Started off our Christmas Eve trying to get Holly to sit still in front of the tree to do a little holiday pose. Christmas will be the one year anniversary of us adopting her, and it’s been quite the Holly Jolly year with this little monster.

We are joining Nancy and Skip for Christmas Eve dinner at the Mulranes’, it’s very nice of them to invite us. We had a great dinner, and it’s nice to see a family embracing the holiday spirit.

Christmas day I exchanged gifts with my partner then we headed to my mother’s to exchange gifts with the family and eat some Cambodian food. The holidays always puts me in a state of mind that isn’t too pleasant, but I enjoy giving gifts and spending time with loved ones. It just comes and goes so quickly and a new year is right around the corner. I have a lot to be thankful for, and really enjoy the life that Karla and I created for ourselves in our home and circle of loved ones. I just especially miss my dad, and what he wanted Christmas to be for us, a reflection of his hard work and good intentions to give us what he can, to help us fit in here even though this wasn’t his culture. As kids we weren’t always the most appreciative though, I miss him.

I was sort of dreading this Christmas before heading to my mom’s, but they surprised me this year. I appreciated how thoughtful my youngest brother was, he knows I’m trying to get in to running, so he bought me a new pair of running shoes which was a nice surprise. We also have a treadmill our friends are getting rid of that needs to be picked up and brought to our house so he offered to help pick it up and transport it over. It turned out to be a really nice Christmas because everyone was so pleasant to one another at my mom’s house. Afterwards Karla and I went over to Nancy and Skip’s to finish off Christmas over there.