Obama Inauguration - Jan. 20th 2009

Since I'm at home, I was able to watch the inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama. It really was a huge event. Newscasters and other people were comparing it to the excitement of the JFK inauguration. Never before had so many people descended upon Washington DC for a presidential inauguration!

It was a good feeling to see a new president take office. After the swearing in, the President and First Lady headed out for their parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Many people had talked about how emotional they were when Obama won the election and was sworn in as our 44th President. I didn't feel too much more than just happiness and thankfulness. But as I was watching Barack and Michelle walking down Pennsylvania Avenue, waving at the crowd, I feel an overwhelming sense of sheet amazement. It's been a long time since people have felt hope for a better country (definitely not within the past 8 years!).

About 1 million people were in Washington DC to witness the inauguration. It was incredible to see how many people lined the street to at least get a first close-up glimpse of the new President and his lovely wife.

Christmas Decorations

Since we were living with my parents during last Christmas, all of our decorations sat in storage and finally got pulled out for this Christmas. We had forgotten some of the things that we actually had.

Our Christmas decorating actually started on Thanksgiving! One of the neighbors rents a big crane every year to put up the 2nd story lights on the houses of nieghbors that would like to participate. Our time slot was scheduled on Thanksgiving morning. Even though it was quite cold and rainy, they were still able to put the lights up in about a 1/2 hour. It turned out really nicely!

After Thanksgiving it was full speed ahead with decorating! I pulled out all of our decorating boxes and went to it. We ended up donating some of our decorations that just wouldn't work in the house.

I hope you had a great Christmas & a very happy new year! Our holiday season was a good one.
Before Christmas we hosted a gift exchange with some of our friends. Instead of buying for each person, we bought a gift and did a blind exchange, complete with stealing gifts, etc. All in all, it was a very fun night. Hmmm...most of the gifts were alcohol! haha

On Christmas Eve we hosted Cuong's family (aunts, uncles, cousins) for dinner and a chance to catch up. It was nice to be able to see everyone since we don't all get together very often.
Since Cuong's parents and Connie's family were already at the house, the spent the night and we woke up to find that Santa had found our house and left plenty of gifts. (Good thing we gave him directions! hehe) The girls were really excited to have new fun gifts to open on Christmas morning.

After cleaning up at our house, we headed over my parents' house in Costa Mesa. My grandparents and great-aunt were already there when we arrived. We had a delicious lunch (comlete with ham, yum!) and then opened a few more gifts. I was really excited for Cuong to open one of the gifts I (along with my parents) had gotten him. It had been a secret since about July. My dad had bought a USC helmet to be signed. Luckily one of the guys at Warmington is Mark Sanchez's uncle and was able to ask Mark to have some of his team members sign the helmet. It was great! We got Mark Sanchez, all the back up quarter backs, Pete Carroll, Brian Cushing, Joe McKnight, Patrick Turner, Damian Williams, and a few others. I had bought a nice football helmet case and had my parents *secretly* take it home with them before Thanksgiving. Cuong was excited and surprised when he opened it.