OK, so technically a couple of days later. But better late than never. Christmas back in America is very cool. I am enjoying hanging out with the parental units, my sister and bro-in-law, and with my friends. My oldest friend Rosie flew in from New York and tomorrow my naked Tuesdays buddy Miranda from North Carolina is coming in. Then the Train (Leilani) is coming in from DC in a few days! It's a full house. We're gonna eat some real Mexican food, hit the Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, King Taco, Tito's Tacos, Claim Jumper, California Pizza Kitchen, Ruby's, In-n-Out Burger, and everything else we can't get our hands on outside of California. My only regret is that my North Carolina addiction (Texas Pete Hot Sauce) is unavailable here but Mir said she'd bring some so yeah for me!
It's so weird being back. It's like being not-so-much-a-stranger in a not-so-strange-land but it doesn't quite feel normal. I definitely miss my J friends and wish they were here but i can't say that i'm fully looking forward to going back yet. But gimme another week, I might change my mind.
Got some good stuff for x-mas: some pjs, some money, soap, gloves, and a cool luggage set. Christmas eve dinner at my sister's house was a veritable feast with my first turducken experience. For those of you who are scratching your heads, turducken is a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey. it's weird cuz the shole shebang was deboned so the thing looked flatter than usual and carving it was like sinking a hot knife into a stick of butter. It tasted alright but it was strange. i wasn't really sure what part of what animal i was eating at any given time. but good dinner anyways (riyoko's quite the chef) and we doled out prezzies.
Riyoko and Cory went to Dick and Colleen's in Vegas for Christmas Day so it was a quiet evening with mom, dad and aunty Sumiko (who came with me from Japan and is slowly driving me bonkers). We had J food and cake (no, not the japanese christmas cake thing but a tasty chocolate cake that one of mom's students made for her). Then me, dad, and crash watched DVDs. It was nice to chill out for a bit.
So that was Christmas 2004 at the Tanaka household. Happy Holidays!
