What a crazy Christmas weekend. I went down to the Portland area for my families’ (yes, plural) annual Christmas festivities. Because I have so many different sides of family, I end up attending a variety of events on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, my family added more fun on the Friday before.
The weekend kicked off with a relatively small get-together at my dad and stepmom’s home in Vancouver, WA. It took me 4 hours to drive from Bellevue to Vancouver (normally a 2+ hour drive), but it was worth it. Steak and lobster were the featured the items for dinner. There was wine and various desserts. And I got to spend the majority of the evening hanging out with my little cousin Jonina who was more than happy to let me photograph her.
Christmas Eve was a pretty packed day with last-minute shopping, gift-wrapping, and shuttling around town. As usual, I spent the whole day with my stepmom’s side of the family, which is rather large in number. There were probably at least 30 or so people at the annual Christmas Eve party (held at my aunt Mai and uncle Brian’s home in Beaverton this year) and more than enough to food to feed everyone. The potluck table was filled with all sorts of yummy foods including prime rib, honey baked ham, sweet potatoes, sushi, shrimp cocktail, and a variety of finger foods.
One thing that started up in recent years is a talent show put on by all my little cousins. The performances include classical piano, sing and dance numbers, acrobatics, and, new this year, a magic show. There are a lot of kids, so the show is a tad bit on the long side, but it’s always neat to see what my cousins are up to. I used to do piano concerts when I was younger, so I understand the amount of work that goes into putting together a good performance.
Christmas Day was spent with my mom’s side of the family. Those festivities tend to be a bit more relaxed and focused mostly on eating. We had our annual dinner at my mom’s home in Gresham this year, and the food table was stacked with tasty food. Prime rib, ham, steamed crab, roast duck, mashed potatoes, tofu and veggies, and tons of appetizers and munchies did a good job of filling my stomach. To top it all off, we had tiramisu cheesecake and apple pie for dessert. Needless to say, I was quite full from dinner.
This year we also did a gift exchange for all the adults. There were some fun gag gifts like a sign language book and Christmas ornament salt and pepper shakers. There were also some nice gifts like boxes of chocolate, foot massagers, storage bowls. I ended up with a neat set of stacking block toys and some chocolates.
I am totally wiped out from the weekend and am very glad that I don’t have to go back to work until January 2 (Amaze is closed between Christmas and New Year’s). I’m taking the next few days to relax and recuperate. Once I get back to work, it’s going to be the final crunch to alpha for Pirates. Until then, I’m going to chill and enjoy my break.
As to be expected, I went snap happy this weekend and posted the featured photos in my Flickr photostream:
Only the digital shots are up right now. I took a few photos with my LC-A and need to develop the film. Hopefully, some of those turned out ok.
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