Christmas

An Early Christmas with the Allens

December 20, 2010 By Misono in Family and Friends, News and Updates, Pregnancy & Parenthood Tags: Allens, Christmas, family, holidays

We celebrated an early Christmas and Dan and my birthdays with Dan’s family yesterday, since we are leaving this Thursday for the East Coast to be with my family back in Virginia. We enjoyed a delicious dinner cooked by Dan’s mother, a nice gift exchange, some classic board game fun, topped with a red velvet birthday cake for the two of us. It was a delightful evening spent with family. 🙂

I loved this Christmas ornament that Dan’s sister got for us — usually you would get an ornament to commemorate the baby’s first Christmas, but since ours is not out yet, she still got us a handmade, custom ornament to celebrate her anticipated arrival….

She also got us some adorable baby goods: a Baby Soy onesie, matching no-scratch mittens, and a pair of cozy fleece-lined Crocs! Too cute!!! Our baby girl is already getting spoiled by Auntie Hyo! 😀

We’re so glad we got to spend some time with Dan’s side of the family before we took off for our annual trip back East. Merry Christmas from the Allens! 🙂

Christmas & 27th Birthday

December 25, 2009 By Misono in Family and Friends, News and Updates Tags: birthday, Christmas, Christmas tree, dinner, Dulles, family, friends, holidays, McLean, Northern Virginia, NOVA, party, presents, snow, surprise, Tachibana

Merry Christmas to all! Hope that everyone is having a relaxing, enjoyable time with their families and friends.

Christmas Day also happens to be my birthday, and today I turn 27. We arrived in Dulles airport last night with no delays and a relatively smooth flight. Once I got home, my friend Angel picked me up to go have dinner together, since she is leaving for China and Thailand tomorrow and I would not see her for the rest of the holidays. We were going to have a quiet late dinner at Tachibana, a Japanese restaurant in McLean. Once we got there, I was greeted by some of my closest friends, great sushi and cake, and ton of colorful birthday balloons. I was stunned speechless, and it was totally unexpected. Dan and one of my best friends Hanna had apparently put the whole thing together and coordinated it. I was really touched because with my birthday being on Christmas, I rarely get to celebrate it with friends since everyone is with their families, and things are just so busy in general over the holiday season. There were so many thoughtful presents that my friends had gotten for me, but honestly the biggest gift to me was that they had all taken some time to come out on Christmas Eve to celebrate with me, especially after I’d been away for so long and I had missed them so much. So a heartfelt thank you to all of my friends who came last night, as well as to those who wanted to but were unable to. You guys are the best, and I love you all!

Thank you everyone! — Surprise birthday dinner at Tachibana in McLean

lovely birthday cake! — The cutest birthday cake ever.

Dan had also gotten me a Tiffany necklace for my birthday! I immediately felt guilty for bugging him about getting a Kitchenaid stand mixer for the past couple months, because when he gave it to me he said, “You can trade it in for a Kitchenaid mixer if you really want it.” As much as I want the mixer, I am too much of a Tiffany fan to give this darling up. The mixer can wait. 😉

tiffany

Christmas Day has been fun and relaxing so far. In the morning, we exchanged gifts among the family, and we siblings have been spending much of the day playing board games and on the Wii. My mother made some delicious hot soba noodles for lunch, and we’re going to have a sashimi dinner tonight! Not the traditional Christmas dinner, I know, but I’ll take raw fish over ham any day. 😉

presents under the tree — Christmas morning

Wacom tablet from my parents and Ted! — A Wacom tablet from my parents and brother!

And the snow! Although much of it has been shoveled off the roads or has started to melt, there is still over a foot of snow blanketing the ground. This is the first white Christmas I’ve seen in years and I’m loving it. The white landscape is gorgeous and makes for a true winter wonderland. Time for snow angels and snowball fights!

We’ll be taking a weekend trip up to New York City tomorrow, but we’ll be back in the DC area on Monday. Looking forward to all the fun times ahead with our friends and family! 😀

Weekend Festivities!

December 22, 2009 By Misono in Family and Friends, News and Updates, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: Christmas, gift exchange, gifts, gingerbread house, holiday party, Nakayoshi, outer Richmond, San Francisco, San Lorenzo, white elephant

This past weekend was our last weekend of the year on this side of the country, as we’ll be leaving to go back East in a couple days. We spent it celebrating Christmas early with friends and family here in California.

