Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Christmas 2016!!

Hello everyone!

I stopped blogging after this summer because a lot of changes were happening in my life, and I didn't feel like documenting everything here during that time. I know some people record everything on their blogs--the good and the bad--but I wanted to keep this as a place to look back on fond memories.

When I stopped blogging this summer, I actually thought that I was done with blogging forever. I didn't really even think about this blog very much until this winter when a few people asked to reference the memories stored in these blog posts. It was so nice to look back on the memories and the pictures accompanying them (and so easy to find!!) that I thought it would be fun to start again and record the memories that we are creating now for the future! 

This Christmas was a really special one for our family because our family was the biggest it has been yet!  Baby bro brought his girlfriend and Zenas came with me to visit Seattle, and it was so nice to be a part of a big, bustling household! =)  Usually, we open presents on Christmas morning, but this year, Peter, Zenas and I decided to go skiing, so we put off the normal Christmas festivities until the next day.  Last winter, our family went to Schweitzer to ski, but due to a few scheduling conflicts, we stayed near Seattle (Stevens Pass) for this winter break! 

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day with your loved ones!  It's been... a whole year since my family has been together (3 kids in college will do that to ya) and we've been loving spending our time as a family of 5!  

We don't have a Christmas tree this year, but we still gathered together by the fireplace to enjoy each other's company and to open gifts!  =)  It was bright and early (I think 8 ish?) and I'm pretty sure this was the first time this break the boys were up before noon..  haha


mommy began the festivities,


closely followed by daddy,  and then we all took turns opening gifts  =)


Chang's shoe size vs dad's 



don't mind the cray hairdo, it's just enjoying itself in its natural habitat...  did I mention this was at 8 in the morning?  haha


haha my dad's fashion sense makes me laugh  haha.  but I think the dress shoes I got him will be put to good use =)


and my beanie collection grows!


and baby bro, who has yet to really have facial hair, gets aftershave  ><



at least it smells really nice!

chang's dress shoes!  he recently had a minor surgery on the other foot, so he couldn't put on both, but it's gonna look real nice with his grey suit!  ;)


and baby bro's shoes   =)   What can I say, I was obsessed with men's dress shoes this year..





of course, Christmas isn't about gifts, and other material things, but opening presents is a tradition that brings my whole family together every Christmas morning for lots of love and laughter, and I hope it's a tradition we get to continue for many years to come  =)

I hope you are all enjoying this day with your family, and thanks for stopping by!
Merry Christmas!!
--Janny


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying today with your loved ones!  =D
we opened presents, and then just hung around the house watching TV and movies, and just enjoying being together all day.  A completely relaxing day that we all craved  ;)


I leave you with these pictures of our festive little Christmaspuppy McKinley man! his birthday is December 24th, so we consider that to be close enough ;) haha   Also, that sweater is actually mine--yup we are the same size apparently  haha

Merry Christmas everyone!!
lots of love from our house to yours!
--Janny

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!!!

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas morning/afternoon with your loved ones!
Seattle is trying so hard to give us a White Christmas, but the temperature is a bit too warm for that I guess, so we were greeted with lots and lots of rain today  haha  
(way to live up to the stereotype, Seattle,, lol)

Anyway, our Christmas celebrations began last night when Daddy all of a sudden decided that he would make us a buttered mochi cake!
First of all, what is a buttered mochi cake?
and second of all, when has he ever baked in his life?
the answer to the last question is NEVER.

we were a bit shocked to say the least, 
but he was adamant that he was going to bake us this cake, so the adventures in the kitchen began!
and of course, somehow I got roped into being the assistant...  haha


the role of being Daddy's assistant in the kitchen included...
well, mostly assuring him that things were going fine, like,
"Janny, the oven turned off"
"No, Dad, the oven is still on, it's fine"
"no, but the light went off!  and it doesn't sound like it's on!"
"Dad, that's because it's done preheating..."
"are you sure???"
"yes..."

