Who doesn't love the holidays? Everyone seems to be happy these days. Carl would say, life would be better if people were this happy all year round. As a couple, Carl and I love the holidays. We look forward to how interesting our holidays become each year, and we are never disappointed. There is almost always something about the Christmas season each year that makes it as memorable as the last. Here's a couple of reasons why Christmas this year has its own way of becoming interesting.
First, the weird weather - so much for the hopes of a white Christmas this year. I don't think the snow is ever going to come in time for a snowy Christmas eve. It's not even that cold - 40 degrees in December?! Its like we skipped forward to spring. Anyway, the weird winter season is just one of the reasons why the holidays is interesting this year. Though, i must admit, the relatively warmer weather makes it easier for Carl and I to enjoy the holidays. I hate walking on icy pavements or strolling while the bitter cold wind is blowing on my skin. I guess I can live with a less wintery Christmas this year. We are, however, still hoping we could build our first snowman soon :)
Second on the list, the Christmas parties - here's some of them.
1. Ward Christmas Party. It was a BREAKFAST CHRISTMAS PARTY. Carl and I thought it was weird we had the party early in the morning. We are so used to dinner parties i guess. We had toasts and pancakes and sausage and fruits and orange juice. Again, that was weird. Last year, it was potluck dinner and the ward bought hams that were assigned for some families to cook. We were invited to talk about our "traditional" Christmas stories. Carl and I ended up telling everyone in the ward how long Christmas is in the Philippines - i guess that beats all other "traditional" stories.
2. MFHD Christmas Dinner. This was the dinner party that "almost" never was. Here's the short story - one of the students in our program was curious if we were going to have a party this year since we've always had one since she got on board. We have a new department secretary, who did not know that we usually have a Christmas party, and so when this particular student approached her, she thought she was being thoughtless and sent an apologetic email to everyone (students, faculty, and staff) and asking for suggestions. One faculty replied to everyone and said a christmas party wasn't necessary and having one each year sort of grew just out of habit. Anyway, a date was set but everyone seemed like they didn't know if it was going to happen or not... so I asked the student who brought it up in the first place and this was the response I got: "Dr. X said i opened a can of worms and so I need to take care of it." and then I was given the details of the party. In my mind, "Oh great, we're just doing this to save your face?" I mean, there was no enthusiasm in the response I got, rather what I felt was an attitude of "lets just get this done and over with!" Oh well, i still signed up for dessert and made flan for everyone. On the night of party, it got even weirder for me. First, some of the students were all gathered at the dinner table ala real Christmas dinner, and then some were on the counter. Second, while some were doing a christmas game, some were doing their own thing on the other side of the room - might as well have two dinner parties. Third, after the game everyone was just talking stories of whatever. The feeling that I got was, really, the party had a lack of a lot of enthusiasm. True, I could have been proactive and made it more lively - but I felt like I wasn't in a position to do so (hello, rude?). But anyway, my flan was a big hit and because it was a little crusted some people thought it was actually creme brulee. We left the party early because we had to meet up with Jasmine & Keana at the mall (and I was actually excited about that!)
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| Date with Jasmine &Keana at the Provo Mall after the MFHD Christmas Dinner |
3. Potluck Party @ the Catubays. This was a fun one. Carl and I were glad we chose this party over the Filipino community party in Orem. Nothing against the other party, I'm sure it was a fun one too. It just felt like it was more intimate, enjoying dinner with good friends that you don't get to see very often and laughing with the children and playing like we weren't grown-ups. It was fun. I brought arroz caldo and everyone else brought equally good food. We also had a little gift exchange, white elephant style. This was white elephant, so anything goes... and you get the chance to pick whatever gift you like even when somebody has already picked it. Well. for me, I have my strategies to get the gift I really like! We had so much fun we forgot to take more pictures. We had so much fun at the Catubays that night.
4. Family dinner with the Milburys. Since Carl and I won't be spending Christmas weekend in Utah, we decided to have our family Christmas dinner with my sister-in-law's family in advance. We met up with the Milburys in American Fork where we planned to have dinner at Asian Buffet. Carl and I got there first, so we decided to check out the place beforehand. That was a good move, because we weren't sold after walking through their buffet line. Proof? In one of their hot lines, there was a note encouraging customers to get food from the bottom of the pan (closest to the heat source) because they are warmer. Duh? That's common sense - but, if you have to tell your customers where to get the warmer food, that just means something is wrong with your equipment thus there is a possibility that your food will make us sick. So there, we left the restaurant with the decision that we are not eating there. When Jasmine and them arrived, we decided we'll have dinner at Five Guys, which was tricky because Jasmine doesn't really like burgers - especially when she is pregnant (which she is). But I guess Five Guys burgers are amicable with her tummy, because she actually enjoyed them. Scott had fries overload - which was good because when he's high with carbo, he's usually happy :) We also exchanged gifts that night. We gifted Jasmine a cookbook and Scott an AngryBirds shirt. They gifted us with a Cold Stone gift card, a fridge magnet, and - are you ready for this? a CROCKPOT and a PRINTER! Yup, most awesome gift ever :) As for the precious little Keana, we gave her a Minnie Mouse plush toy - her eyes glowed and she was a happy little girl!
Speaking of gifts, that's the third reason why this year's Christmas is interesting. Carl and I have gifts for each other here and there. Something like, we go to the mall, and one of us would say, I think I like that for Christmas and then we'll get it. Anyway, this year our "main gifts" (the one we wrap and not open until Christmas eve) were secrets. Carl came home one day and his gift is already under the Christmas tree. And he did the same for me. Something noteworthy though, is that we gifted ourselves this year - sort of like our gift to our little family. We bought a MICROWAVE - for the FIRST TIME. When we got married, we received a microwave as one of our wedding gifts. When we moved from Hawaii to California, we shipped our microwave to the Philippines along with other stuff we didn't want to get rid of. Our apartment in California was equipped with a microwave, so we didn't need to buy one. When we moved to Utah, our neighbor was moving out and they handed down their microwave to us. Lately, that microwave would not work well anymore. Like we warm up left over for five minutes and only the surface would warm up. So we decided - IT WAS TIME.
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| First Microwave we ever bought - $45 courtesy of Walmart |
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