Chistmas Traditions

With the passing of Christmas I must reflect back and express my gratitude for the season and those traditions which we do to celebrate what I consider the most wonderful time of the year. This year was no different. On Christmas Eve, or as we say in spanish Noche Buena (The Good Night) we got together with my family and had a great time making tamales. That is something I look forward to with great anticipation since they taste soooo good and that is the only time of the year that we eat them. Buying them from vendors or at restaurants is not the same, because nobody can make them like my mom, I can come close but hers are the best.

I really enjoyed this year as I was able to make everyone's gifts. I told Monica that I should have placed a sign on our garage door that said "Santa's Workshop". I made my mom a lighthouse for her mantle, I made Gabriel a MLB Season Standings Board designed after a old style stadium scoreboard. I want one now. It was fun to make. The box that I made for Monica's mom was probably the nicest gift out of all the ones that I made this year, along with the words for her tree. I made some other items as well, but I really enjoyed it.
Christmas Eve we open our gifts and the kids were excited all day for the night. Joshua didn't really know what was going on, but as soon as he realized that there were toys and fun stuff in those packages he was excited as well, wanting to open everything.
Christmas day we opened up our gifts from Santa and had a wonderful breakfast. Monica made her most amazing cinnamon rolls, and we had eggs and bacon and orange juice (those items were provided by David). After breakfast we made the scary journey down to Utah County where we spent a few hours with Monica's family, and then made the trip back up to Salt Lake County to have dinner with my family. All in all we had a wonderful time and we spent the two days with those that we love.

I can't wait until next Christmas!