We hope that you had a good Christmas! We had an eventful December... to get the kids into the Christmas spirit, on December 1st, they each got an advent calendar, the one that has a little chocolate hiding behind each window.
The boys also got a Playmobil advent calendar that they shared, with figurines and other toys behind each window to form a Christmas scene.
They really enjoyed playing with these.
Xiao Yu sometimes had a hard time figuring out which number came next, but big brother was around to help.
The girls got a different Playmobil one as well.
In the mail, Xiao Yu's stocking finally came! Everyone in the family has a stocking with their name on it--except for Xiao Yu. So Emily found someone on Etsy who knits custom made stockings and ordered one--back during the summer. It finally arrived!
We had a weekend with sunny weather, so the icicle lights went up.
The kids helped.
It was one of the few weekends we had time, so we headed off to a local Christmas tree farm.
Each kid had their own opinion about which tree to pick.
Unfortunately, they couldn't agree on one.
Finally we settled on one and brought it home.
At this point, one of the kids wanted to document setting up the tree using Elvin's camera, so here goes... Here is a picture showing the tree already in the living room, with Daddy inside the tree screwing it into the base of the tree stand.
Here is under the tree.
And here is big sister giving the tree some free hugs.
So back to "normal pictures"...
The kids love helping to set up the lights...
They also helped out with the garland.
This was the tallest tree that we had ever gotten, so the kids had a hard time reaching all the way to the top!
We had an extra light string so Gabe got the rubber dog-shaped toy and wrapped it with lights as well.
Then we got out the ornaments box. Each kid has their own box of ornaments that they have made over the years.
Here is Eliana's collection.
And they set about to decorating the tree.
When it was all done, the last step was to put the tree topper on. However, this tree has been taller than all the others and the kids had a hard time reaching.
Xiao Yu couldn't reach either.
And neither could Karina.
In the end, Daddy had to stand on a chair to do it. (The green dot on a yellow post it on the star is a 'decoration' added by Gabriel this year.)
Then we took a spare moment to take semi-composed pictures in front of the Christmas tree.
Here are all the kids together. This is the best picture that came out out of literally the hundreds that we took. Gabriel is the worst offender as far a purposely closing his eyes or making funny faces during pictures.
And here is a view with the entire tree.
The stockings were all hung up.
Here they are with all the kids.
One evening, the girls and Daddy were headed out to see a show called Magical Strings. They have been going to see this show in Portland every year for the past several years. It is done by a family from close to Seattle; they play the Celtic harp and do Celtic dancing and have been doing this for decades.
We had to drive through snow (using chains) to get there, but get there we did.
It was a small crowd because of the snow on the streets.
During intermission, the girls got to eat donuts! (Last year we stopped by the close-by donut shop and they remembered this.)
The girls especially like the dancing with the sparkly dresses.
Afterwards, the girls wanted to take a picture by a lamppost. (Eliana has recently participated in a theater show about the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; and they wanted to look like they had just entered Narnia.)
It was late and slow going home, and the girls conked out in the back.
On an evening before Christmas, the kids decided that they wanted to decorate the gingerbread house that we got at Costco. Xiao Yu set about to put on the door.
And then the decorating commenced.
And here is close to the finished product. Elvin caught Gabriel sneaking in snippets of icing, which he did through the whole process.
Later on, Elvin's brother's family arrived in town and we decided to go to the Oregon Zoo to see the Zoo Lights. It was REALLY cold, so we bundled up.
Gabey wanted to take a picture in front of an ambulance that was parked there. Why he's standing like a chimpanzee we're not sure, but it is somehow appropriate for the zoo.
We went to the new elephant enclosure and were surprised to find one walking around in the snow. Brrrr!
The kids had their own maps and helped to navigate. We've mentioned earlier that Karina really likes maps. Gabriel does too.
We waited for and boarded the zoo train, all decked out in lights.
The cousins sat next to each other.
We went through a tunnel filled with lights. It was pretty!
And on our way out, we took a picture underneath a lighted arch.
And Eliana took a picture by a sculpture of a little squirrel. She remembered that she had taken a similar picture when she was a 3 year old many years ago...
Here she is 5 years ago, with her short little legs barely hanging over the edge of the bench.
So, after the zoo, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Beaverton. We ordered tons of food and gorged!
The next day, Elvin's parents arrived in town and then came the moment the kids had been anticipating for weeks--time to open presents!
The smiles on the kids' faces makes the hours of wrapping presents worth it!
Xiao Yu got a toy called a Sit and Spin. It's like a lazy Susan with a stationary handle in the middle you can use to rotate yourself. He really likes spinning so this toy seemed appropriate.
Eliana got a toy where you could wrap pieces of cloth around a small sized mannequin to design various outfits. She got pretty creative with it.
The kids also got a game that is a lot like Jenga--where blocks are stacked into a tower and you try to remove a block without having the tower fall over.
The kids also spent some time making cookies.
After rolling out the though, they cut them out using cookie cutters.
Even Karina tried her hand at rolling out the dough.
