THANKSGIVING WEEKEND REWIND

*sigh* It was so nice having 5 days off of work and only having to use one of those days a vacation day. But now I’m back and at work.

My Thanksgiving was very nice this year. We started with Gerric’s family in the afternoon. Luckily, we’ve never had to argue about whose family to spend it with year after year since his family has always celebrated it at lunchtime. So we arrived at his dad’s house at twelve o’clock and waited for the rest of the clan to arrive. Lunch was delicious this year. His family is not very “traditional” when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner so other than store bought turkey, stuffing and mashes potatoes; we also had roast beef and barbeque ribs. Everything was delicious! We also took advantage since we were all together and chose our Secret Santa names. Since my husband has such a big family and recently, he’s had a lot of cousins move here from the Philippines, we do a gift exchange so we’re not all forced to buy a million gifts. We left to our next destination a little after 3pm.

It’s become a tradition in my family to have Thanksgiving dinner at my brother’s house in Lake Forest. So this year was no different. We arrived a little after 4pm and shortly thereafter, already found myself with a glass of wine. It was a nice evening. My husband brought along an old videotape of my family and it was nice watching my nieces and nephews when they were just babies. How time flies. Dinner was amazing, as it is every single year. Mom made the turkey and stuffing, my eldest sister made the mashed potatoes, brought the bread and ham, and gave cranberry sauce a try for the first time and my sister Erika made the green salad and brought the pies. I was in charge of drinks…I got off way too easy. J We had plenty of food and we were very thankful for that. My brother toasted us and I said a few words before dinner. I wished I had prepared something nicer since I didn’t say everything I wanted to say but what I did say came from my heart and that’s what matters. The rest of the evening was great. We finally all left at about 10:30pm, each with our share of leftovers to take home.

Our centerpiece...complete with my nephew's picture on it.

Friday was very laid back. We relaxed and finished packing for our trip up North. Our flight left after 5pm. It was a short hour and twenty minute flight.


Jessica picked us up, who is the wife of Gerric’s best friend, Patrick. She arrived with their little girl, Alexya. I fell in love with her. I already kept up with Jessica’s blog every day so I knew what Lexy looked like already but she was so much prettier and adorable in person.


We had such a great time with them this weekend. We relaxed on Friday night and had pizza for dinner. The next day was Lexy’s first birthday party. We had a great time and little Lexy did too. She was so good about opening her own gifts and enjoyed the attention she got all day. She’s such a doll. She just started walking so it was SO cute seeing her waddle all day long. It made me anxious to have kids of my own. But at the same time, it reminded me what a huge responsibility it is to have kids.


That night after the birthday party, we all watched our wedding video and I had a great time reminiscing. Sunday we relaxed all day and I had a chance to see Jessica and Patrick’s wedding video. Gerric was the best man and although I had seen it once before already, it was so nice seeing it again since I really got to know Patrick and Jessica this weekend. They were wonderful hosts to us. That night, I helped Jessica make lasagna for dinner. It was delicious! Monday morning, I slept in so while I showered and got ready, the guys, Jessica and Alexya went to the park so the boys could play a little basketball like the good ‘ole days. I know Gerric had a great time hanging out with his buddy. We left yesterday at 2pm. It was a great trip and I truly hope to see them again soon. I miss Lexy already. :(

She wasn't exactly happy to take a picture with us. :)

After we arrived yesterday, we took a short time to freshen up and drove to Cal State Long Beach, our alma mater, since our friend was actually going to be speaking at a meeting for the American Marketing Association. My husband and I were members while we were in college and that’s actually how we met. It was so weird being back on campus. Everyone looked so young! It was a great night.

The rest of the evening, we had Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner and watched some TV before we finally went to bed. It was a great weekend. I hope everyone had a wonderful & restful holiday.