In the end, somehow, his mochi cake turned out really well!
He was so proud of his first baking project, and thanks to him, 
we shared many laughs as a family, and enjoyed a yummy dessert for Christmas eve!  ;)


Then, the next morning began with excited "Merry Christmas!!!", mostly from me,
and opening presents  =)


For presents from lil bro, we had to do some hunting because they were located in odd places,, 
like these   haha


It was a wonderful morning full of spending some time as a family,
listening to Christmas music,
eating yummy food,
and much laughter  =)

I feel so blessed and thankful to have such amazing family and friends around me,
both near and far,
and I hope all of you are spending an amazing day filled with warmth and happiness!  =)

present from lil bro--baby pooh! AAHH  I definitely still have a soft spot for cute, cuddly, and fuzzy things  haha

Merry Christmas!!!
--Janny

Monday, December 10, 2012

My last couple of days in Houston

Hello everyone,

Last couple of days in Houston was filled with... lots of cleaning  haha
Now our tub is sparkling, there's visible floor space in my room, and the car is no longer covered in unwelcomed presents from the birds--oh the joys of parking under a tree..


But it was also filled with awesome people, comfort foods, ice sculptures,
and an early Christmas morning  =)

When people say 'comfort food', most people think of foods like
chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, etc.
For me, when I think of 'comfort food', I automatically think of Korean food.
Of course, there are many, many dishes in the Korean cuisine,
but when you are deprived of Korean food for an extended period of time like I am at school,
any Korean food will do as comfort food  haha

For some reason,
perhaps because the last week of school was the most stressful week of my time here at Rice,
I was really craving Korean food...
so the Korean food marathon commenced!
David was adventurous enough to accompany me on this food marathon;
what a trooper  ;)

H Mart with its many Korean restaurants!!

Bibimbap and Tong Dak!
can't go wrong with these two!

Also, because I had so many boxes of tofu that had been forgotten in the fridge,
we had some more Korean food at home!
This one was much more work-intensive, however, because we were making things from scratch,
and our recipe was,,, in my mom's brain...
so many phone calls both at the grocery store and during the cooking process...
'umm Mom, what was I supposed to get?
What am I supposed to do here?
how much was I supposed to put in the soup?'

but despite the questionable cooking process,
our soup turned out really well!
our soft tofu soup (soon du boo) and an improvised glazed tofu dish!

poor man's dining table = the floor?   haha
we had wanted to eat on the couch, but because there were so many dishes, 
we moved down to the floor  ;)

For dessert, we made ice cream sandwiches! 
Yay for being resourceful and using up the mountain of sugar cookies that were left over 
I ended up eating mine more like Coldstone or Marbleslab ice cream than an ice cream sandwich, 
but either way, you can't go wrong with cookies and ice cream!  ;)


We didn't just eat all week--though that did take up quite a bit of the week--
we also went to the Fire and Ice Hall near the Woodlands and walked around!

Ice sculptures!!  
and my one and only chance to be in a warm fluffy sweater, and still be cold in Houston!



We had originally gone for the ice sculptures,
but what we didn't realize was that it was actually a huge farm full of family-ish things to do!

Gingerbread man decorating station, ornaments decorating station, lighted walkways, and shops

we had fun trying on different things at the shop,,  haha


oh! there were also goats, llamas, ponies, donkeys, and sheep... 
what is this place..?
but it was fun playing tug of war with the goats and this particularly hardy plant they really enjoyed haha


On the morning of my departure,
we had our own Christmas morning under our magazine Christmas tree!!

Presents under the tree!  
for Amulet, me, and David  =)

Amulet had to run out to a taco lunch soon after opening her gifts,
so I don't have photos of Amulet,
but she got something to add to her morning coffee routine and her daily coffee walk  =p
(Amulet's coffee walk -- the slow, measured walk from the kitchen to the dining room table Amulet does every morning trying not to spill her coffee that's filled to the top of her coffee mug.  This is usually not a very successful endeavor as her roommate sits there and laughs at her every time she does the walk, which, in turn triggers Amulet's own fits of laughter.  Coffee, everywhere.)

David also got a bag of coffee related goodies,
one of which was this mug.
the mug that wakes up when you put coffee in it,
much like the person holding it  =p   haha


Hope your Monday is awake as David and the mug in the second photo!  ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny