Dec. 26: Christmas report

I already wrote about the fab start to my Christmas Eve—lunch with Mike, Angie, and Kim—and the day just got better as it went on. I don’t know if having such a joyous holiday amidst my current health crisis means I’m in denial, but it does seem a little strange that we enjoyed ourselves so very much these past couple days.

Throughout the day on Thursday our doorbell rang with the last of my Amazon deliveries and tasty gifts from our generous and friendly neighbors. Have I mentioned before how much I love where we live? It’s a happy place, with happy people. We love them.

When Victor got home from work, he picked up the take-out Chinese food order and brought it home, where we transferred it to our Chinese tableware purchased especially for our annual Christmas Eve tradition. With Darlene’s help, I even got the plates right side-up when I set the table (they actually have Japanese writing on them, but this stupid American doesn’t know the diff, and gets them upside down every year). Two shout-outs:

• Lucky Star, a Chinese restaurant here in Clackamas, of all places, has pretty decent food. I judge most Chinese restaurants by their hot and sour soup, and this one’s is deeee-licious. I also like that all of their dishes have unique sauces, unlike many American-Chinese restaurants, where everything is served with “pink sauce.” Blech. I know there are much more authentic restaurants in Portland, but when you’re out here in the ‘burbs, we think Lucky Star cannot be beat.
• The biggest Asian market near us is Fubonn, which is in an Asian shopping center whose stores change on a regular basis. The supermarket itself, though, is huge and much more convenient for us than Uwajimaya in Beaverton. A few years ago I dragged Darlene shopping up there and had her help me choose proper Asian dinnerware, serving dishes and utensils. I got about 16 place settings, with several platters and large bowls, and spent less than $100 for everything. We store it except for the two or three times a year we use it, and it’s totally worth it to eat “real” Chinese food the “right” way.  Fun, too.

After dinner we let Katie and Jack open a few gifts. Another one of our Christmas Eve traditions is that they always get new jammies on Christmas Eve. They also usually get a quiet-ish toy or two, and maybe a book—anything that will NOT keep them from falling asleep that night. Although we aren’t doing the Santa thing anymore, we still keep most of the gifts hidden until Christmas morning so the kids don’t ask to open more and more until all of a sudden there’s nothing left for the next day. This is mostly because Victor and I are parents who just can’t say “no.”

At 11 p.m., both kids were still awake. I would’ve been frustrated by this, but they were playing quite nicely together and looked so darn cute in their new jammies, how could I be upset with them? We finally gave up waiting for them to fall asleep and started loading the gifts under the tree. Peeking was kept to a minimum, so the shrieks of glee the next morning were genuine. I always love that part.

Darlene and Wellington joined us again at 9 a.m. Christmas morning for gift-opening. We all felt completely spoiled and honored by all our goodies, and are still glowing like the happy recipients we are. Mid-afternoon we sat down for a pot roast dinner. I totally played Martha Stewart for that meal—planned everything, but did absolutely NONE of the work. My minions did a lovely job, though, and are definitely going to be re-hired for all future entertaining events at my home.

We all had a lovely Christmas Eve and Day. I needed more rest than in Christmases past, but I still felt very fortunate to be celebrating the holiday with my family. For the most part, the cancer thing easily took a back seat to the festivities, for which I was grateful. I was also relieved not to have horrible weather to deal with, like we did last year and like many folks are having in the Midwest right now. Total suckage!

Here’s hoping your holidays were as joyous as ours!