Christmas "Wrap" Up (Hee Hee)

I hope everyone out there had a fantastic Holiday yesterday! We definitely had an action packed couple of days in my household! Brace yourself: this is a long one...

During the day on Christmas Eve, my family, Antonio and I headed over to my brother and sister-in-law's for Christmas lunch and gift exchange. Since my brother is a firefighter, we sort of have to just have Christmas whenever he's not on duty at the firehouse. This year it worked out really well to be on Christmas Eve! Anyway, all the food was delicious and I think the kids were very pleasantly surprised with their gift from Grandma and Pop Pop. My parents get each grandchild a new iPod Nano, in their favorite color, with their names engraved on the back! My brother recently adopted his stepson, as well as changed his last name to ours, so my new nephew was very excited to see his new name on the back of his iPod! By the way, did you know those things take pictures AND videos AND sync up to live radio these days?!?! I was amazed...

When it started to get dark outside, Antonio and I began our trek to Virginia to visit his dad's side of the family. In case I haven't mentioned it before, Antonio is half Bolivian, on his dad's side. There are a TON Of Aunts (Tias), Uncles (Tios), and cousins, so any holiday or get together with this side of the family is definitely a little crazy, to say the least. Throw in everyone speaking Spanish and a bunch of spicy (but delicious) food, and you can imagine the party I was headed for! I had a good time joking with his Tias and cousins, and playing with oen cousin's new puppy, but I had to leave pretty soon after I got there so that I could get home to church with my mom and Aunt Toni.

My family doesn't usually do the whole church thing on Christmas but since this was our first year without my Mom Mom, and the candlelight service was something that she looked forward to every year, the three of us went for her. It was difficult, to say the least, to sit through the service, knowing she wasn't there. But, having my Aunt and my mom with me made it just a little bit easier. And, it may sound silly, but I'm pretty sure Mom Mom was there watching with us too. When the service ended, I felt a little lighter, like a weight was removed somehow, and the three of us headed home to wait for Santa!

Christmas morning, we woke up, opened presents, and my dad prepared his traditional HUGE Christmas breakfast for everyone. I made my mom and Aunt Toni some really great pieces of jewelry that they both seemed to love! I also gave my Aunt some "trendy scarves" for her upcoming trip to London and Paris. For my dad, who is the hardest person to buy for EVER, I ordered a 3 month subscription to Netflix, and he loved it! He already has about 15 movies in his queue to be sent! Antonio had been wanting a Wii system for months, and I had him pretty convinced that it was too expensive for me to get this year. Well boy was her surprised when the scavenger hunt I set up for him revealed a Wii at the end! I love it when I can find the "perfect" gifts for the people I love. I was also lucky enough receive some amazing gifts, which I want to take a minute to share with you now!!

New Vera Bradley goodies! A small case for inside my purse and a new All In One wristlet/wallet

A couple of comfy, cozy sweaters for work...

Three great pairs of jammies and sweatpants! Antonio ordered me a Ravens fleece pullover to match the jammies he got but it hasn't come in yet. Oh how I love sweatclothes...



Every year, I get cute little socks in my stocking. Here are this years'! Don't the ones of the left remind you of when the house lands on the Witch of the East in The Wizard of Oz??



Speaking of my favorite movie of all time ever, my Aunt found some AMAZING Pez dispensers!!



My parents paid for the gear rental for my upcoming snowboarding trip, so my mom thought it was funny to type up a pretend "Used Gift Card" from the store we rented from

My parents also bought me a new hat and scarf combo for the trip and Antonio gave me goggles and heavy duty gloves, so I am all prepared for this trip. (Minus the part where I've never even held a snowboard in real life before... Minor details...)

I'm alsot a little obsessed with my Pandora charm bracelet and this year I made out with FOURTEEN new charms! I'm so spoiled... I tried to take pictures for you but they didn't turn out well, so I'll just tell you a few of my favorites; a teeny tiny beer can, hibiscus flower, zebra printed, a hand showing "I Love You" in sign language (from Antonio, of course), a best friend heart and an Aunt heart from my neices and nephew, just to name a few.

I also got a few really meaningful ones in addition to the silly ones, like the beer can and hibiscus. My Aunt gave me a monkey, representing my deceased cousin's favorite animal, another Aunt charm, and a blue and green bead, representing my deceased Uncle and cousin's favorite colors. And most meaningful to me, my mom gave me an Angel charm and told me that it was my gift from Mom Mom this year, so that she'll always be with me. This was definitely a very difficult Christmas for me. I had never woken up on Christmas morning without my Mom Mom, or eaten Christmsa breakfast without her, and it was just not the same. Spending so much time with the people I love, didn't make it easier, but it did make it better.

I hope everyone else had a loving, joyous holiday, full of laughs and great gifts!

Story Time

As I was scanning the blogs while being snowed in this weekend, I happened upon this super cute "chain blog topic" (yes, I think I just made that up - but it totally makes sense!) posted by Kell. Luckily, I checked which picture I'd be using before committing myself to this blog post, just in case it was one of those all too frequent ugly/awkward/ridiculous ones I have floating around my computer... Here are your instructions and my story. Enjoy!

1.Open your 1st Photo folder.
2.Scroll to the 10th photo.
3.Post the photo & the story behind it.

This is a photo of (almost) my entire family on the day I graduated from college. From the top left it is my brother, my mom, my dad, Aunt Toni, Kameron, me and my Mom Mom. All that's missing is the sister in law, other niece and new nephew. This was really special day for me, since I worked extra hard to get that degree - I had to complete all the requirements for an English major PLUS earn my Early Childhood Education certification, all while working 10-20 hours a week, taking part in the Varsity Cheerleading team, and staying active in Phi Mu. I was one busy lady for those 4 1/2 years!

This is even more special because it is one of the last times I got to have my entire family, my Mom Mom included, all together to celebrate. I know that my whole family, but especially my Mom Mom, was so proud of me. I had finally accomplished something that no one else in my family had before. She got to see me graduate from college AND become a real life teacher 3 weeks later! When I'm sad and missing her, I can think back to this day and remember how happy she was for me and how I am so grateful for her being able to share such a special, important day with me.