holidays

December Festivities

December 23, 2013 By Misono in Family and Friends, Seasonal Celebrations, Videos Tags: birthday, Christmas, dan, festivities, holidays, housewarming, Kennedy Center, Mio, misono, parties, party

Christmas is only a couple days away, and I can’t believe how fast this month has flown by! In addition to the holiday season, there’s always a lot to celebrate in our family during this month because both Dan and I have our birthdays, and I love that people come together more during the holidays and the end of the year. This year has had its share of challenges with a tough pregnancy as well as navigating Mio’s tumultuous toddlerhood, but as I spend time with family and friends and reflect back on the year, I know that I have so much to be grateful for! Good health, wonderful friends and relatives both near and far, and our growing family that brings smiles and laughter to every day. And of course, there’s so much to look forward to in this coming year and beyond!

Some pictures from the past couple weeks, as we wrap up the year…

After her last art class! — Mio after her final art class at the local rec center. She thoroughly enjoyed her 8 weeks of arts and crafts!

"Here you go, penguin!" — She pressed one of her crafts against the inflatable penguin, saying “Here you go, penguin!”

Dan and I at the Kennedy Center — We enjoyed a delicious dinner on the Roof Terrace followed by a performance of Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. It was a holiday event with Dan’s company and was nice to get an evening out without parenting responsibilities for once!

Celebrating Dan's 31st birthday! — Celebrating Dan’s 31st birthday on the 13th!

"Happy birthday Daddy!" — “Happy birthday Daddy!” Mio was so excited to help Dan blow out the candles.

Group photo of the girls at Ashly & Danny's housewarming! — With the girls at Ashly & Danny’s housewarming party!

Congratulations Ashly and Danny on the beautiful new home!

An early birthday dinner , complete with amazing desserts! — An early birthday dinner out last week with some girlfriends, complete with amazing desserts! Thank you Michelle for planning it. Can’t believe I’ve known these ladies for 15 years!

Mimi knows me so well. Love this nail polish set! It has all the perfect shades, especially for the holidays.

So many cute crafts and gifts brought home from preschool today! Now the dilemma is how to keep the chubster occupied during winter break... — Mio brought home so many cute crafts and gifts from preschool! Now the dilemma is how to keep the chubster occupied during winter break…

Mio's very own My Dear Darling penguin — Mio’s very own My Dear Darling penguin! Thank you so much Akiyo for such a beautiful handmade gift.

A sweet video of Mio playing with her penguin doll:

“Ginger House!”

December 21, 2013 By Misono in Mio, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: candy, gingerbread house, holidays, Mio

Last Sunday, we observed our annual tradition of making a gingerbread house! Mio was fascinated and loved watching the process of the house coming together.

Watching Daddy fill the piping bag with frosting.

Helpng out a little here and there... — Helpng out a little here and there…

She wanted to get a very close look at every step... — She wanted to get a very close look at every step…

Her contributions to our gingerbread house came in the form of licks and bites... — Mio’s contributions to our gingerbread house came in the form of licks and bites…

She goes for the roof! Because everything was cemented on after the frosting dried, Mio resorted to licking the candy directly off the house because she couldn’t pick them off.

Mio’s been obsessed with the gingerbread house all week, saying “Ginger house! Candy!” We fear that it will not survive until Christmas…

(See more gingerbread house fun from last year and the year before!)

Tree-Trimming!

December 3, 2012 By Misono in Creative Corner, Seasonal Celebrations, Videos Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, decorating, holidays, time-lapse, timelapse, tree-trimming

Yesterday afternoon, we set up and decorated the Christmas tree! It was actually our first time decorating a tree together, because Dan and I never bought a tree while we were in California because we didn’t really have the space for it a lot of times, and were lazy. But tree-trimming is one of my favorite childhood memories of the holidays, so we wanted to make sure we revisited the tradition this year with Mio! 🙂

Earlier in the day, we met up with our friend Stephanie and she inspired us by showing us an awesome stop motion video she created of her pumpkin carving! (Check out more of her creative work at her blog, From Woo to You.) It definitely made an impression because when we returned from lunch and started unpacking the Christmas tree from my parents’ basement, I excitedly suggested to Dan, “Let’s make a stop motion video!” …to which he responded, “You mean a time-lapse, in this case? A stop motion would take forever.” And I said, “Yes! Time-lapse. That.” (Take no offense, videographers, I do indeed know the difference — just used the wrong term in my moment of excited inspiration!) So below is the result. Thank you so much Stephanie for inspiring us! We hope you all will enjoy this fun, short video of our first tree-trimming experience as a family! 😀

