Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

This was the 14th year out of 15 that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. In 2020 there was not a dinner because of Covid. Most of the people at dinner this year we had not seen for about 103 weeks (almost 2 years)!

Aunty Gail + Dallas

Naoko, Aunty Glenna, Rachelle, Heather

Everly, Lulu, Charlotte, Hanako

Aunty Gail and her son Jeff

Amanda, Jeff, Naoko

Heather + Doug

Aunty Glenna, Amanda, Brad, Aly

Eddy, Tommy, Kenji, Mitch, Heather’s Aunt (from WI), Cassidy (Mitch’s girlfriend) and me watching the end of the Packer game.

Naoko and Everly

Brad and his dad, Uncle BB

Mitch, Heather, Chris, Sabrina (Chris’s girlfriend), Brad, Heather, Cassidy (Mitch’s girlfriend)

Tyler and Carter

Brad, Amanda, Tyler, Carter, Evan, Everly, Aly

Brother + Sister, BB + Gail

Naoko got these shots of Hanako and Makai. Hana is one day older than Makai!

 

Christmas Dinners Past:


2021

2020 – Cancelled

2019

2018

2017

2016
2015christmasdinner
2015
2014christmasdinner
2014
2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
2011
2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
2009
2008christmasdinner
2008
2007christmasdinner
2007
2006christmasdinner
2006
2005christmasdinner
2005

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

This was the 13th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner.

Annual Family Photo (Photo by Heather)
Back: Doug, Bill, John, Mitch, Dallas, BB, Chris, Sabrina, Derek, Kyle, Ben, Tommy
Middle: Heather, Cassidy, Brad, Laura, Gail, Glenna, Carter, Peggy, Neil, Hana, Naoko, Eddy, Jeff
Front: Kenji, Tyler, Amanda, Makai, Rachelle, Miko, Austin, Winnie, Kate

Kyle, Jeff, Brad, Dallas

Rachelle, Doug, Dallas, Aunty Gail

Aunty Laura, Heather, Naoko

Rachelle, Aly, Everly

Everly, Naoko, Hana

Aunty Laura, Lulu, Glenna

Aunty Laura, Bill

Jeff, Rachelle, Evan, Aly

Makai, Austin

Derek, Winnie, Ben, Kate, Kyle, Rachelle

Brad, Amanda, Sabrina, Chris

Hana and Makai hiding! They were born one day apart so I always take a photo of them together!


2019

2018

2014

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Naoko has been helping a lot with the meal preparation in recent years. I wonder if she will take it over one day. Every year Jeff carves the roast beast.

The kids mostly all sit together and the adults mostly all sit together.
Kate, Austin, Cassidy, Mitch, Eddy, Makai

Tyler, Carter, Hana, Tommy, Ben, Derek, Kenji

Dallas somehow became the designated ice cream scooper!
Makai and Hana

Uncle Neil and Aunty Peggy, visiting from Michigan

An outtake of the photo at the top!

The gift exchange went pretty quick this year. There was not very much stealing. We got a can of baked beans with a Starbucks gift card attached and a Coca-Cola glassware set. We brought two bags of Kauai coffee.

 One other note from the night. Aunty Laura brought some photo albums. She scanned them and was giving away the albums. She gave us one that has a lot of photo of our family.

Dallas’s Grandma and Grandpa

Dallas’s grandma and his sister, Caroline

Christmas Dinners Past:


2019

2018

2017

2016
2015christmasdinner
2015
2014christmasdinner
2014
2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
2011
2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
2009
2008christmasdinner
2008
2007christmasdinner
2007
2006christmasdinner
2006
2005christmasdinner
2005

Easter Celebrations

We were lucky enough this year to celebrate Easter on several different days, each time with different friends and family!Our first celebration was in Oak Creek with my family. It was the weekend before Easter. My parents made easter baskets for Makai, Steph and Jess. Everyone dyed eggs.

