A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy 2018

Here are some rather belated pictures from our Christmas celebration.  My sister brought us a chocolate tree from her layover in Zurich.

We spent the morning opening presents - I got Michael a pair of Bose noise canceling headphones and various skin products, he got me a ski hat and an electric hot plate for hotpot, we got my sister Eberjey pajamas (I continue to spread the word about these fantastic sets and barely restrained myself from buying two more sets for myself when I bought hers, ha!) and a Smythson passport cover, her fiance a Leatherman Wave multi-tool, my dad a travel bag which he promptly put to use, and my mom a light pink Burberry cashmere scarf.  Michael also got lots of different kinds of coffee to try out, and new kicks from Adidas and cool Peruvian cufflinks.  I also got essential oils and a Peruvian necklace.  Lola got the most out of the present exchange, with a huge haul of clothes and gifts, including a Sophie the giraffe, and the cutest little lamb socks.

This is a picture after the presents were opened.   Whoops.

As you can see, to make it all even better, we finally got the bookshelves from Taobao that we had struggled to ship from Guangzhou for about a month.  Due to the sheer hassle and headache and pain of the experience, I'm probably never going to use Taobao to ship huge furniture again - but at least we got the shelves and they look great.  Unrelated to Christmas but just to include for the sake of completeness, these are the dining room chairs that we got which I had mentioned in passing in another post.

They continue to hold up well, are supremely comfortable, and I really love them.

Here's the whole clan on Christmas day!

 

Christmas was also my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, so we sat down to a celebratory dinner of prossecco, Peking duck (two ducks!) and some vegetables (but those were more for show).  

Happy anniversary mom and dad!

 Lola was very cooperative and slept like a little champ as everyone ate around her.  She seems to really like the buzz of company.  My dad celebrated his 40th wedding anniversary with a glass of champers and a little baby in each hand.  Not bad!

Lola was very content, though you'll note our little Houdini consistently manages to lose if not one mitten, then two.

 She got lots of snuggles over Christmas, including with my mom and sister.  She loves a certain sweet spot on our shoulders and chests and knows how to lift her head and squirm around until she finds the exact place that she's comfortable.  If she's unhappy with her position, she has no compunctions and will scrunch up her face and howl to let you know it.

During these days she was also using her hands more, making eye contact, and sticking out her tongue. 

Here's one of us hanging out on the couch after Christmas, on one of the last days when everyone was still in Hong Kong. 

 

From our family to yours, hope you had a wonderful holidays and happy new year!  Here's to a 2018 filled with firsts, and our biggest adventure yet.