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 arriving, we met the newest addition to my sister’s family: Layla. She tended to bark a lot when first meeting us, but warmed up soon after. She was super sweet and got a lot of attention from me and Liz during our stay.
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.
The calm before the storm…
Jasmine and Jahnu, focused on their electronic devices. What is with kids these days, and how they seem to be so obsessed with technology and gadgets? Incidentally, that would be my Amazon Echo in the middle of the table.
This is quite possibly my favorite image from the holidays.
Later in the evening, my parents came over and stopped off at (where else) a nearby Chinese restaurant for some take-out. The dining room table was covered with a lot of stuff, so we set up shop at the kids’ table. Is there anything more quintessentially American than Chinese food at Christmastime?
While some of the girls went shopping, I hung out at the house with Courtney’s boyfriend Andrew and Jahnu. We ended up watching Jahnu playing with a (totally sweet) toy gun, and gave him some target practice assignments. Andrew is in the background providing commentary, using a tiny toy megaphone that distorts voices into robotic voices.
While we celebrated my grandma Pheobe’s 101st birthday last night, yesterday’s event was kind of a family-only thing. We had another get-together (at a different restaurant), where it was a mix of family and a smaller group of family friends.
We held our event at a place called Formosa Seafood Buffet. The interesting thing was that it was kind of half seafood and half Chinese food. Kind of a strange mixture, but I think it worked out well for our group.
Despite leaving Chicago a little earlier to make the 7:30 PM dinner time… I made a miscalculation. I factored in the time change the day before, but totally forgot about it while we were on the road. So about halway to our destination, I realized we would end up arriving about an hour late.
Luckily for us, things didn’t start right on time. So with a bit of a delay at the restaurant (and a pretty zippy final hour, heading down to Indy)… we showed up a little bit after everyone sat down to eat.
Not too shabby a job on the makeup, tough. Particularly with the eyeshadow and rouge? I think my foundation could use some more work, but overall my makeup looks pretty tastefully applied. It seems… subdued. I don’t feel like I look like a whore is what I’m saying.
After our big outing to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, all of us went over to my Auntie Vickie’s house to visit Grandma Phoebe for a little while.
Small historical note: In the 3rd grade at Spring Mill Elementary, my teacher Mrs. McKenna gave a challenge out to the students. For anyone who could remember all the presidents and vice-presidents in order, and could recite them from memory… she offered up a special treat. I was one of the kids who did this, and I can’t remember who the other two were. I think Aaron was one of the other ones, but can’t remember for sure.
We continued the early Christmas tour by visiting my sister’s family in Indianapolis. We all went out to Maggiano’s for a family dinner, then back to Stacey’s house to open gifts.
We stayed with my sister’s family while we were in Indy, and the night we arrived… we got treated to Jahnu in costume. Here he is as Spiderman (he has his hands up because he’s showing us his web shooters). Could it be that Captain America and Spiderman are the same person? Nearby, I spotted a copy of “My First…