Dallas’s parents visited the week before Easter, including the holiday. On the day before Easter, Makai, Kathy and I met up with Gus and his mom Huyen at Unity Park for some Easter fun! There was an egg hunt, some games, a contest to guess how many jelly beans were in a jar. The Easter Bunny was there but neither Gus nor Makai wanted to go near him. They had the most fun just playing together in the park!

Last year Makai bad been staying at my parent’s house before Easter and on Easter day, we picked him up. When we got home we found that the Easter Bunny had visited our house. This year we had plans to go to Doug and Naoko’s house later in the day. Makai thought that the Easter Bunny would come when we left the house so he wasn’t even suspicious on Easter morning! When he went downstairs to watch a show he was super surprised! The Easter Bunny brought him Peter Rabbit, a Razor scooter, Duck Tales toys, a Captain Underpants book, a Geronimo Stilton book, and a bit of candy.

Heather and Jeff usually host Easter at their house, but they moved that weekend, so Dough and Naoko had everyone over. Each family brought some eggs for the Easter egg hunt. Aunty Gail went to the bank and got 75 gold coins to put into 75 of the 400 eggs. Some people loaded theirs up with quarters too! One lucky person (Kenji, I think) found a $10 bill in an egg!

A few more photos from Heather:


Finally, I made these cookies two times for the celebration in Oak Creek and the celebration in Palatine. They were super cute and really tasty. Here is the recipe:

Easter Egg Sugar Cookies
From: A Pretty Life in the Suburbs

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 small package of eggies (chocolate Easter eggs a candy shell)
  • 1/2 cup of butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • in extra sugar for rolling the dough

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
  • Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
  • In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
  • Add the flour mix, alternately with the milk, to the butter mixture, mixing until well blended.
  • Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • Shape the cookie dough into 1 inch balls.
  • Roll the balls in the extra sugar, and place them on a cookie sheet. Do not press them down.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are lightly browned.
  • Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for 2 – 3 minutes. After this time press 3 small Easter eggies into the middle of the cookies. See notes.
  • Let cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTES

  • Make sure you give the cookies enough time to cool down. If you move them too quickly, the Easter eggs will crack.

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

Back: Bill, John, Chris, Peggy, Caroline, Brad, Johnny, Danny, Mitch, Rory, Jeff, Scotty
Middle: Doug, Derek, Kyle, Ben, Kate, Winnie, Eddy, Gail, Neil, Laura, Tyler, BB, Charlotte, Evan, Glenna
Front: Heather, Kenji, Rachelle, Dallas, Makai, Naoko, Hanako, Tommy, Miko, Austin, Hideto, Krystyn, Alexia, Carter, Amanda, Aly, Everly

Photos from inside the crowd!

Caroline, Danny, Winnie, Krystyn, Aunty Gail, Aunty Laura, Naoko

Dallas, Kyle

Brad, Amanda, Uncle BB, Jeff, Rachelle, Makai

This was the 12th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. The thing this year that I really came to realize is that the kids who were the little kids when I first started going to Aunty Gail’s house are now adults and there is a whole slew of other little kids. Tons.

Makai and Hanako. Hana is one day older!

Back: Kenji, Hideto, Ben, Eddy, Chris, Mitch, Alexia, Charlotte
Front: Hanako, Kate, Austin, Makai, Rory, Derek, Johnny (trying to escape), Tommy, Everly, Tyler, Cartter

Make a silly face! (photo by Heather)

Makai, Johnny, Carter with Hana and Eddy climbing the banister. (photo by Heather)

Hana and Lulu (Alexia)

Charlotte

Makai loves to play with all of his “cousins.” I don’t even keep track of where he is or what he is doing. Someone is there to hopefully make sure he doesn’t crack his head open. (I saw kids jumping off the steps and off the couch.) Makai ate a good dinner, I’m not sure how, since he LOVES to help himself to the M&M dispenser in Aunty Gail’s kitchen.

