Christmas ’12

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!  Happy birthday, Jesus!!   Tim and I arrived in Houston Monday morning and have been in energizer bunny mode ever since.  Family time keeps my battery running like no other, which causes me to crash at the end of each day.  Christmas eve was spent with my siblings as my parents didn’t arrive from Korea until the next day.  We spent Christmas with Tim’s side of the family in Buffalo, NY last year.  And wouldn’t you know it?  I thought I’d get to experience a white Christmas for once, but it happened to be one of those rare years that didn’t snow on the day of :(.   Anyway, this year was my family’s turn.

As soon as we arrived in my old stomping grounds, we went to eat a burger (my reward to Tim for driving the whole time and getting us here safely).  We went to Pappas Burgers, Tim’s favorite burger joint in the city.

It did not disappoint for sure.  I forgot how ginormous the burgers were here.

Our Christmas day was like a mini Charlie Brown special.  Our Christmas tree did not light up, I was scrambling to find any grocery stores that were open as I realized several ingredients for our meal were missing, I did not bring the right Christmas cards… then came the exciting adventure of picking up my parents from the airport.  You see, my parents had a connecting flight from Dallas to Houston, and as luck would have it… It actually snowed in Dallas yesterday!  It didn’t snow in Houston, but the temperature dropped from the 70s to the 30s in a matter of hours.  We all decided to go to the airport to surprise my parents and give them a warm welcome home, but after several delays (my poor parents were stuck on the runway for hours and hours and this was after their 13 hour trip from Korea), we were told they may not be able to come home until the next day.  With our starving bellies (it was around 4pm and we hadn’t eaten lunch), we went to H-Mart, a Korean grocery store, to grab a quick bite to eat.

I had “보리밥” Boribap.  Bori = barley and bap = rice, so barley rice which comes with various vegetables and a soup that you mix all together. Definitely a flavor packed, nutrient-dense meal for sure!  Tim had a spicy tofu stew with kimchi and pork called “순두부 찌개” soondubu jjigae …and his “glorious” white rice.  I’ve been giving him “scary purple rice” as he calls it, and I didn’t realize how much he’s been missing his white rice.

As we were eating, my mom called and said that their plane was actually getting ready to take off!!  We then shoveled down the rest of our food and scurried off to pick them up.  After 6 hours of waiting, the whole family was reunited at last.  We opened presents and went to a Korean restaurant for dinner.  It was good times.

I got my sister and my mom the infinity necklace from dogeared.com (also sold at Neiman Marcus).  Of course, I bought one for myself too.  Now, no matter where we are, we will always be together.  Cheesy, you say?  I think it’s a brilliant idea.  I’m quite sentimental like that ;).

It was my nephew Noah’s first Christmas so he was showered with love and presents.  His favorites were books that grandma got from Korea, esp the Pororo book!  He loves his Pororo, a cartoon character who’s referred to as the children’s president in Korea.

I bought my dad a harmonica which he absolutely loved and started playing right away ;).

As you can see, Noah is always the center of the attention around here ;).  Oh and guess what my sister bought Tim…Warrior Domo…oh lordy, why oh why?!  My sister and I are clearly not on the same page as I’ve declared a war against Domo.  Well, as long as Tim’s happy, right?  We all busted out laughing when Tim held up a picture of my dad in his warrior suit.  Such a resemblance…

As Noah’s first birthday is coming up soon, my mom picked out a “한복,” a beautiful Korean traditional outfit, for him to wear on his special day.  Such gorgeous colors!

Then we enjoyed a really late feast.   Chow time…

After dinner, Tim and I went over to my sister’s house for some wine and beer.  I sipped on Smirnoff Ice, which I hadn’t had since my college days.  I forgot how tasty it is ;).

So that’s how Christmas went down this year.  I’m looking forward to spending several more days with my family and meeting up with friends. Hope you are having a wonderful holiday!  God bless!