Christmas Suprise

On Christmas morning we had a really nice surprise. All my mom's siblings (except for one) plus two of their wives came to visit us for a "Christmas Lunch". My brother, sister in law and nephew also came.

No kids were part of the visit, but my girls and my nephew know how to have lots of fun by themselves, especially with new toys around the house. Of course, most of the toys were too girly for my nephew, but somehow he always manages to have a blast.

I took lots of pictures, but of course, I am only posting a few.  Still pictures from my Galaxy phone, but they are just good enough for me.


The girls playing with their new toys...

Mia and  my nephew being silly...

Santa came to town...

... and the girls got spoiled once again!

It looks like Santa Claus was very pleased with the grape soda and cookies (yes, that is what I suggested the girls to leave out for him). I am sure it was a very good booster for him for all that work he had to do in the middle of the night.

They got a lot of things and in all honesty, I have no idea how Santa managed it.  I know Santa likes to spoil all kids, but sometimes he just doesn't have enough resources for all the things he would want to get.

I know that he worked extra hard this year to be able to make my girls happy.  The girls know that I am the one that gives the gift suggestions to Santa and I am happy that he listened to my suggestions and was able to get them most of the things I asked him for.

Here is a picture of how the tree looked after Santa passed by our house...

They were awake since 3:30am... I managed to make them wait until 6:00am when they just couldn't wait any longer! My cell was almost out of batteries and I am really sad that I had to take this picture without flash because it was still very dark :(


Playing with the gifts...

All girls for Christmas Eve

We didn't plan anything big for Christmas Eve because, after all, it was a Tuesday. The girls are on Christmas break, but my job doesn't stop because of the holidays, if any, it increases. As an interpreter, we take 911 calls and hospital calls and people don't stop having emergencies during the holidays (they should, though).

Even when it was just us with my mom and grandma, the girls wanted to dress up and they did.  They got dresses, their Santa hats and they were thrilled.

The girls don't get to dress up frequently because they normally get invited to a kids party where they can just use an informal dress or even jeans.  Mia and Mimi have a lot of dresses that they haven't been able to wear, especially dresses that used to belong to Gaby.

Gaby was extra happy because I allowed her to wear a dress that I would not allow her to wear to go any other place.  It was given to her as a gift and I'm sure it would still fit her when she is actually old enough to use it.

She looks like a teenager in that dress and she is only 10.  I want her to stay within each stage and I'm not in any hurry for her to grow up.  I want her to enjoy being a child for now, and then take care of being a teenager when she reach that age. She was also wearing some heels she got off my mom's closet (something else that she won't be allowed to use for a while).

We all sat at the big table and my mom did a beautiful prayer. We are light eaters at night, but tonight we ATE... A LOT.  I honestly can't handle eating heavy at night, but I knew I had a LONG night ahead, so it was not going to be so bad for me eating all that rice so late.

It was nice to have my grandma with us for dinner, because she normally eats in her room as she doesn't move around much... After all, she is already 95 years old.


One thing that was due to be done today was set up the Christmas Tree.  We did the decor a couple of weeks ago, however we wanted to set the tree together and we arranged to do it today.

More family time!

As my grandma is under my mom's care, we are receiving a lot of visitors. This is always fun for the girls, especially when the visitors includes children.

Whoever reads my blog knows that I have a favorite uncle (I am seriously hoping the others uncle don't read my blog), and he has two grandchildren.  Today, he came to visit us with his grandkids and they had a blast.  I didn't take the pictures myself as I didn't have the camera with me and my cell was very low on battery, but I hope to be able to take better pictures with the same group very soon.

Christmas Arts and Crafts

Every year we plan something special for the girls to wear for Christmas night. This year, we decided to do something different.

I saw an idea for Christmas Tree decoration on a tree at a local bank and loved it.  I knew I had to do that with the girls... I got the supplies and this is a picture of the last trip to the store to get a few more stuff... One of my favorite pictures of my girls with my nephew.


We had a lot of fun creating the ornaments and they worked hard and with a lot of dedication on each one of them.




And here is Mia showing off the white fingers and finished work

School's Christmas Play

This year the girls were not part of the Christmas Play at school.  Some kids worked on a play where they selected kids from every grade and for some reason my girls didn't want to participate.

Even if they were not part of the play, they still wanted to go.  I confess I was not really looking forward to go to a school's play to see other kids perform, while my girls were just sitting down... but they begged and begged and even black mailed me telling me that I was going to be able to take a nice picture of them.

And I sure did got my picture.  I actually got a picture that became one of favorites of them together.  Even when they cooperate, there is always something that is not perfect about the picture, and I love love love this one.

The show was also really good.  It was a full play and it also gave me the opportunity to meet the new principal.  They attend a school that is international and they switch principals from one country to another, and this is a new one in the country.

Here is also a picture of Gaby with some of her classmates...