Back at our room, we had a long and relaxing afternoon. Lucky us, we found Star Trek on the TV (we just started season one of the original series about a week ago, and are making our way through).
Over the weekend, several of us were staying at Stacey and Shane’s house. On Friday night, Jahnu was queuing up YouTube videos (he recently discovered some of the vieos I’ve posted of him and Jasmine), and tracked down several of the commercials that my family was involved in, circa the mid 1980’s.
There is something quintessentially American about being Chinese-American, and ordering out for Chinese food on Christmas eve. Back when my parents used to have a restaurant, this happened all the time. But it still feels like the thing to do, especially around the holidays.
On Friday evening, Liz and I arrived (a little late) and joined my family at my parents’ house. Several family members came back to celebrate my grandma’s 104th (that’s right, 104) birthday.
Interestingly enough, though Jenny and I both call her grandma – Jenny uses the term “Po-Po” as Grandma Phoebe is her mother’s mother. But I refer to Grandma Phoebe as “Ma-Ma,” referencing her as my father’s mother. It’s nuanced, and the whole Chinese naming thing gets complicated at times.
One interesting thing about this place is the ordering process. Instead of roving carts that you’d call over to the table, there were mostly roving waitstaff. Your table gets a large menu with images of all the items, along with blank box in the corner of each. Fill out the quantities you want, and someone takes your order.
Did I mention they both had a fairly large cookie, prior to this segment of the evening?
The calm before the storm…
Our original plan was to take Uncle Danny and Auntie Karen out for a meal. But the timing of everything worked out to where we spent the day at their house. At 2PM, with glasses of champagne filled and two bottles of wine opened, our Thanksgiving meal was on in full force.
Near the trailhead, we spotted a few warning signs that we were entering “Bear Country.” My parents were a little spooked by this, and headed back to wait by the car. But Liz and I pressed on for a bit.
I’m afraid of falling down, and afraid of getting pulled up. I guess I’m just incredibly happy with things as they are.
It was all fairly climbable, as some parts were steep… but still allowed enough traction so it was more like an aggressive stair step.
We trekked in to Sedona, and headed to a spot near Cathedral Rock (to a spot where Shane and Stacey got married).
My family came into town on Saturday, and we hung out downtown with them on Saturday night. On Sunday, we all met up in Chinatown for Dim Sum, along with Liz’s parents. We met up at Phoenix, and this was Julie and Bob’s first experience with Dim Sum (my mom spent a lot of the meal introducing various dishes to them, and making sure their plates were never empty).
This is quite possibly my favorite image from the holidays.