Sunol's Holiday Train of Lights Photo Highlights

What an incredible excursion to dress warmly (considering that we do live in Northern California and we hardly ever have to dress warmly) and enjoy an hour and fifteen minute train ride that goes from Sunol to Niles Canyon. We splurged the extra money ($40/pp) to reserve seats on the Holiday Club Lounge. Not only did we get to relax in an art deco, refurbished and heated lounge car, but they also treated us to hot apple cider (with brandy for adults) and cookies which was a yummy and surprise perk. I think the main selling point for having this become a holiday tradition when our child is older is that you can bring whatever you want on the train and make it into a whole, picnic experience. It's little adventures like this that makes us quite giddy about all the future adventures we're going to show our child!

Christmas in Vegas

Spending Christmas Day in Las Vegas might have been a little overwhelming with the madness of drunkards and obnoxious tourists especially since I always thought that Christmas would be quiet since the hotel prices were ridiculously cheap. But spending time with the family on Christmas Day in Las Vegas was the best way to deal with Vegas :)

• city center's Halo exhibit •

• art inside city center •

• pretend paris •

Christmas Eve in Disneyland

Holidays at a theme park can be a bad combination...lots of families, little rugrats that you can trip on, crazy tourists and long lines. But surprisingly, Disneyland wasn't that busy on Christmas Eve. It was quite crowded but the line rides were short (average: 20-30 minutes per ride). We even had a park hopper pass so we were able to ride all the major rides at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure (which serves beer which is the biggest bonus). Seeing the park decorated for the holiday was excellent and the perfect way to spend Christmas Eve!

• entering the "happiest place" •

• day •

• night•

• poinsettias brings in the holiday spirit •

• it's a small world magically light up •

Overall Christmas Celebration

Originally, we were going to host our first Christmas in Santa Clara. My parents and sister would come up, we would open presents, make lots of home cooked meals and just celebrate with each other. But of course, things can always change quickly so instead of having our first hosted Christmas, we are now heading out to the Netherlands the day after Christmas to visit Marijn's family, mainly because his grandma has fallen quite ill.

Since our original plans have changed, we've decided to make the most of it. Christmas Eve: Disneyland! Christmas Day: family gets up early to drive us to Las Vegas (only way to fly out to AMS based on miles). Spend Christmas Day in Vegas and then get on a flight for the Netherlands on the 26th. We'll be in the cold, snowy and hopefully not rainy, Netherlands for two weeks, spending quality time with his grandma and family. Hopefully we'll be able to sneak away for a ski trip in Belgium. It also gives us the chance to celebrate New Years in Amsterdam (which I am not sure my liver or lungs will never forgive me for) It will be nice to head out there for the last of the Winter celebrations, it's just unfortunate it has to be under these circumstances.

Finding the Holiday Spirit

Last year, I couldn't muster up any holiday spirit but I am happy to have the holiday spirit this year! We're throwing a Sinter Klaas holiday party for our friends this weekend and will give them a little taste of a Dutch holiday. For Christmas, instead of dealing with the traffic of heading down to L.A., my parents and sister are actually coming up here so we are also going to host our first Christmas. It's quite exciting to be throwing these holiday celebrations because I think that it gives me the holiday spirit. Now I just have to figure out what to cook!

• our christmas/fourth of july holiday sparkles •

• finding the holiday spirit •

• christmas lights swirls •

• swirling joy •

• model husband •

• holiday lighted angel •

Fifth of July

It's been a very long time since I've stayed at home to celebrate the Fourth of July. Usually, I aim to travel someplace far away to celebrate all the while trying to sneak in a firework show. I've enjoyed this awesome holiday from Boston, New York City, Prescott, Las Vegas and even Vietnam. So finding myself not making plans for this year was a little odd but I'm glad that I did. We kept it mellow by having a BBQ, playing games of Scrabble with our friends and we ended it with a bike ride to Santa Clara's Central Library for their fireworks show. There are not a lot of places in the Santa Clara/South Bay area to view fireworks and this was a spectacular show. It was free with lots of places to lay out, have a few drinks and wait for the unobstructive show to start. Of course, the Fifth of July has been a holiday to recoop from the wicked hangover (getting older definitely does make the hangovers last much longer) but it has been such a great weekend of relaxing and enjoying ourselves without the stress of traveling. I might get the hang of this!

• waiting for the show to start while moon gazing •

• relaxing •

• boom •

• bang •

• kabloowee•

• some of my favorite fireworks photos that i took.
wish that there were more fireworks shows
so i can keep working on taking firework pictures,
it's a toughie •

Things to do on a holiday weekend?

It's a three day holiday weekend and for once, we're actually staying in town and it's quite bizarre (although, in reality, I don't work on Fridays so I always have a three day weekend but for Marijn to be home is the bizarre part). So what does one do when they are staying local to try and avoid the crowds?

• laundry? eh, not out of clean underwear so that can wait

• clean the house? it's always neat, just needs to be cleaned but that's just too much effort

• do yard work? it's supposed to be a hot weekend so no thanks

• finish thank you cards? we're in the home stretch, just need to sit down and do it but since mail isn't being picked up this weekend, that can wait

• watch fireworks? drunkenly walk to central park in santa clara and watch them will be a must. or climb onto our roof and watch them from there (although drunkenly getting on top of a roof doesn't sound safe :)

• watch the hangover? have yet to see it so after a few margaritas, might be fun?

• drink beer? mmmmkay, no arm twisting on that

• catch up on my reading? that is a needed

Whatever we do decide to do on this long weekend, we'll be sure to celebrate this holiday with food, beer and fireworks - all the essential ingredients for a holiday!

Wanted: Christmas Spirit

I can't seem to find it this year and I wonder where it went. This is as much Christmas spirit that I could muster up this year. Our home should be filled with silly decorations and the lights should be adorning the exterior of our home but it's not. Our tree have the ornaments (many of them handed down from my grandparents) but there aren't any presents underneath it. We haven't really done any shopping this year. We've watched the Christmas movies (finally saw Elf, which was lame but A Christmas Story did help a little bit for me mainly because I heart that movie), I've done my Christmas cookies baking but still, the spirit is lacking. With just a few more days until the holidays, I'm really hoping to find it. I'm looking forward to heading home for a few days and seeing the family. That should jump start it. We're also taking the Coast Starlight train up to Portland, Oregon for the New Years and being with our friends will also bring in the spirit. Maybe my Christmas spirit will hit in January or something and I'll just be early for the next year, not late :)

• i'll wear my holiday socks until the spirit hits •