It was nice this year being able to spend the holidays at home even though we missed the excitement of making our annual roadtrip down to the grandparents’ house. For the first time in 5 years, we got to do some decorating around the house. We had 2 reindeers with a santa’s sleigh in our backyard and sparkling icicle lights hanging off the edges of the trellis (a decision inspired by the fantasy of lights show we saw earlier this month). Unfortunately we couldn’t take this winterscape out to our front yard since there’s so little space for that out there no one’s complaining of course.
My parents flew in on the 22nd and we celebrated my mom’s birthday the following day after my sister’s family arrived. We had a full house with my parents in the guest room, my sister’s family settled nicely into Wesley’s room w/crib (Wesley liked going in there and proclaiming every now and then that that was HIS ROOM and he was letting them use HIS ROOM). Wesley got to camp out in Nicholas’ room on a blown up aerobed… which eventually became the landing pad for high-flying leaps off Nicholas’ bed.
My niece (who’s a year younger than Wesley), never saw so much action in her life. Towards the end of her stay, the cousins were like the three musketeers. My sister said that my niece is going to be bored out of her mind when they return home from this trip. At home, she’s used to conversing with little fishy friends that swims around their tank. On Xmas day, when we opened presents, my niece pulled out a stuffed Elmo from a box given to her by her parents and beemed with joy at receiving that one precious gift. She gave Elmo a big hug and walked away happy with her xmas loot. How innocently wonderful a moment that was for me to witness. Our boys just excitedly yells… where’s my gift?
Nicholas and Wesley could not get enough of the hubbub which encircled our home for the entire week. Grandma cooked her famous Loo-Dan with beef, bean curds, and sauces for noodle dishes. I finally asked my mom to teach me how to cook those yummy eggs so I can try to make it myself one day.
Even Alex’s parents came by to visit one of the days and stayed a while to chat with us. We had our fair share of adventurous home events as well. Our hot water spout/dispenser broke last week resulting in a minor flood of the kitchen area. Our garbage disposal pipe got stuck causing a day or two of off-limits on the sink, and our washing machine started acting up for the first time after all our components were replaced earlier this year, then a bout of sickness for the typically healthy Alex all the while amidst the most terrible of weather we’ve seen in weeks. But even despite these little setbacks, we managed to have endless fun-filled moments especially watching the kids. My niece was a bit confused at why she had to share my parents with the boys… so kept saying to everyone, my po-po. Every night practically, my sisters and I were all camped out on the floor of my parents room chatting with them till the wee hours of the night since my mom is finally retired and isn’t exhausted all day long from stress and lack of rest. It’s great to see her like this… finally enjoying the retirement life she and my dad has looked forward to all the years before.
Don’t know whether we’ll do the same next year (spending the holidays at home), but this has certainly been an exciting week for us that’s for sure.