Christmas 2009

Our attempt at getting a picture of all the grandkids on Christmas Eve

Marco's getting away!

Cute girls-oh and Brian too!

Crazy Uncle Brian chasing the kids.

The Hernandez family

Marco and his trains

Lucia with her loot

Moving a week before Christmas is very hectic. We have decorated our tree three times this year! The first time-in the duplex, the second time in our new home, then said tree fell over and the stand broke, so the third time was decorating an older fake tree we had that is only 4' tall. That was not exciting! But after a crazy week of trying to unpack and get settled in, spend time with Tami and the kids-Christmas snuck up on us quickly. I wrapped all the gifts on the 23rd-it took me about 3 hours. On the 24th-Noelle's birthday- we went and saw The Princess and the Frog. It was so good! Despite having to chase Sylvie up and down the theater steps, I did enjoy it. So did the kids. Christmas Eve we did our traditional stuff-a yummy ham dinner, celebrated Noelle's birthday and then our crazy White Elephant Gift exchange. It was slightly less fun without the Aldama's-but we still had a good time. We then sang carols with Callie playing the piano and Tami gave a devotional. By that time, we were ready to go Santa hunting. We packed the kids in the car and drove around to see some lights. The kids were out before we got home, so Julio and I had our night free to put together stockings and set up gifts. It took Julio until 2 am to set up Marco's new train table. We were so exhausted.

Christmas morning was so much fun. I love having that magic back with the little children in our home. I know it won't last forever, so I try to enjoy it as much as possible. I couldn't sleep soundly, because I didn't want to miss hearing the kids sneak out of bed to see their presents. Lucia was the first one up at 7:30-I sent her back to bed. The other kids woke up a little bit later and so we took them out to the living room to see their gifts. They were so happy! I loved seeing their faces light up. Lucia got a Fancy Nancy doll for her birthday and didn't play with it, so I put it away in my closet for the past few months. So when she saw the doll under the tree with a bunch of new clothes and a new bathtub-she thought Santa had brought her another Fancy Nancy-I had to tell her it was the same one. She was ok with that. She got a lot of girly stuff and was very content. Marco was excited about his train table, dinosaurs, and new Planet Hero. Sylvie got a Winnie the Pooh ride-on train and some books. We then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for another round of gift opening. With so many people in the family, it is quite the production! The rest of the day was just being lazy and eating! The best gift was being with the family and being in our new house!

We did a Shirley family portrait yesterday at the park and that wrapped up our time with Dan and Tami-they went back to Utah today. The rest of the group came over last night for pizza and a movie (Julie and Julia-the guys mostly left). It has been such an enjoyable time. I don't know when we'll see my sisters and their families again. It might be a while and that makes me sad just thinking about it. I'm excited for the new year-especially because I don't know what is in store for us. We would like to make some trips this year. Now that we're in our house, it's time to start travelling!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!

The Ward Christmas Party and Santa

Marco wouldn't go near Santa-just stared at him from Daddy's lap.

Lucia told Santa she wanted a teddy bear and a hug.

Sylvie was very curious about Santa and kept walking close to him and laughing, but when we put her on his lap, that was another story!

We had a very busy weekend, but thankfully, we had friends and family to help us out. Dad, Julio, Kevin, Ben, Gina and Josh painted on Saturday and got a lot done-despite the heavy rain outside. Brandon was gracious enough to watch the kids so I could run errands and help painting the house too. We still have to do the bedrooms, but a lot of it is done!

Saturday night, we decided to go to the Ward Christmas Party. It was a success as usual. The activities included singing carols, eating, crafts, cookie decorating, Santa, and stories. The kids did a presentation on the symbols of Christmas. It was very nice. Lucia was excited to see Santa and sit on his lap, Marco was petrified and wouldn't go near him, and Sylvie was very curious-she kept getting near him, shreeking, and then running away. When we put her on his lap-that was another story! I guess she's brave, but not that brave!

Marco did tell me today, "Santa's fake!" I asked him who would bring him presents on Christmas Eve. He said, "Nobody". Oh well, we'll see.

We are excited for Tami and the kids to come this week! We have so much to do to finish packing. We're going to start moving stuff over on Friday night and finish up on Saturday. It is crazy moving during the holiday season, but it's just how it worked out!

Lights, lights, lights!

We have a holiday tradition of going to see the lights at Dovewood Court. This year, Mom and Dad invited us to go with their ward (church group) to ride one of the member's little trains through the court. It was about 30 degrees out that night and so we froze! But, the lights were worth it. Marco said on the way home, "This was the funnest day ever! We got to go to Grandma's for dinner, ride the choo choo train, get a candy cane, see the lights, drink hot chocolate and read scriptures!" Whew! what a fun day!

Christmas food

I felt in the Christmas food mood today, so I spent the bulk of the afternoon in the kitchen making empanadas and gingersnaps. YUM! Empanadas are a meat filled pastry from Argentina. The ground beef has tons of spices in it and is mixed with raisins and hard-boiled egg and then put inside the dough and made into a pocket. They're baked until golden brown and are delicious! The gingersnaps turned out really good too. Guess I won't be losing those extra pounds anytime soon.
I've been sick all week and therefore have not made much progress with the packing. The contractors told us the house would be done on the 15th. But, with the rain, it will be delayed. We can't wait to move! We still will have to paint the inside before we move in, so that will delay us a few more days as well. We're counting on lots of helping hands.
I'm happy to say I am done with my Christmas shopping! I didn't do too much this year, but that's ok. We've been doing our scripture chain every night and have some fun activities planned. I still need to get Christmas pictures done and a few Christmas cards out to family.
Have a great week!

The Season is Upon Us

Last night we decided to just go for it! Even though we should be packing everything to move, we got out the Christmas decorations anyway. We had a hard time deciding where to put the tree where Miss Sylvie couldn't pull it down, but with such a small place, it was impossible. So far, she hasn't attacked the tree-let's keep our fingers crossed that she doesn't.

I have been trying to think of ways to turn our thoughts more toward the true meaning of Christmas and lessen the Christmas chaos. I made a paper chain with scriptures relating to the Savior and his coming and birth. We'll read one each night until Christmas. I also got the kids their own advent calendar to go with the scriptures-a little incentive to sit still-eating a chocolate at the end. I'm also going to make a gift box and put in different items that symbolize Christmas (I got this idea from the Friend magazine) and have the kids put them in. We'll talk about each item (ie. candy cane, star, gifts) and what they mean. Now, I just need an idea for service for the kids to do...any ideas?

Another thing we're doing with my parents and siblings, is making a memory book for the year. We'll each write memories of 2009 and include pictures to put in a binder-each family will get a copy. We also scheduled to get a family portrait done (for the whole Shirley clan).

It's not always easy to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas and not get caught up in the buying of stuff. But, it's a start, hopefully we can get better at it each year.