Christmas Eve with Friends

December 24, 2011 By Misono in Family and Friends, Local Gems, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: baby, Bon Chon Chicken, Celia, Centreville, chicken wings, chocolates, Christmas Eve, fried chicken, friends, Hanna, holidays, Liz, Luice, macarons, magnifying glass, Mio, Miyoung, Patty, Virginia, Xmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to lunch with a bunch of my girlfriends from college — we went to Bon Chon Chicken in Centreville. I’d heard of how great Bon Chon was from all my friends in Virginia and had to try it! True to its reputation, the chicken wings were some of the best I ever had! Great flavor but not too greasy! (I ate mostly the soy garlic flavor ones because the hot ones were too spicy for me… although Dan was all about the spicy ones!) It was great catching up with familiar friends… felt like I got transported back to the good old college days! 🙂

Delicious ddukbokki! (The chicken was so good, I forgot to take a picture of it...)

The girls surprised me with a birthday cake! Red velvet… so delicious!

With the cake! — Mio is dying to dig her hands into the cake...

It was great seeing everyone and catching up! Thank you everyone for the delicious birthday cake!

Later in the afternoon, Miyoung and Mike came by to visit us at my parents’ house. Miyoung and I had a great time having a couple hours of girl talk while our hubbies played video games together and Mio napped.

Miyoung brought by these lovely macarons… they were almost too pretty to eat!

Macarons from Miyoung — Look at all the colors!

So delicious... — They were so delicious... between me, Dan, and my sister, we killed them all before the day was over.

Some more random pre-Christmas photos…

Mio playing with a magnifying glass. This just might be my favorite picture of the year.

Huge box of chocolates from a family friend to our family. The box is bigger than Mio.

Mio looking pretty in her skirt. — Mio gets to spend her first Christmas in Virginia! What will Santa bring...?

An Early Christmas in California

December 23, 2011 By Misono in Family and Friends, Recreational Fun, Seasonal Celebrations Tags: Aileen, baby, Christmas, Christmas Fantasy, Christmas tree, Christmastime, holidays, illuminations, Mio, Santa, Santa Claus, scarf, Tilden Park, Tilden Regional Park

We arrived in Virginia early Thursday morning and have been having a great time relaxing and spending time with family and friends since! But before too much time passed, I wanted to post about some of the festivities before we left California. Last Sunday, we celebrated Christmas a little early with Dan’s family. Here are some pictures!

Everything looked so good! — Mio and I admiring the spread!

Mio playing the snowglobe. — Mio playing the nativity snowglobe.

Mio opening more Christmas presents from her grandparents…

What could it be...? — Adorable new clothes for Mio from Grandpa and Grandma!

The Allens! — Dan's parents with the tea chest that my family sent to them.

On Monday, Aileen came to visit us to drop off Christmas presents and delicious coconut macadamia cookies for our whole family! She also handknit this scarf for Mio… so sweet and thoughtful of her! 😀

Aileen knit a scarf for Mio! — Mio looking chic in her first scarf!

On Monday evening, we drove over to Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley to check out their Christmas Fantasy. Their Merry-Go-Round was surrounded by Christmas trees decorated in different themes, and there were bright illuminations outside. Mio had just woken up from a nap, though, so she looks serious in all the photos… haha*

Mio with Daddy — Mio and Daddy by the Merry-Go-Round.

Mio and Dan with the Star Wars Christmas tree. — A Yoda Santa topping a Christmas tree.

We wanted Mio to get her first picture taken with Santa, but he unfortunately couldn’t be there that night… maybe next year?

The Christmas tree at Tilden Park — Mio and I by the giant Christmas tree at Tilden Park.

From the pictures, it looks like Mio didn’t enjoy the illuminations and Christmas decorations as much as Dan and I did. Hopefully her appreciation for the holiday season will grow in coming years.

Stay tuned for photos from Virginia! 😀

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