We were invited to our dear friend Hanna and her brothers’ annual Christmas party this past Saturday, and we were so excited we could make it this year! (We’ve only been able to attend once before because we were always in California until right before Christmas.) We put Mio to bed and left her with my parents in case she woke up, and got to have a fun evening celebrating the holidays with friends!
With the lovely hostess Hanna! ♥
With beautiful ladies Liz and Luice!
Love these silly girls! 🙂
Dan and I by the Christmas tree.
It was a potluck, and there was SO much amazing food! I ate so much, and it showed. haha* I should think twice before wearing a bandage skirt if I know I’m going to be stuffing my face…
Having a piece of the cherry pie that I brought!
Ladies in red! Hanna with her girlfriends.
The highlight of this annual Christmas party is always the White Elephant gift exchange! There’s always lots of laughs and interesting gifts, and this year was no exception! This year there was everything from a knockoff Snuggie to a Kindle up for grabs!
Eric opened the S’mores kit we brought! (But it was eventually stolen by Sisi.)
My turn to open a present.
A lunch sack! (Which was eventually stolen a few times, so I got a travel cosmetic bag and a neat message-growing plant in the end.)
Us with our gifts!
Dan and I with our gifts. He got Ferrero Rocher – my favorite! 😉
Handsome Cider. I remember he was so tiny when Hanna first got him 5 and a half years ago while we were in college!
Reunited with gorgeous Sisi!
I’ve missed this girl! ♥
Playing Dance Central with Sisi!
Showing off our moves! lol… I’m an awful dancer, but it was fun!
Beautiful family picture 🙂 We love the Chang family!
Catching up with my former roomie and one of my best friends! Thank you Hanna for a wonderful party. 🙂
Instead of hitting the malls and going shopping on Black Friday, we spent the day meeting up with friends who were in the area! It was food-and-fun-filled holiday weekend — this is what the holidays are all about! 😀
Lunch date with Akiho at Sushi Yoshi. She has just finished her PhD and is now a licensed psychologist!
We met up with Aiko, my friend of 25 years, and her husband Anthony. They were visiting from Boston and got to meet Mio for the first time.
Hanging out at the park. I’ve known Aiko since we were 5 – I can’t believe how much time has passed since then!
Later in the evening, we went to Honey Pig in Centreville to celebrate Liz’s birthday!
With the birthday girl!
It was our first time seeing newlyweds Luice and Jeremy since they tied the knot in August. They’re the cutest couple!
Dan and Mio chowing down
So much good food!
On Saturday, Mio had a playdate with Joelle and Clara. Here are the cuties together!
And I shall conclude with our adorable burrito Mio!
Last Sunday, we went to a garden party hosted by Dan’s British coworker Liz, celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee — the 60th anniversary of her being the Queen. We’d never been to this kind of celebration before so we didn’t know what to expect, but it was a really lovely garden party with such beautiful details…
The Diamond Jubilee flag on the fence in front of the house.
Trifle and strawberries with cream.
Loved the presentation!
The little cuties at the party.
Cedar has gotten so big now. He's almost two years old!
I'm a sucker for details like this... so cute!
"Whack-A-Rat" game
Mio eating some fruit.
Delicious-looking cupcakes on display.
More yummy treats!
Mio was constantly running off somewhere and exploring the beautiful garden. It was all we could to keep up with her!
The food was superb, and everything about the party had the designer’s touch! We had a wonderful time. 🙂
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...)
Mio is all smiles!
The girls surprised me with a birthday cake! Red velvet… so delicious!
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!
Look at all the colors!
I love macarons!
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 gets to spend her first Christmas in Virginia! What will Santa bring...?
