Christmas Extravaganza 2009

Having been raised in an interfaith home that included both Christianity and Buddhism, my family observed the major Christian holidays, including Christmas. Even so, other traditions such as Lunar New Year and the Chinese practice of honoring of passed relatives with incense and food took precedence in our family consciousness. Once I graduated from college, I became even less of a Christmas person. It was just hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the rest of my family was on the other side of the world. Now that I have a family of my own, however, celebrating the holidays has taken on a new importance for me. Although I am not very devout or exclusively Christian, I do consider myself to be a very spiritual person. For me, this time of year represents not just that spirituality, but also the sense of community I have with my friends and my growing family.
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Our holiday celebrations began the weekend before Christmas. We met Shawn, Julie, and Nolan for what was becoming a tradition of meeting for holiday dim sum. The boys exchanged gifts and then tried in earnest to grab the fish swimming in the koi pond in front of the restaurant.
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The next day, Deb and George came over to celebrate with us. In an effort to keep them to a reasonable degree of gift-giving, I told Deb that she was to spend no more than $15 per gift. When she showed up at our door with bags and bags bursting full of presents, she started sputtering explanations. "I stuck to the $15 limit, but you didn't specify who the gifts could be from!" Huh? Well, a peek at the presents explained everything. Not only were there gifts from Deb and George to each of us, but there were gifts from their dogs Seth and Kevin as well! As if their countless hours of Boo-sitting and familial support weren't enough of a gift already, they outdid themself with presents, too! Gift-giving rule-breaking notwithstanding, Benjamin had a wonderful time hanging out with his favorite auntie and uncle, and I had a great time kicking it with my sister.
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On Christmas Eve, we headed over to my in-laws' house for a family Christmas dinner and also to belatedly celebrate my MIL's birthday.

.Benjamin had a great time tearing paper off of his gifts. I think he may even have enjoyed that more than the gifts themselves!

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Christmas Day arrived, and I think that Vince and I were more anxious about the gifts than Benjamin was! We didn't want Benjamin to think that Christmas was just an orgy of gift-giving, but we were excited to watch him open the few gifts we did get him, which were some toy cars, books, and a new trike.

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Santa had left presents for Mommy and Daddy, too. Vince got a new video game and video game subscription, a framed photo of himself and the Boo for his office, and a limited edition Benjamin Chan EP.

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I received a beautiful jewelry holder shaped like lily pads (get it? LILY pads?), a Tiffany luggage tag (to tie to my sanity in case I lose it again), and - drum roll, please - a ROOOOOOOMBA!!!! See, our vacuum cleaner had gone on the fritz several months ago. Add to that the fact that the person to whom the chore of vacuuming belonged always seemed to suffer a sudden allergy attack or last-minute migraine whenever it came time for him to fulfill his duty, and the Roomba became numero uno on my wish list. Actually, the Roomba was more of a gift for Vince since it took one of his house duties away, but I suppose the decrease in blood pressure I get from not having to harangue him every weekend about vacuuming makes it my gift, too!
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Once we were done opening gifts, Vince set about the task of assembling Benjamin's new tricycle. Apparently, the Boo didn't think he was moving fast enough, so he tried to lend a hand. Half an hour and a minimum of cursing later, the trike was done, and the Boo climbed on...
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...without any pants on. Guess that's one way to make sure your friends don't touch your new toy!

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Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!