Jeff

Makai, Rory

Rory

 Eddy, Hanako

 Kenji, Derek, Tommy

 Tyler, Carter

 Hideto, Kate (Mitch and his girlfriend Cassidy in the background.)

Naoko’s delicious and beautiful cake

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. This year Jeff carved the roast beast. I made a tray of cookies to share for dessert. There were a few other desserts too. Naoko made an amazing chocolate cake.

The annual gift exchange.

Doug, Aunty Gail, Danny, Kyle, John (photo by Heather)

 Danny forcing Mitch to hand over his gift (photo by Heather)

I knew what I wanted in the gift exchange because I saw Scotty wrapping it in the other room. So I kept stealing it and we got it. An Amazon Echo puck and some smart outlet plug thing.

Back: Aunty Peggy, Aunty Laura, Aunty Glenna
Front: Aunty Gail, Uncle Neil, Bill, Uncle BB

Aunty Gail’s Family (photo by Heather)
Back: Mitch, Jeff, Chris, Aunty Gail, Hanako, Naoko, Doug
Front: Heather, Tommy, Kenji, Eddy

Uncle Neil and Aunty Peggy’s Family (photo by Heather)
Back: John, Miko, Peggy, Neil, Austin, Kyle, Kate, Winnie
Front: Ben, Derek

Aunty Laura and Bill’s Family (photo by Heather)
Scotty, Krystyn, Bill, Aunty Laura, Hideto, Johnny, Caroline, Rory, Danny

Uncle BB and Aunty Glenna’s Family
Back: Brad, Evan, Tyler, Uncle BB, Aunty Glenna, Alexia
Front: Carter, Amanda, Charlotte, Aly, Everly

Christmas Dinners Past:


2018

2017

2016
2015christmasdinner
2015
2014christmasdinner
2014
2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
2011
2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
2009
2008christmasdinner
2008
2007christmasdinner
2007
2006christmasdinner
2006
2005christmasdinner
2005

A Family Visit to Our New House

Makai was so anxious and excited to see everyone. When he heard the plane landed and they were on the way, he sat out on the front porch and steps and asked what color the car rental car was. When they arrived he was SO HAPPY!. He had not seen  his Hawaii Grandparents since Dec and Aunty Caroline and Cousin Gracie since Oct! 

Gracie and Makai immediately picked up where they left off. Playing and joking around in the house!

 Kathy, Caroline and I took Gracie and Makai to the Shedd Aquarium. We all had so much fun. We are so lucky to have such a world-class aquarium right here in Chicago.

Meanwhile at home, Dallas and his dad mounted 2 TVs and installed these shelves. Turned out amazing!

The next day, we went back to Museum Campus to go to the Field Museum. Aunty Laura is a volunteer there on Fridays and totally hooked us up. Makai LOVED it.

 He LOVED the animal section and would yell “OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THIS” at every turn. He SUPER LOVED the dinosaurs. We went on a dino tour that was geared towards kids. The docent let Makai hold a replica tooth and he took his job very seriously. Gracie tried to get it and Makai was all “GRACIE HE TOLD ME IM IN CHARGE!”

We bought this $6 plaster egg to bring home. Gracie and Makai had to excavate the dinosaur. The kids took turns and worked at it for almost an hour. Totally great return on investment! Makai was soooooo excited to get the dinosaur out. He loved our trip to the Field Museum so much that the next morning when he woke, he ran into our bedroom and the first thing he asked was if we could go back to the museum that day!

 It was HOT outside. Makai and Gracie had tons of fun playing in the sprinkler.

 Kathy wanted to bring something local back for friends so we went to Intelligentsia in Logan Square and got some bags of coffee. We also got some coffee drinks and breakfast pastries.

 We needed to get some dessert for later in the day, so we went to Roeser’s Bakery. Totally old school bakery in Humboldt Park. I’d heard a lot about Roeser’s. I’d had their donuts once when someone brought them in to work. And I had their cupcakes at a party once. Glad to finally go! We got cake bites that were amazing and also some assorted cookies.