Karina got a K'nex set that made an airplane, and she enjoyed building that with Daddy's help.
The boys also got these toys called Alpha-Bots and Number Bots. They are numbers and letters that transform into robots.
The kids also entertained themselves by playing Uno. They had to teach Nai-Nai the rules of the game. (However, they play with their own peculiarities--one of them being that they show all their cards to everyone all the time.)
Gabe and his cousin also enjoyed playing on their little guitars (ukulele).
We had a real jam session!
On the last night they were here, we took a cousins picture.
We also took a grandkids picture. It was fun having them visit us in Vancouver!
Later that week, we went to church in the evening for a candlelight (several days before) Christmas Eve service.
Xiao Yu wanted to hold Daddy's "sword." Needless to say, Daddy did not let Xiao Yu even so much as touch the "sword".
It was a nice time of remembering the reason for the season, in the midst of busyness and presents.
Speaking of presents, we got ready for Emily's family to come in to town. With that, we were going to have a 2nd round of present opening for the kids on Christmas morning.
The cousins arrived... It is a reality of life that these electronic devices are everywhere now. I guess whereas before, kids would huddle around a television watching a Christmas movie, now they are huddling (literally) around their cousin Anders, watching him play some game.
We had dinner at a local German restaurant called Gustav's. Sausage and sauerkraut were on the menu.
Many of the kids got to sit at their own table.
Later on, folks came over to our house for dessert. It got real loud in our house with more than 30 people there! Elvin got to hold his little niece, Julia.
Xiao Yu got to play "airplane" with his Uncle Charles.
Gabe played thumb war with Uncle Rob.
After everyone left, Mommy and Daddy got busy with the stockings. We lay everything out for the kids to find the next morning. If one wakes up earlier than others, they are allowed to read their new books but they are NOT allowed to open anything until they get the green light from Mommy or Daddy.
Eliana and Karina left a cookie and cup of milk for Santa. The note to Santa says "We all love you!"
Gabe was the first one up and is exploring his booty.
And with all the kids up, Karina carried her stuff to another place in the living room so she could spread out. Kind of like a lioness carrying off a zebra hindquarter so she can snack on it in peace.
Karina dumps out the contents of her stocking.
What she had been asking for--a little wooden box where she could store the baby teeth she recently lost.
Gabe got a Playmobil construction toy.
This was one of the stocking stuffers. It was a 3-D puzzle of a castle that Gabe enjoyed building with Daddy.
Oh joy! A flying helicopter!
Ironically, what sometimes turns out to be the best toys are not always the most expensive. This little bird, when you press a button on it's chest, will record what you say and then say it back in a shrill little birdy voice. It's actually quite novel and the kids loved it. Karina got one and Eliana did too. And best of all? It was an Amazon lightning deal so was only $3 each!
Karina liked it so much that she is using an iPod to record herself recording her voice with the bird. They don't realize it, but the amount of advanced technology that these kids have at their fingertips is astounding.
And then came time to open presents! Xiao Yu got a safari Playmobil set. As you can probably tell, Playmobil is very popular with our kids right now.
Karina and Eliana got matching clothing and doll clothes sets.
Gabe got a non-traditional gift we had to buy at Home Depot.
It was a bunch of pulleys, carabiners, and hooks tired to paracord. He loves tying knots and then dragging things with ropes. So we figure he can tie things and pull things with this.
Eliana got a sheet and pillow case set made out of very soft, fleecy material. As you can tell, she liked it.
Gabe got a set of building blocks that are magnetized. These are very popular with our three younger kids.
Xiao Yu's present was an item called a Gorilla Gym. We saw this online...it's a contraption that you can attach to any doorjamb, which then lets you can a swing or rope ladder or other accessories.
Basically it lets you have a mini-junge gym indoors--which is helpful during the rainy winters here. And it's rated to hold 300 pounds!
On Christmas Day, however, we did have sunny weather so the kids went outside to play.
We then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to do a present swap and celebrate Grandpa's 90th birthday! He got up to deliver a "speech" sharing with the family how he and Grandma started life together in Cupertino, California many decades ago.
He got a cake and a birthday song surrounded by most of his two dozen grand- and great-grandchildren.
The adults did a Yankee Swap. During the game, someone ended up with Pikachu sunglasses. They didn't find these nearly as appealing as Xiao Yu did, so Xiao Yu ended up with his "bunny glasses" as he calls them.
There was a lot of wrestling going on in the living room.
The next morning, despite the freezing temperatures, we had a photo shoot for the entire family.
And we also took individual pictures.
It was very chilly so people stayed warm using whatever they could--such as Daddy's down jacket.
Amazingly enough, the photographer was able to get all the kids to smile.
And here's a picture of our whole family.
And here is the entire clan!
Later on, we went to the hotel where a bunch of folks were staying at and took advantage of the pool!
And the hot tub! We had dinner that night together and then it was time to say goodbye as people headed back home.
So that was our Christmas! We hope you had a good holiday season as well.