On Saturday, we went to Megumi’s in San Francisco for a holiday party for the Nakayoshi core members. Megumi was a great hostess, preparing so many treats and goodies for everyone, and her apartment was sparkling with holiday decor.

holiday cookies made by Megumi — Megumi's homemade cookies - too cute to eat!

The party was potluck-style, so everyone brought a dish and everything tasted amazing. It seems like everyone in Nakayoshi (especially the ladies) has such awesome cooking and baking skills! They put me to shame… haha* After eating, we had a white elephant gift exchange (accompanied by the characteristic silly gifts and lots of laughs), gingerbread house building, and board games! 🙂

conversations over dinner — cozy dinner conversations in Megumi's living room

the guys in the kitchen — more people crammed into the kitchen.

with lovely Emily, my birthday twin! — With my (almost) birthday twin, Emily! Her birthday is Christmas Eve, mine is Christmas Day.

Megumi making some announcements — Megumi starting the white elephant gift exchange.

Aileen and I :) — Me with the lovely Miss Aileen!

Dan got some Jack Daniels — Dan won some Jack Daniels... but it quickly got stolen away.

very intense... — Dan and Aaron were really serious and intense about the building of the gingerbread house. Very exact and diligent...

the ladies! — Cyril, Megumi and I. Thanks for the great party, Megumi!

For more fun photos from the party, see the Flickr set.

On Sunday, Dan and I went to San Lorenzo to his parents’ house to celebrate and early Christmas and gift exchange with the Allens. We’re really grateful that they were flexible and moved Christmas up a little so that we could celebrate with them before we fly over to my family’s to spend actual Christmas Day with them.

We’re leaving for Virginia early morning of the 24th, so we’re currently in a packing frenzy. Hopefully the weather will be kind and we will be able to get there safely and on time, with no complications. To our friends and family on the West Coast, thank you for a wonderful time, and to those on the East Coast… here we come!

Scents of the Season

December 20, 2009 By Misono in Kitchen Concoctions, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: allspice, aroma, Christmas, cinnamon, cloves, fragrance, holiday, nutmeg, orange, pomander, scent, smell

Yet another great thing about the holidays is all the wonderful aromas and fragrances that carry us through the end of the year. Cinnamon, apple, peppermint, pine, gingerbread, sugar cookies, pumpkin pie… everything smells so delicious. Out of the five senses, smell triggers memories more than any other — no wonder we associate all these scents with happy memories of Christmases past!

So I saw my boss doing this the other day at our new studio, and it made the place smell so amazing that I had to try it at home. It’s super easy — you just slice oranges into thin wheels, lay them out on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle them with cinnamon and cloves (you can add allspice and nutmeg if you have those on hand too) and stick them into a heated oven for about half an hour and let the aroma permeate your kitchen and the rest of the house.

A more long-term way to keep your home smelling like Christmas is to make orange pomanders, but since those take two weeks to a month to completely dry, it’s a little too late for me to attempt them. I’ll have to remember to tackle making them next year! Can you tell I love the holidays?

Holiday Gala Dinner

December 9, 2009 By Misono in Family and Friends, News and Updates, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: Berkeley, Christmas, December, festivities, foxtrot, holiday dinner, holiday gala, holiday party, swing dance

I love the end of the year because of all the occasions that bring people together — holiday parties, bÅnenkai’s, Christmas, New Years Eve… what better way to celebrate the past year than with family and friends? December is always full of festivities and although it’s often the busiest and craziest time of year, I always look forward to it! 😀

Last Friday was our first holiday party of the year. We got together with a bunch of our couple friends, and kicked off the holiday season with a lovely gala dinner and dance. Huge thanks to Kazue for organizing and Eunha for the gorgeous decorations. The food was delicious, the ambience was warm, and everyone looked stunning! After dinner, we had a little dance lesson in which we learned the foxtrot (a follow-up to the swing dancing lesson from Valentine’s Day) — I thought it was easier to master than a lot of the swing steps, and soon everyone was gliding across the dance floor. As the night progressed, the tone of the music changed and we started seeing some breakdancing and moonwalking… haha* Hopefully Michael Jackson wasn’t turning in his grave!

It was a lovely night with good company, and I’m getting even more excited about all the other celebrations to come this month.

(See all the photos from the gala at my Flickr.)

lovely Christmas decorations — gorgeous Christmas decorations

Henry ripping the dance floor — Henry showing off some of his dance moves... lol

taking a break with Lilly and Ann Helen — taking a break from dancing with Lilly and Ann Helen

me with Nicole — With the lovely Miss Nicole ~ Thanks for getting ready with me!

Cheers to a wonderful night! Happy holidays! 🙂

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