We hosted our first barbecue and loads of family came over from the suburbs and a few friends too! Jen + Chad; Kristin; Aunty Laura + Bill; Aunty Gail; Aunty Glenna + Uncle BB; Heather + Jeff; Doug, Naoko, Tommy, Kenji, Eddy, Hanako.

The next day we headed out to Aunty Laura + Bill’s house and saw even more family! Aunty Gail; Aunty Glenna + Uncle BB; Heather + Jeff; Brad, Amanda, Tyler + Carter; Aly, Evan [it was his birthday!], Lexi + Charlotte; Danny, Caroline, Rory + John.

The next morning everyone had to leave our house very early in the morning to get to the airport. We had such a fun time and it went by way too fast!

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

This was the 13th year in a row that we have gone to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house for Christmas dinner. On Christmas morning, Santa gave Makai a Pikachu onesie and he refused to take it off. He had a major breakdown when we tried to get him dressed for the party. So, while some kids are wearing their finest for Christmas, our kid is wearing pajamas. Choose your battles. It wasn’t worth the fight!

Annual Kids Photo (Photo by Heather)
Back: Charlotte, Chris, Derek, Makai, Ben, Kate, Austin, Mitch, Kenji, Eddy
Front: Carter, Tyler, Lulu, Tommy, Hanako

Annual Family Photo (Photo by Heather)
Back: Chris, Ben, Derek, Jeff, Doug, Naoko, John, Rachelle, Dallas, Miko, Winnie, Mitch, Brad, Amanda, Carter
Middle: Aly, Evan, Uncle BB, Aunty Glenna, Charlotte, Aunty Peggy, Uncle Neil, Aunty Gail, Heather
Front: Tommy, Eddy, Hana, Lulu, Makai, Austin, Kenji, Tyler, Kate, Kyle

Makai was totally habut while getting ready to leave, while leaving, and in the car, but once we got to Aunty Gail’s house, he was OFF. I didn’t even see him for an hour while he was downstairs with all the other kids. Kind of nice that I could just relax.

 Makai and Hana. They were born one day apart so I always take a photo of them together!

Austin, Ben, Tyler, Makai, Kate, Kyle (Photo by Heather)

Makai and Kenji “racing” down the steps. Over and over and over. (Photo by Heather)

 Last year for Christmas dessert, Naoko made a baby shower cake for Aly and we celebrated the upcoming birth of her and Evan’s daughter. Here she is! Charlotte.

Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Makai ate a whole piece of steak himself and a roll too. I made a some fudge-y peppermint brownies (recipe coming soon). There were a few other desserts too. Naoko an amazing green tea cake with a red bean sauce.

Amanda, Miko, Brad, Rachelle (Photo by Heather)

 Brad, Aunty Gail, Dallas, Jeff, Rachelle (Photo by Heather)

 Heather and Jeff. Heather is always behind the camera, so I took this photo of them with her camera.

Doug, Uncle BB, Mitch, Brad, Uncle Neil, Dallas, Kyle (Photo by Heather)

Makai got a couple gifts from Aunties and Uncles and in the gift exchange Dallas and I came out pretty good with a bottle of wine and a set of rice bowls (we brought Kauai coffee and spicy hot ramen).

Makai checking out the gift exchange presents.

 Austin, Tyler, Makai, Rachelle (Photo by Heather). Makai was too shy to steal a gift from someone.

 Carter, Amanda, Eddy, Rachelle (Photo by Heather)

Makai loves this M&M guy who holds Aunty Gail’s cookies. At the end of the night each person takes a bag of cookies home!

Christmas Dinners Past:


2017

2016
2015christmasdinner
2015
2014christmasdinner
2014
2013christmasdinner
2013
2012christmasdinner
2012
2011christmasdinner
2011
2010christmasdinner
2010
2009christmasdinner
2009
2008christmasdinner
2008
2007christmasdinner
2007
2006christmasdinner
2006
2005christmasdinner
2005