kicking off the holidays

the rest of our november went by pretty fast, and we packed a lot of fun in there.

we kicked it off with the annual family photo shoot, which i’d booked at griffith park thinking that it would be really cool.  and while it was indeed cool, i hadn’t thought ahead to the fact that it would also be incredibly busy on a beautiful, sunny saturday afternoon.  we struggled a little with finding parking but somehow managed to meet up with our photographer in time.  phew.

adding this because this week’s boot camp breakfast featured a special guest - weezermonkey, who is not part of the crazy early morning workout gang but joins us for breakfast whenever possible.

the hub and the little miss spent a little time bonding one morning.

it finally got cool enough for me to wear my souvenir from this year’s trip to graceland:

the bean and i headed out to universal city to check out the japanese food expo, where we got to try lots of snacks, sweets, drinks and watched a sushi demo.

i was pretty mesmerized by this machine that spit out perfect little mounds of rice for making nigiri.

and afterwards, we headed out in the rain to stroll through citiwalk, just across the street.

one day while everyone was at work (and school), the old lady took me and the little miss to her place of business where we indulged in this surprisingly tasty filipino feast burrito.  pancit, lumpia, pork belly and garlic fried rice all wrapped in a giant tortilla and served with a sweet chili sauce.  so good, we bought an extra one to take home for the bean.

and then i made the old lady stop for these photo ops advertising the new jonas brothers christmas movie on disney+.

at the bean’s school, the student body meets up at the chapel around once a week to listen to a speaker - sometimes it’s a member of faculty or administration, or a special guest that’s invited to speak, and as often as possible, it’s a member of the senior class.  they get to deliver a personal speech about their time at school, or something that they’ve overcome, or whatever they feel moved to share with their peers.  the bean took a turn the week before thanksgiving break and got special permission to use the school’s theater instead of the chapel because it was a meaningful part of their speech.  the hub, the old lady, the little miss and i were in the audience and we were so proud as we listened to one of the bean’s teachers introduce them before they took the stage and shared how discovering their love for theater tech helped them learn more about the person they want to be.  it was a delightful speech, with the bean’s signature self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout.

i got to make some los angeles kings-themed cookies.  i was kind of nervous about them, but i think they turned out well, and my friend was really happy with them so yay!

i crocheted this funny little beanie for the little miss to wear at disneyland.

lilcee, dailygluttony and i hit up seafood city in eagle rock for one of their late night sessions.  seafood city is a filipino supermarket, and these events started this past summer and were originally meant for promoting new products.  it quickly went viral with lots of attendees sharing it on social media, and expanded into a free, family friendly nighttime dance party with rotating DJs, food and prizes.  it was a blast, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to go to another one.

the bean and i headed out to staples center (yeah yeah, it’s the crypto arena now but it’ll always be staples to me) for one of sabrina carpenter’s shows on her “short & sweet” tour.  she’s really talented, and we had a great time.

this is where she “arrested” maya rudolph for being too sexy.  

and this is also where we discovered the beauty of valet parking at this venue.  we exited the arena, headed through the crowds to this gate where we flashed our ticket stub and were ushered right in.  they brought the car to us in mere minutes and we were outta there and on the freeway less than half an hour after sabrina had run offstage for the last time.

for the little miss’ first thanksgiving, she wore a turkey on her butt.

while the hub went to the lounge to deep fry a turkey and feed his regulars who didn’t have anywhere else to go and the little family spent time with the old man’s mom and sisters, the bean and i headed off to kura sushi for some lunch.

not to worry, though.  we all came together later that evening to share thanksgiving dinner together.

and a couple of days later, we continued our friendsgiving tradition with all of our besties.  i know i wasn’t the only one who was thinking about what this might look like next year, with our kids off to college.

and with that, holiday season 2025 was in full swing.  yee-haw!

we'll try again next year

with the old lady's crazy work schedule, it was a little challenging to pin down a date for our annual family photo shoot.  after several reschedules, we finally made it happen but had to settle for a location we've done before - the walt disney music hall in downtown l.a.  although the last time we were there, the old man wasn't officially part of the family yet and so it all worked out in the end.

of course after a week of lovely, cool temperatures we arrived at our designated meeting point in sweaters and flannels and it was...mid-80s.  thank goodness you can't see how sweaty i was in all of these pictures (although i'm not thrilled at the editing because we all look super pale in every photo).

and why, oh why do photographers always insist on doing the cheesiest poses?  the "look at each other and laugh" shots never turn out well.

also, this?  like, what are we even supposed to be looking at?

and this is SUPER cheesefest.

this is about when the hub gave up and we were just over it.

luckily, all we really need out of these shoots is one or two good shots - and we ended up with more than that.

and after a few drafts, everyone approved this for our 2023 christmas card.

merry christmas, everybody!