A Christmas Lunch Party

When we moved to Rahway, we said we would probably never have guest over at our house. Whoever wants to come to Rahway? It's in the middle of no where, and there's absolutely nothing around here. Our house was pretty much a storage space too because we just downsized temporarily from an almost 4 bedroom house to a tiny 2 bedroom apartment.

BUT!!!! We still managed to pull off a Christmas Luncheon (with me being preggers at 38 weeks) for almost 10 adults and 4 kids!

Cheese & Merry Christmas!!!

Round 1 Food Spread!!

Aunty Joy helps out with the food (tasting)

Christmas Roast Pork (Chinese Style!!)

All Christmas Party needs a log cake right??

And friends from 2 decades back!!

The whole cousin gang visits!!

The three second cousins!

Wishing all a very Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Whippany Railway Museum

The little one loves his trains... especially the one that looks like the NJ transit or a subway. The Whippany Railway Museum was great for what he loved! The photos says it all....

Not interested in the other cooler trains, but loves this boring old one

Checking out the mini trains going by

He called this Harvey... like the Harvey in the story of Thomas

Inside the pretty cool Museum

There's the Whippany Santa Train!

Photo with Santa!!

And finally... picking out a gift from Santa's Helper... A Xmas Mouse!!

Day 25 - Dec 25

To all reading this today... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In the morning we took Aunty Sue for a tour around UPenn. It was a 45 minutes walk in 33 deg F (which is like 0.5 deg C) from home to UPenn. We got Shane all suited up in his bear suit and took the long walk, crossing our fingers that he'll just sleep through.

So we left at 1130am in the morning… The neighborhood was sooo dead. I haven't seen such life-less streets. We hardly saw any cars on the roads.

The Philly Skyline

And so… we decided to take Shane out of his pram for a little photo. (Yes in the freezing weather).
I guess it was too cold for him and he started crying quite loudly!

So we walked everywhere trying to find somewhere to keep warm, sit and feed the baby. But.. The whole city seem to be in shut down mode on Christmas. Even Starbucks (that was opened on Thanksgiving) was closed. And Huntsman Hall (Wharton) was shut. Security refused to let us in. Just as we were about to walk to the Children's Hospital (where I'm sure there is a cafeteria at least), we chanced upon this chinese restaurant (Beijing something) that was opened for lunch (yes it had quite a lot of people in there). So yea, at least we got to feed the baby and our growling stomach.

Day 24 - Dec 24

It's Christmas eve!! We spent the morning applying for a passport photo for Shane. Made a quick dash to City hall to catch the Christmas eve working hours. All Done. Oh, and Aunty Sue passed her Bugaboo drivers license! 

Aunty Sue needs the P sign no more!

So well, it seems that everyone has got the passport photo blues look. Even babies can't escape. It took us quite a while for us to get a photo of him on a white background with his head looking straight at the camera, eyes open, hands not in the way. It's only after we downloaded the photos that we realized we should not have dressed him in white on a white background. Oh well...

Shane's first passport photo

Our little boy is now an American. He's got the passport, social security, etc.

Meanwhile Grandma stayed home to prepare an awesome Christmas eve dinner… and Aunty Sue & the Daddy went to the supermarket to grab last minute groceries. Grandpa and Mummy was home taking photos!

Dinner was… Milk for Shane, and for the rest of us, pumpkin soup, a huge roast 3-4 kg chicken, lamb chops and sides. It's been a while since I had non-confinement food.

Grandma's Xmas Dinner Spread

The best part (of our family tradition) was the opening of our presents after xmas eve dinner! This year, the little one has got the most presents. 

Presents for Shane's First Christmas

Photo of the Day