Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I started my Christmas Day at the 10:30 am mass at St. Raphael's Church with my parents. After mass we did last minute preparations for our annual Christmas dinner. My aunt and cousins come over to join the family each year and it's always fun to catch up with them. Unfortunately my brother had to work this year, so it was just his wife Simi and their dog Chloe. Chrissie, Lei and Mei were a bit late arriving as they got caught in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge from people trying to get into the observation points. Their tardiness didn't stop me from enjoying multiple cups of mulled cider though.

We sat down for dinner around 6:00 pm. My mom loves a festive table and did a tablescape of cranberries and roses as well as individual name cards with cute stickers and stockings with treats. We had a very yummy meal consisting of the following:
- Vegetable soup
- Bread rolls
- Turkey
- Ham
- Dressing
- Potatoes
- Green Beans
It was all delicious as usual. Of course we had a lot of left over food but that will just be eaten in the upcoming days (plus we sent home a tupperware container for my brother).

While we were digesting our dinner and making room for dessert, my cousin Lei gave us a presentation on her summer trip to Europe. Not only did she have photos but props as well. It was great to hear about her travels and see pictures of Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy and Sicily. Next we exchanged presents and then it was on to the dessert table. I had done the majority of the baking the day before having made the pumpkin pie and sugar cookies and helped my mom with the snowball cookies. We also had cream puffs and petit fours. It was sugar overload but very good and we were all extremely full by the end of the evening. I was happy to be able to enjoy Christmas with the family as I only seem to make it home every other year to celebrate with them.