When Angela asked Jan where he wanted to eat for his birthday this year, he picked the same place as last year: Sushi Suzuki, an excellent omakase (chef’s choice) sushi bar tucked into an alley just a couple of block from our house. The dinner is once again delicious.
A furry loaf. (Or possibly Mojo.)
Evrim’s never cut down a Christmas tree before so we take her out to Trinity Tree Farm in Issaquah. It’s the very last day of their “U Cut” tree season so some of the fields are picked over, but we find a handsome tree. We all take turns with the saw.
Cats and Christmas go together. Happily our cats are never that interested in climbing our tree or smashing ornaments.
In the evening, Evan arrives, the first of the three kids to come back from school for the holidays.
Liya returns from the East Coast.
Angela’s parents arrive from Virginia. They don’t travel much these days, but are making the trip because next week all of their kids and grandkids will be in the same place: our kids will all be in town for the holidays, and Angela’s brother Johnny and his family will spend a few days in Seattle.
After midnight, Bree arrives from the East Coast. This is a common hour for Evan to be awake, so he picks up Bree from SeaTac.
We all attend the Christmas Eve service at Angela’s church in Buckley. This includes Jan’s mom and Angela’s parents, as well as Chris and Julie who have flown in from Boulder.
The service is a little earlier than previous years: 6:00 pm instead of 7:00, so we’ve elected to eat dinner afterwards instead of before. There aren’t many restaurants in the area that can accommodate a reservation for 11; the closest one we could find was halfway back to our house: the Italian restaurant Grazie in Tukwila.
A topsy-turvy Christmas. In the morning we’re waiting for Chris and Julie to bring Lyn over for Christmas Day when there’s a general commotion in the dining room: Cheng-nan has fainted at the table. E-moon says this has happened before and he’ll just sleep it off, but the paramedics who arrive almost instantly (we live a few minutes from a fire station) take him to Swedish Hospital’s Cherry Hill campus to get checked out. Christmas celebrations are put on hold for a few hours.
We spend the day hanging out, playing games, and going for walks. Eventually Angela returns with her parents and Cheng-nan spends the rest of the afternoon in bed.
There’s a flurry of activity at dinnertime to prepare a big meal. Jan makes a creamy baked pasta dish with mushrooms and breadcrumbs that comes out great. Cheng-nan is feeling up to joining in for dinner, so we’re a group of 11 for dinner again.
After dinner we finally open presents, then everyone polishes off a chocolate mousse pie for dessert.
Bree is working on a cosplay for a convention to be held in April. The outfit includes a cape with a fur lining, so she’s purchased a large amount of a light brown faux fur fabric.
She wants to apply an ombré gradient effect to the fur, so embarks on a dyeing project in the main floor bathtub. She soaks a portion of the fake fur in a plastic tub of dye in the bathtub, draping the remaining portion of fur over the bathtub walls. While it’s soaking, Bree goes off to do something else.
Jan walks into the bathroom and pauses to assess the scene. He calls out: “Why is someone drowning a yeti in the bathtub?”
We have a nice family dinner at Palisade. We’d forgotten how nice the view of Seattle is from the restaurant. Sadly, Zenni is feeling sick so doesn’t join in, but the rest of us have a great meal.
The first complete Chen gathering in a long while. Angela capitalizes on the opportunity to orchestrate a family photo. Top row from left: Zenni, Johnny, Angela, Evan, Bree. Bottom row: Brian, Anthony, E-moon, Cheng-nan, Liya, Jan.
Johnny’s family has been playing Mahjong with Cheng-nan. He’s always been pretty competitive and loves to play — Bree says she’s never seen him so engaged. But he can’t see the tiles well, so needs someone to help him play. He also has a tendency to talk to himself out loud about what he’s holding or thinking of playing, which everyone does their best to ignore.