Rusty Comes Home for the Holidays

The entire Pineda clan came out to VA for the holidays. Traditionally, Christmas has been in the SF Bay Area, with the main events held at my older sister's house. But this year, we all decided that we needed a change of pace, so mom, older sister and niece, and brother came out to VA.

We were all going to be together except for Rusty, my nephew. Rusty is studying in Japan for a year. It's always expensive to fly to and from Japan, and it was going to be even more expensive to fly Rusty home for the holidays, so we all expected Christmas without Rusty this year. My mom was a little sad because as the kids get older, it will be harder and harder to get everyone together.

But, as luck would have, my sister was able to fly Rusty home on miles. It was going to be a surprise for the entire family but Rusty spilled the beans to Alex and Misty via Facebook. So Rusty's arrival became a huge surprise for grandma, my mom.

Maki picked up Rusty at the airport and brought him home. He sent Rusty to the front door so mom could answer the doorbell. You should have seen the look on mom's face when she opened the door to find Rusty standing there. I think Rusty in the flesh did not register at first, but then she got all excited and hung up on my sister, with whom she was talking. It was just like a Folger's commercial.

That night, we all went out for a sushi dinner, a Pineda favorite. As you can see from the smile on CJ's face, he was happy to be having sushi AND hanging out with Uncle Alex and cousin Rusty. Rusty is very special to CJ because Rusty spent a summer with us a couple of summers ago. For four weeks, Rusty worked at Matrix Group until 4pm, then came home and took CJ swimming.