Christmas with the Tsai Family

By KEVIN DING

Christmas was even better than usual this year with Andy's family coming to stay with us, with Sedona and his daughter Anaya becoming fast friends -- to the point afterward that Sedona declared Anaya her best friend. (Sorry, locals.)

We're intent on not letting it be a temporary thing and fling, with regular family trips in the future, which would be sensational. We're planning to visit the Tsai family in New York and Connecticut this summer, as we did in 2009 (see below), when they were kinda tiny tots:

 Even with the NBA lockout not exactly cooperating with our plans -- three Lakers games in three days to start the season while they were here -- we had plenty of quality time, and thanks to Maggie for doing it all while I was away. I'm glad she and Purva bonded meaningfully also.

We have other photos from other cameras, but here are a handful from my iPhone along with a couple very memorable videos: Sedona and Anaya on Venice Beach and then the farewell moment in which Jay laments how far away a summer reunion would be. The goodbye-video reference to our BMW M3, Andy and the police is because he got pulled over while testing the car's power out and going like 90 in a 40, but the motorcycle cop let him go (because I don't think he had the speed via radar). I can easily still recall the tap-tap of this hand on Andy's driver window, alerting us to his sudden presence at the stoplight, though!

After the Lakers' opening game at Staples Center on Christmas, I met up with everyone -- including Andy's dad, who joined the visit -- at my parents' house for some re-introductions and gift exchanges:

 

 I missed out on Day 2 because of road game in Sacramento, but I came home in the morning and drove down to meet everyone for a memorable Disneyland day that carried over into a lively night for Maggie, Andy, Purva and Andy's dad at the Lakers' game at Staples:

 This shot of Anaya and Sedona running at sunset on Venice Beach -- taken with my iPhone and not our Nikon SLR, believe it or not -- became the desktop background on my laptop:

 Andy and I had a meaningful talk while walking down to Manhattan Beach Pier, reviewing a lot of the breakthroughs I had during Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within seminar that Maggie and I attended. Great times!