Home For The Holidays

I am so behind in my blogging, but I will do my best to catch up. This past Christmas we went up to San Jose to spend time with my family. Normally, we drive up to San Jose...do our thing...then drive back the following day. Not the best way to travel. This Christmas we were able to spend a whole week in San Jose. That was great because we got to catch up with friends and family that we normally miss when we are up there due to the short time we are there. One of the things that Nancy and I lack in Los Angeles compared to most of our friends out here is the luxury of being able to spend time with our families. It was really good to spend some quality time my family.

My sister and Albert decided that they would spend Christmas in Vancouver this year with his family. Luckily they were able to book their flight so that we could still spend some time together. We did the opening of presents for Christmas Eve on the 23nd of December and just went from there. Here are my sister and boys preparing for the opening of presents. Justin sitting with my sister. A little time with Grandpa and Grandma. A family photo before opening presents. And they're off...They're are neck and neck...It looks like it's going to be a photo finish. It's a tie...they both have whipped out their new light sabers. One of things we have to do for gift buying these days for Justin and Dylan is that we have to buy two of each. This way the boys do not argue over each others toys. This is mainly for the sanity of Justin because Dylan wants everything his older brother has and won't take no for an answer. So my wise sister stuck with our philosophy and bought them 2 Nerf Guns. Nancy and I actually do not condone gun play, but when he was out with my sister and Mom he finessed them into buying them as one of his presents. You can see his mission accomplished smile. Here we have Dylan opening another present for my sister which would be his favorite gift of all. Your eyes are not lying. His favorite gift was a vacuum cleaner. I guess that Dylan watching me vacuum the apartment all the time he likes to mimic me. For the longest time he would pretend a light saber was a vacuum and make the vacuum noises. Now he has own mini vacuum cleaner. He still plays with the vacuum on a regular basis. Here are the boys checking out their new gifts. Justin is actually still too young for the board game LIFE, but he insisted again to my Mom that this would be the best present and he would play it everyday. He hasn't played it everyday, but he likes it. As you can tell in this picture...Dylan is having a ball with his new vacuum cleaner. Next is sister opening up her presents from Nancy and I. For whatever reason her wish list consisted of cookie cutters and Christmas CDs. Next we have Nancy opening up her presents from me. Nancy has always been into fitness. One of her birthdays I bought her classes at Bikram Yoga and she has not looked back since then. She has become a yogi. She was complaining about how the yoga bag I got her awhile back was not cute and not functional enough. So I found a cool yoga store called LuLuLemon and got her a cute yoga bag and zip-up hoodie to keep her warm from there. I think I did a good job. Here are the boys thanking their Grandparents for the Christmas gifts. My brother in law Albert had to work late, but when he got to my parents we immediately gifted him. Here he is opening his present. My sister and I went in half and half on a cool Puma jacket for him. I try to get him hip things that he might not necessarily buy for himself, but I also make sure my sister approves of it because she's one that also has to look at it on a daily basis. I think he liked his gift. One of the traditions in San Jose during the Christmas holidays is they set up Christmas trees in the middle of downtown San Jose and call it "Christmas in the Park". Each tree is decorated by some organization in the city. When it first started it was just a bunch a Christmas trees decorated by the local organizations. Now there are over a hundred trees and other set ups representing Christmas. It's a great event to take the family. Here we are taking a family photo. Another photo with my Mom, Nancy, and kids. You can tell that everybody is kinda cold. We took a little break. Here is Justin eating a churro. He loves churros. Here are the boys showing off their light swords that I had to buy for $10. I guess boys can never have enough light swords. The next day the boys opened their remaining presents on Christmas Eve. My sister and Albert left for Vancouver that morning. Here is Justin opening his 2nd present from my Mom and Dad. It was the Lego Batman game for the X-Box360. He has been bugging me to get this game for months, but I had been putting it off because I felt he already had too many games and I figured he could get it for Christmas. Here he is hugging and kissing my Mom for the gift. Here is Dylan pre-hugging my Mom for his 2nd gift. He got a Pat Pat Rocket for Little Einsteins. He has been eyeing this thing at Target since Halloween. I knew it would be a sure bet for my Mom if she got him this. Here is Justin showing off his 2nd presnt from Nancy and I. We try to encourage his artistic side. So we got him a kid's digital camera. He has a good eye for photo taking. Here he is taking photos of me taking photos of him. Finally, some shots of my Father posing with his grandchildren. Christmas is for the kids, but when you can spend it with loved ones...it's still pretty wonderful.