have a good time. She really likes balloons and enjoys the extra attention when we have guests over. She didn’t care for the cake and she doesn’t seem to like candy and sweets too much either. So far the only treat she really likes is ice cream.

We went trick-or-treating with Camila in October in nearby Montrose. They had closed off the downtown area and all of the businesses stayed open to hand out candy to everyone. Camila wore a cute little angel costume and looked absolutely adorable. In November, we took Camila to the beach for the first time. I don’t think she knew what to think of it at first but she was soon laughing and having a great time. She really loves water and bath time is her favorite time of the day so its no wonder that she loved the beach also.

December was pretty busy with the holidays and all. My work had a Holiday party at Gotham Hall on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and I actually won a prize in the raffle, 2 sushi gift certificates. On Christmas Eve we had Maria’s family over again to eat, celebrate, open presents, and watch the kids play. After Christmas we went to Griffith Park for a couple of activities. The first was a really nice light festival they put on. You can drive through but the wait can be hours at times so we decided to walk through and enjoy ourselves more. The second thing was a visit to the small train they have there. Camila really likes the ride and when she is a little older we can take her to the ponies next door. To finish off the year we went to two New Years Eve parties in one night. Our old neighbor with a daughter near Camila’s age had moved away and they invited us to their new home. Afterwards on the way back we stopped by Norma’s apartment to see Maria’s family. It was a very exhausting night but a lot of fun.

That’s about it for now. I’m all caught up with my letters again and in a few months I should be writing my 2006 letter. I don’t want to give anything away for my next letter but 2006 has been very exciting so far with lots of big announcements to make. See you soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,
Bill