Secret Santa?!

昨天回到家發現門口有一個包裹，不知道放多久了，沒有寄件人的名字，要不是有Zozo的名字在上面，我會以為是送錯了。包裹裡是兩件small paul，穿起來是這樣!

我大概猜得出來是誰送的，可是也許是猜錯呀!所以請好心人從實招來吧!好讓我們也回送一些東東，說不定我心情好，送個burberry something喔!

去OK渡假

今年老公有一個禮拜的假期，本來計劃要去日本玩，可是因為種種因素沒有成行 。後來我們打算就在德州境內玩玩，不過我們倆有時很懶，說是說了卻沒人實際行動，剛好教會有對夫婦要去Oklahoma，問我們有沒有興趣，我們就訂了cabin，行李包一包就走了。朋友很驚訝，直說我們家很adventurous!
我本來以為這個假期會是很原始，因為朋友說是要去camping，我以為cabin只會有四面牆，上廁所可能要去公共設施。我們到了之後，發現cabin裡面什麼都有，廚房裡所有的設備都有，連電視都有準備，戶外還有hot tub! 好像是住在一棟小房子裡。我喜歡這種camping trip!這幾天我們去了一個state park和一個nature reserve，有很多小行徑可以hike，風景蠻不錯的，氣溫都是五、六十度左右，只是風很大，好險我們有做禦寒的準備，我的帽子是路上鉤的，長的像一個小籃子，不過擋風功能好就好了，回家後這些東西就會被打入冷宮，北德州真得一點都不冷。小朋友們在一起玩的好愉快，最後一天我們有升火烤smores，Bobo還要大家唱個歌，超可愛地! 我們打算夏天再去一次，就可以跳到水裡玩耍。

Christmas Morn

i've looked forward to this morning just as much as the children have. not because i wanted presents, but because i couldn't wait to see their reaction to the presents laying at the bottom of the tree. it was so fun to see them run out of their room to check whether Santa came by our house or not. it's as if they couldn't be sure if they had been naughty or nice this year. one of the traditions at our house is for the children to find baby jesus to our nativity set before opening any of the presents. we look for baby jesus first because he is god's gift to us and we celebrate this day to honor him. B hid baby jesus away from the tree this year, but Z boy was able to find him at record speed!

digging into the presents... i asked the two what their favorite presents were this year, their reply was "all of them!" it made me so happy to see them happy!

PCAC聖誕聚會

PCAC的聖誕聚會跟我們以前教會的聖誕禮拜很不一樣，不過我很enjoy在台下看老公和小孩子的表演!
小朋友的choir唱了幾首歌，我本來以為他們沒有表演，所以沒幫他們打扮一下!

老公演秦始皇，超爆笑地，害我都照不好，一直震。

記得當時年紀小。。。

Zozo兩歲時，我和B帶著她和Bobo去伊利諾州香檳城看我大學的好朋友。那時因為時間還有點早，我們先去了附近的outlet mall走走。Zozo在路邊看到了一朵小野花，就停下來。我問她要不要採花，她抬頭看了我一下，我就再問了她一次。結果她想一想就把腳舉起來踩花了!

Thank You, Jenn!

this came in the mail for me yesterday from my favorite and only sister. Z girl is way more excited than i was. in many ways, she's more like her aunt jenn than her own mommy. i am discovering new ways that she resembles her aunt each day. i guess one more way is the love for bling bling.

too bad i won't be able to pass this down to her since it's the letter S.

My Favorite Christmas Memory

when i was really young, we lived in a first floor apartment in taiwan. being on the first floor, we had a yard with a tall fence. i remember vaguely that my dad would attempt to put up christmas lights even though the holiday wasn't that popular back then. in those days, we anticipated christmas eve like no other holiday because santa clause visited our house. all of us would struggled to stay awake until midnight waiting for the familiar thud of a package dropped into our yard. the anticipation would keep us restless, although being the youngest, i probably fell asleep more than stayed awake. as soon as we heard something land in the yard, we would rush out of the front gate to catch a glimpse of santa himself. however, he was never once caught. our presents were usually something homemade or something useful but i think the magic was in waiting for santa. the last time santa stopped by our house, i was in second grade. i still remember i got some pencils and other stuff that i showed off to my classmates. no one believed in my recounting of our magical event, but i defended my position by stating that you had to be christian in order to receive presents from santa. (boy, was i wrong!) the next year, i was so disappointed that santa didn't come to our house anymore. i think dad said that because we were growing up, we no longer needed presents from santa, and he was off to visit other little children. i think i was so sad that i felt physical pain.

years later when we no longer believed in santa claus, our dad told us that he had set up the whole thing for us. my mom made many of our presents, and they would be wrapped up and given to the son of a friend to drop into our yard around midnight. he had to hide quickly so that we would not catch a glimpse of him. the year santa stopped coming to our house was the year the son left taiwan to study abroad. knowing the truth did not diminish the wonder and magic i felt in those early years. it simply reaffirmed for me how loving and thoughtful my parents were and are still towards us.

--in loving memory of my father on the 13th anniversary of his passing, who along with my mother, taught us the importance of family and sacrificial love.

