Christmas Stuff #2

We didn't have any room in the house,
so we had to use a rosemary bush instead of a tree.

Christmas Day was busy but a lot of fun. The grandparents from both sides of the family wanted to spend the day with us, so we planned to have a big lunch for them. Grandma and Grandpa Y came up Christmas Eve and stayed overnight. I drove up, picked up Gran-Gran and Unca Jeff, and drove them down to our place. Rick was busy cooking up the meats. He broiled a couple of tri-tip roasts, broiled some great sausages Grandma brought up, and the night before, cooked and shredded tons of chicken for Chinese Chicken Salad. Grandma helped make a yummy sauce for the salad. I chopped and chopped, and dried the lettuce, made mashed potatoes, and white rice. Gran-Gran made gyoza and bara zushi. Grandma and Grandpa also brought up 2 awesome Gizdich apple pies.

Emi-chan had fun on her first Christmas. She especially loved watching Mama opening presents for her to play with. She especially liked the the Hug Me Elmo. She was so excited to see Elmo, and her face lit up when he spoke to her. I thought it was creepy how his eyes glowed when he spoke (I didn't get any really good pictures of Elmo. I'll have to post on him later). She also liked her music It was a great day for Emi-chan. She was all dressed up, in a cute little red jumper. She loved all the attention she got from the grandmas, grandpa, and Unca Jeff. Rick and I were busy getting food out, washing dishes, passing out presents, basically being hosts. Emi-chan also liked her instrument set and a little bike.

Emi-chan on her bike

We had a good time playing with and watching Emi-chan experience her first Christmas, and catching up with each other. We did miss having Ted and Yumiko at the lunch. We hope they can make it next year.

Later that afternoon I took Gran-Gran and Unca Jeff home, loaded up with presents and food, and Grandma and Grandpa stayed one more night. It was a nice day.

Here's Rick doing the time honored tradition
of daddy putting the toys together for the child

Chirstmas Stuff #1

I'm w-a-y behind on blogging, and my mind is still in a jumble. The next few entries will be on the past couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, but everything will be out of order. Please bear with me. A lot happened this year, especially since it was Emi-chan's first Christmas.

We got Emi-chan a cute little Nativity set from Fisher Price's Little People line (I checked to make sure it wasn't on the toy recall list before ordering it). Emi-chan seemed really fascinated by it. She looked at it, she touched all of the figures, picked each one up, tossed the stable and figures around the living room, and then chewed on the heads of every figure. Since then, every time she saw the set, she tosses everyone then chews on each one. She was partial to Joseph.

Look, it's Baby Jesus!

Nooo! It's Emi-zilla!

Poor Joseph. No respect.

Merry Christmas

We wish you a very blessed and loving Christmas.

A Walk in the Neighborhood

On a cool, crisp, non-rainy day, Emi-chan and I went for a little walk. We even ventured to the local park. There were no scary mommies, but there was a very nice lady with a beautiful greyhound. We chatted for a little bit until someone came with a pit bull. Then, we left. Emi-chan and I walked for about 20 minutes, enjoying the day, and I marvelled that even the office parks can look very pretty this time of the year.

Christmas in November

I'm way behind in posting. Sorry. I've been a little tired and frantically trying to make ornaments for a Christmas tea and ornament exchange party in a couple of weeks. Let's just say, I'm doomed.

Anyways, last week (a couple of weeks ago? I don't know anymore when it comes to time and dates) when Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko were up for Thanksgiving, some friends got together and we had an early Christmas party because Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko aren't able to come up next month. The party was at Lauren and Grant's new place (thank you!). There was a lot of food, a lot of people, and a lot of fun. The eating, as always, was good, and there was a Secret Santa gift exchange, and a white elephant gift exchange.

There were a few "aunties" and "uncles" Emi-chan had not met yet, so she had fun getting to know people.



Here's Emi-chan flirting with Uncle Vince.



Here she is flirting with Mr. Todd while still hanging with Uncle Vince.


She wasn't the only baby there. Christine and Joe, new parents, brought their newborn baby girl to the party. Little Ayumi was so cute! I forgot how little a newborn babies are.


Nice to meet you!

Emi-chan was getting fussy and tired, but we stayed until late (10:30 PM). I know, just a year ago, 10:30 PM was an early night. Now, 9 PM is late. It would have been nice to stay a little longer, but we were bushed, plus Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko had a long drive home the next day.