I had the privilege of spending 10 whole days in Southern California for the holidays this year (Dec 19-29).  This was probably the longest I’ve had with the family in a long time.

The girls had lots of good quality time together and we heard a lot of giggles this time around.

I loved just hanging out at the Magical House and it’s so nice to have Brother and Joy living there right now.  He and Joy even made some molasses cookies for us to snack on.

In the mornings, KK would often go to the Cerritos Mall with my dad.  She loved the riding toys and my dad just couldn’t help putting coins in for her.  Jes and I usually just tell her that we don’t have any money.  Heh heh.

What I love about being home is meeting up with old friends that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like.  I met up with my UCLA girls at Linda’s house one night and it was so fun to catch up and reminisce.

Holly also came over one day and brought Andrew.  KK hadn’t seen him in over a year and after a little warming up period, they were buddies again.

Before heading down to SoCal, we made a list of things we wanted to eat and one of them was Din Tai Fung.  So, on Christmas Eve, we went to the new location at South Coast Plaza.  Yum yum yum…love their xiao long bao.

On Christmas morning, we were in Buena Park and it was fun to open gifts with all the kids.  Every year, Jes’ mom buys him and Jason matching sweaters or jackets.  Jes usually gets the blue one and this year was no different.  Here they are with their matching sweaters.

Somehow, we managed to get a photo of all the kids together on Christmas night before dinner.  The twins were so cute in their matching Christmas jammies.

For dinner, Jes made a standing rib roast for the whole family.

He made Yorkshire pudding again this year and they came out perfectly!

Another item on our list was a pastrami sandwich and chili cheese fries from The Hat.  I forgot how enormous the fries were.  We saw couples in the restaurant eating just that as their meal.

Another family tradition is to gather all of my cousins together for a Thai feast at Thai Nakorn.  With Ishya and family also in town, our party was even bigger this year!

Another SoCal favorite is Wahoo’s.  This wasn’t on our list but a nice bonus meal! Jes was so happy with his enchilada.I had my usual fish tacos with extra salsa for my rice and beans.  Boy, I wish they had Wahoo’s up in the Bay Area.

One afternoon, all the cousins on both sides of the family were all together at the Magical House.  So cute.

On our last night in Cerritos, we had some more Thai food for dinner with my family.

Before leaving for our long drive back to SF, we had one last meal with Jes’ parents.

It was so much fun being home for so long.  We accomplished almost everything on our list and I got s few naps in too.