我們的第一個薑餅屋

這個禮拜德州的小朋友都在考試，老師不要小孩子太累，所以連一年級不必考試的小朋友都沒有功課。每天下課回家後，小朋友就到外面玩到吃飯才進到屋裡，吃完飯後，我們就做一些親子活動。昨天晚上我們做了我們的第一個薑餅屋! 我很久以前就想做一個看看，可是從買材料、到烤餅乾，步驟實在太多、太複雜了，兒童不宜。今年我去買了一個gingerbread house kit，材料餅乾都已經準備好了，只要用icing把材料通通黏在一起就好了，超簡單地! 龜毛Zozo的小雪人和聖誕樹。
媽媽的聖誕樹和Bobo的小薑餅人。


做完之後是這個樣子。我們一人選了一邊，因為Zozo嫌我和Bobo做的不夠整齊，(厚，有時候我覺得她比我還龜毛!) 做完後，我的感想是好險我們家沒有人有糖尿病，所有的材料都超甜地，小孩子黏一顆糖就吃一顆，還好沒有人sugar high到睡不著，不過今天早上他們倒是比我還早起床!

What to Wear??!!

last friday, B and i attended his company's holiday party. it was a small event so i didn't really think too much of it. that morning, though, i decided to look for something to wear in my closet and came up with absolutely nothing since it's now dominated by t-shirts and jeans. plus, i've been expanding slowly that i couldn't even fit into what i wore last year! i was completely stumped as to what to wear so i had to enlist the help of my fashion-savvy friend, julie, in chicago.

how does one plan an outfit with a friend half way across the country?? with the help of the internet, of course.

we decided on this outfit early in the conversation then proceeded to talk for a few hours about everything and nothing. about two hours before i had to pick the kids up from school, i finally went out to the mall to pick up this outfit.

horrors of all horrors, this outfit was not available at the store. i couldn't decide on what else to get so i traipsed around the mall, going from store to store in search of a similar outfit. i couldn't find anything at all. with 15 minutes to spare, i finally returned to banana and asked a salesperson for help. she picked out something for me and made me try the outfit on. (she really had to make me since i hate trying on stuff in the store.) i got out of the mall and reached school just as the kids were coming out. whew!

this is the outfit that i went to the party in. i am not sure that i would choose the same thing again if i wasn't under such a time crunch. i don't know when i would ever wear this skirt again. it's silk and bubble shaped! definitely doesn't go with the extremely casual lifestyle we lead.

就是愛整齊

我高中的時候，在gap打工時學會用板子把衣服疊得一樣大小。我用的板子不是買的，都是自己做，這樣每搬一次家或換一個櫃子，就量抽屜寬度做新版子，讓衣服還是可以剛剛好放兩疊。我記得大學時候，有人潑我冷水說結婚生子之後就不會繼續這種龜毛的習慣。我那時候想說怎麼可能?難道生小孩後，就不愛整齊了嗎?

結婚八年半又有兩個小毛頭後，我承認我不想再用板子疊衣服了! 因為自從開始當家庭主婦後，我的衣服已經從套裝變成t-shirt和牛仔褲了，t-shirt越來越多，疊衣服的時間就越來越長。搬到德州後，老公和小孩的衣服都改成用衣架吊起來。(嗯，因為我還有一個怪癖，喜歡把他們的衣服燙得平平地，燙完再摺就又會皺。)我自己的t-shirt就繼續再疊了六個月後，真得受不了了。上個禮拜通通改成衣架吊起來，看起來還是很整齊，而且現在洗衣服、疊衣服這個家事就越做越快了，多出來的時間就再花在別的怪癖上吧! 嘻嘻!

我沒有完全放棄用板子疊衣服，還有一大堆毛衣不能吊，不然會變型，那些就可以疊得整整齊齊地，也不會花太多時間喔，因為這裡天氣比較溫暖，穿毛衣的機會比較少!

Bobo的表演

星期天中文學校幼兒班表演童謠，Bobo和大家上臺就不太緊張，跳得很棒喔! (the previous comment is totally objective!) 他很愛耍酷，我和他爸都不知道他會把帽子戴那樣上臺。 小朋友背了兩首詩和唱了三首童謠，我們是上注音班所以我對這幾首童謠比較熟悉，不是小時候有唱過，是因為有小孩子後陸陸續續有人送我們台灣的童謠唱帶。


沒有多錄一點很可惜，Bobo超會扭他的小屁屁!

Christmas Decor

the day after thanksgiving is the day our family starts putting up our christmas decoration. this has got to be one of my favorite holiday traditions. it's so much fun to put the house into a festive spirit to celebrate the birth of our savior!

this year our color theme to pink and red since we are putting up two trees. the pink and silver tree is for the kids. one of our traditions is to buy an ornament for each of them a year. that way, when they grow up and move out on their own, they will have enough ornaments to start their own trees. the ornaments were suppose to represent something about their year. that only lasted until they developed a mind of their own. now they choose whatever they like at the time. Z girl has been choosing princess ornaments, and Z boy chooses power rangers. however, as we were decorating the kids tree, Z girl informed me that she no longer like princesses. it's amazing how fast my little girl is growing up! their tree is set up in the family room right next to the fireplace. this allows for easy access for santa to drop in at our house on christmas eve!

this is our red and gold tree. we don't have special ornaments just the little globes but it still turned out fairly well. the look is simple yet traditional. this tree and the rest of the red and theme decorations are in the dining room.

there are also garlands hung on our banisters, around our doorways, and the baker's rack. the decorating is never done though. i plan to add red and pink ribbons and ornaments to the garlands. of course, the outdoor lights need to be finished, too.

P.S. it took me three days to try to upload this post and pictures. i know i get what i pay for which is nothing but really does it have to be this troublesome?!