Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas with my parents and some of the family on Christmas Eve. First, we went to the 2 pm service at our church. Vanessa and the kids were able to join us that night for a wonderful message about Our Savior who came so humbly into this world. After service, I snapped a pic of R and Allison playing on the slide right outside of R's bible class.

After we took R home for a nap, we headed to my mom's and dad's house for some good food. Dad made a small turkey and ham that were delicious and all the fixings to go with that. We had tamales, also, and rice and beans. Some of us had the "American" meal first and then the "Mexican" meal after! ;) It was all so good.

After we ate, we took some pics. Here they are:

Uncle Ashley and Tia Lilia (Dad's sis)

Papa and Lala and Rachel

Fatima, Ashley (family friends) and R R and her new best friend Ashley

Rodolfo, Ashely, Mayle, and Fatima (New family friends of ours, their mom, Miros, was in Mexico keeping her son company during the holiday)

Grandma, Me, and R
Tia Paz and Me
Mom and I After we took pics, I read the Candy Cane Story
The little ones placed Baby Jesus on the Nativity scene with the angel who was rejoicing.

We then all rejoiced by singing Christmas carols. R was so excited about singing songs, she wanted a solo. Here she is "reading" the lyrics that she was singing.
Time to open presents.
We had a great time with our family. :) We're thankful to God for all of our blessings. :)

Random things

2 days before Christmas, my aunt Yvonne invited her brothers and sisters to eat lunch at her house. I was also invited to come to see my aunts and uncles. Not everyone of them was present, but it was so much fun to see them and hear their funny stories of their childhood. ;) My mom and her twin brother seemed to be the ones who got into so much trouble. ;) They also had such funny stories to tell. I was so glad that I could be there (like a fly on the wall) to hear about their lives in Mexico. How different their childhood was... yet being as poor as they were, they were so happy and have cherished memories that they will carry with them and pass on to us (the next generation) if we will only listen.

My cousin's daughter, Savannah, wasn't feeling sowell, so her grandma (my aunt Yvonne) was taking care of her. She behaved so well.

From the far left corner of the pic, Uncle Juan (one of mom's older brothers), Sister Cathy (mom's oldest sister and yes, she's a nun), Tia Paz (the youngest sister), Mom, and Uncle George (married to Yvonne).

Aunt Elia (married to Uncle Juan), Tia Yvonne (hostess and one of my mom's older sisters) and again Uncle Juan and Sister Cathy's head. ;) The guys on the corner are Uncle John (married to Tia Paz) and Uncle Salo (my mom's twin brother).

I was very honored to be able to visit with my aunts and uncles that day. I will cherish this memory forever. :)

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That night, Ben started to assemble the dollhouse that we were giving to R for Christmas. It was quite big, but Ben just loves to put things together. :)

A busy 2 weeks... Christmas + Lots of Family= FUN!

Hello friends who read my blog! ;) I know i haven't changed the blog's layout to a new theme, but each year I have such a hard time "getting out of Christmas". Is it me or does everyone feel that way too? I still have my decorations up (of course, I've been putting them in a corner for a few days to pack up, but the tree is still up). ;)
Anyhow, we've been super busy these past two weeks. Vanessa (Ben's sis) & the kids came into town and we were spending all the time we could with them because we only get to see them once or twice a year. Here are some pics of the night that we went to eat out a Pappasitos.

Emerson, our youngest niece, is 10 months old.

Rachel and Allison (6 yrs. old) always have fun together!
Me & Vanessa, we always have fun together too!

Matthew, our oldest and only nephew, is 9 years old.

Vanessa and Ben

I will add more pics of the last few weeks of course they will be a little backwards because that's how blogger is, so please bear with me. Thanks! It's good to be back to blogging, BTW. :)