Joyeux Noel!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Here is what I ate in between the celebrating!

Christmas Eve dinner was just about comfort food--breakfast for dinner! :) I had a cheese omelette with sausage, challah bread and butter, and peas! It was yummy and rich!

Christmas came and we had a nice morning opening gifts. Then, we had to get ready to go to French mass in San Francisco, which was very cool! I loved hearing it in French and I understood it, which was special. The church was lovely as well. It was called Notre Dame de Victoires, which means Our Lady of Victory. There was a funny tiny old French man talking to everyone in his gravelly French voice. :D It was quite the experience! The last time I had gone to church was with Andrew over the summer, and being in a church again made me miss him so miuch. I was nostalgic for the summer days he spent at my place with me~

Our tradition is going to Gourmet Carousel, a cheap Chinese place in SF, for Christmas lunch. The food is good, quick, and cheap. :) We had the beef won ton soup. It was pretty good, but salty! I was rather surprised! And there were only a few pieces of bok choy, which was too bad. The beef was tender and tasty though, even if the soup was salty.
Potstickers, which were a disappointment, to me at least. The filling wasn't as tasty as I remembered it......it was bland and almost bitter with too much cabbage.

Ahhhh~ The best dish! Beef chow fun with black beans! The black beans are salty and add a lot of flavor to the dish! The chow fun was chewy and delicious with the tender beef. I loved this dish! The first time I ordered it had been when Andrew came~ (Yeah, if you can't already tell, I miss him a lot!)

My dad is crazy about Chinese green bean dishes.....I am not a fan. My sister and dad loved this, so I am sure it was good. :)

Fiona wanted some chicken fried rice, which was harmless. Yet, rather bland.
All in all, it was an enjoyable meal. However, I am just worried that the quality of food might be slipping a bit...but maybe it was an off day. We still love the place!

After lunch, we came home and plopped down, relaxing a bit before going to my grandmother's house for more presents and dinner.

We had mashed potatoes (made by me!), broccoli, spiced pork lion, and rolls. It was comforting and a nice way to spend Christmas dinner. We all gave lovely gifts to each other too! :)

Dessert was a ginger snap and a chocolate chip cookie that was very sweet. I had eaten a lot of chocolate earlier because I had gotten some in my stocking, hehehe. :)

Christmas is a special time of year, and while I enjoyed spending it with my family, I really miss Andrew and his family. Hopefully next year we can figure out a way to balance everything out. He's been having lots of fun eating good food and running around with cute kids at family parties! ^.^ I just wish for everyone's happiness at this time of year. I am also eager to get back to Stockton and UOP; I miss it so much. I keep thinking about driving down Pacific Avenue at night, with bright lights beckoning people and the colorful Christmas decorations everyone had put up. Stockton, even though people say bad things about it, is a wonderful place to me. It is where I am blossoming and am becoming someone I am proud of. I miss driving around with Andrew, looking out the window at all the random places I had never heard of, such as Jollibees. I have grown to love the long streets that lay flat on the ground, and the people who are down-to-earth and friendly. One day I vow to write a novel about Stockton that will hopefully show people all over that it is a city full of good things. For a city can't be a true center of life without good and bad.

And with thoughts of my new home and my love in my mind, I bid you all good night and Merry Christmas. I hope you are all with your loved ones tonight. :)

And to my love: I miss you honey, and I am glad you are spending time with your family! Relax, eat good food, and be happy. You deserve all that and more!