My sister Patricia came to visit on Christmas Eve, 2012, with her husband Yusuke! We were able to spend the last week of December and a couple days of the new year together, enjoying some great family time!

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xmasbrunch1.jpg

xmasbrunch2.jpg: This is the food. We had homemade whole grain waffles, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, grapes, soy bacon, homemade orange sugar muffins, and coffee. Mmmm!

xmasbrunch3.jpg: Lindsay brought her doggie Pork Chop, and this is Patricia chilling with her.

xmasbrunch4.jpg: The whole crew on the couch! Lindsay, me, Mommy, Patricia, Yusuke.

xmasbrunch5.jpg: Then the gift-giving started. Yusuke and Patricia got cozy pants from Lindsay.

xmasbrunch6.jpg: And here's me wearing the excellent hand-warmers Patricia knitted for me.

xmasbrunch7.jpg: Mommy got a puzzle.

xmasbrunch8.jpg: And Patricia got a little bento box.

xmasbrunch9.jpg: Lindsay is "wearing" her washcloths that Patricia knitted for her.

xmasbrunch10.jpg: Yusuke has just opened his gifts from Patricia--a camera bag and a knitted laptop computer case.

xmasbrunch11.jpg: Pork's just taking a little snooze.

xmasbrunch12.jpg: Patricia seems to be wearing most of her gifts.

xmasbrunch13.jpg: She is not normally a hammy person, but here she seemed to be lovin' the camera.

xmasdinnery.jpg: That night, we had light sandwiches for dinner. Yusuke is eating a Tofurky/avocado/hummus sandwich, I think.

cookin1.jpg: Another night, we went to my mom's for eggplant parmesan and other great food. Patricia and Yusuke always seem comfortable helping in the kitchen.

cookin2.jpg: My mom's roommate's GIANT wolf-dog Scout wandered in. Maybe he thought he would be helping?

cookin4.jpg: Well if you pet him, he's going to keep helping!

din1.jpg: Lindsay came for the family event too. Here she is with Patricia and Yusuke.

dog1.jpg: Scout is the kind of dog you can't resist taking pictures of. Here he is with Lindsay's boyfriend Mike.

dog2.jpg: Mike's petting the doggie and his eyes are glowing in the picture.

dog3.jpg: Lindsay is also in on the dog-petting action.

hookah.jpg: My sister smokes a hookah. Here she is smoking my mom's.

peasoup1.jpg: We also spent some time at Dad's house in Sarasota. P & Y made us pea soup, and here's us about to eat it.

peasoup2.jpg: Couldn't decide which family picture was better, so I'm posting both.

sparklers1.jpg: Our little New Year's Eve celebration involved sparklers that Daddy's dog tried to eat.

sparklers2.jpg: Gogo Patricia.

sparklers3.jpg: Daddy in the dark.

newyears1.jpg: On New Year's Day, we visited my grandparents for an evening meal. This is Patricia and Yusuke at their house looking cute.

newyears2.jpg: Lindsay and her boyfriend Mike do "cute" in a slightly different way.

newyears3.jpg: And here's Grandma laughing with my aunt.

Hopefully I won't have to wait a year to see my Californian sibling again!