Written January 2019
Day 1
Sunday morning was rough. We took off at 10pm Saturday night, so we weren’t too tired, and decided to watch a movie on the plane before trying to get some sleep. Neither of us were able to get much sleep though, as we couldn’t get super comfortable…probably me more-so for some reason. Also…planes seem to fly faster now…I think it wound up only being about a 4.5 hr flight, as we landed at around 5:30am on Sunday. My parents picked us up at the airport, and we chatted and caught up on the car ride home. We decided not to go out to breakfast since we were so tired, but still somehow wound up having some breakfast when we got home. Finally we got to sleep afterwards, and sleep we did!
After a nice long sleep/nap, we woke up fairly refreshed and hungry – and went downstairs for some eggplant parmigiana for lunch. We hung around the house for a few hours, and then decided to go to evening mass at St. Gabriels. It had been a long time since my parents and I had been there, since they decided to start going to St. Rose instead, but I wanted to show Norina where I went during my younger days. We were treated to a nice surprise at mass, as Father Roberts (whom I had my confirmation with) lead mass. Afterwards, we came back home, and had my first Indonesian food request of the week… Chicken Tauco. It was delicious as always…and Norina liked it as well! I think she may have enjoyed the krupuk (shrimp chips) more though!
Now that our bellies were full, and it was nice and dark out, we decided it’d be a good time to drive around Central Jersey to see some fun Christmas lights and decorations (and outrageous displays). I had 6 places to see on my list…starting off with the house of a hundred inflatables by my elementary school…and finishing off with the amazing Kloos Family Lights show in East Brunswick.
Just a few of many inflatables…
Comparatively…not over the top house decorations
T&A Sprinklers Light Show – Old Bridge
Not pictured above were the 2 places we went to in East Brunswick. The first one was pretty neat, as all of their lights (and video projection) were all coordinated with music that we could listen to on the radio in our car. The last one that I was really excited about…the Kloos Family Lights was unfortunately no longer being run! Apparently, 2017 was their last of 13 years doing it, as it just took much energy (3 months to set up) to put everything together. But at least the T&A Sprinklers light show was pretty spectacular, and had their own musically coordinated light show, which is in the video on the main page. So overall, it was a nice night of Christmas lights!
Day 2
Christmas Eve, Monday morning, we woke up to the usual smell (for me) of Christmas Eve appetizers. My mom always makes fried wontons, crescent pork rolls, and an Indonesian-Dutch appetizer. Since we slept in though, she only had the pork rolls left to do, and Norina decided to learn and help her out in making a batch.
Making Appetizers
Afterwards, I wanted to show Norina a little of Freehold, and get some pizza for lunch. We drove around the Pond Road shopping center, where I showed her our favorite places to eat – Kings and Attilios…and then made our way over to the high school to see where I learned all of my medical sciences and ran hundreds of athletic field laps! We had lunch downtown, at what’s lately become my new favorite place to get a slice in Freehold – Stefano’s. I also introduced Norina to her first ever garlic knots! Afterwards, we walked in town for a bit and checked out the tree in front of City Hall before heading back home to get ready for the evening.
The Boro
Christmas Eve this year was at Sally’s house. The previous year was actually the first year she was hosting, but I didn’t go home then…so this was the first for me there..and actually the first time in many years since I had been there actually. I was excited to see everyone since it’d been 2 years since I’d seen them all. I was equally as excited to introduce everyone to Norina. They were good to her and didn’t pepper her with tons of questions, and all really liked her.
It was a fun evening overall – with a few Christmas Eve firsts for a nice change of pace. Dinner was delicious all around – wish I didn’t fill up on the appetizers! Gone were the days of cooking our own hotpot… Sally made some delicious grilled steak and chicken for us! We also did a White Elephant gift exchange, where Norina and I took home a couple hot/cold metal water bottles, a nice blanket, and some tasty sweets. We also played this fun dice game of passing money around the table. I was leading most of the way, but my dad wound up as the surprise winner in the end, taking home the pot of around $45. We stayed pretty late that night…chatting, playing darts, ping pong, etc…I don’t think think we left until around 2 am – mainly because we decided to stay at a nearby hotel for the night instead of driving the 90+ minutes back home.
Still at the Kids Table
Day 3
Our plan for Christmas Day was to go to church nearby, and then go for a little hike not too far away. Norina and I were exhausted though….and slept in until the latest possible moment before getting breakfast downstairs. Afterwards, we went to a late mass close by, which was nice, and had a really good singer. From there though, we were much too tired to go hiking, so decided to just go home. For lunch/diner, we went Indonesian again, this time having some Soto Ayam (chicken soup). I had made this for Norina before, but it’s always much better when my mom makes it! We didn’t do much the rest of the day or evening….just hung around the house… although we did watch Bird Box on Netflix – not even knowing how popular it was. Just happened to pick it since it showed up there…what a weird movie…but good!
Jump to:
Xmas > Brooklyn > Manhattan > Jersey
The Dating Life of Norina and Jonathan 