Merry Christmas and Happy 2020!

On the 1st of December our friendly elf, aptly named Elfy, returned to our home. He arrives every year at the beginning of December to celebrate the Christmas season with us. The kids were a mixed bag regarding Elfy's arrival. Rose and Kate were SUPER excited. Cole was nervous that the creepy elf was back yet again. Aria didn't care one way or another. And Owen, while happy about Elfy's return, is no longer a believer. The jig is up with him!

Owen carefully removed Santa's letter from Elfy's arms and read it to everyone despite Rose's objections (because she wanted to do it, of course!)

Throughout the month, the girls had a blast searching for Elfy. He was in some very unusual predicaments (thanks to our helpful Elf mover Owen!) Every day, sometimes multiple times, Elfy would mysteriously move and find a new location somewhere in the house. Rose and Kate would scour the house looking for Elfy while shouting, "Elfy, where are you?!?" And if Rose did something considered "naughty", Kate would announce, "I'm going to tell Elfy!"

December 1st is also the start of the chocolate advent calendars that Great Nana Dineen had purchased for the kids. They had been anxiously waiting since Thanksgiving to rip open the little trap door hiding the yummy chocolate. There'd be no falling behind on their calendars for my little ladies. They made sure every day (some days multiple times!) to ask for their chocolate.

This year Rose begged to visit Santa. We hadn't seen Santa for 9 years because he had always terrified Cole. But this year everyone agreed to make the trip to the mall late one night to chat with Santa. Once there, Kate realized that she wasn't too sure of Santa either, but we managed to get a quick photo and shockingly no one was even crying. Rose meant to bring along her Christmas list, but had forgotten it at home. So instead, she made sure to tell Santa that her most wanted item on her list was My Little Ponies. Santa seemed to not quite understand and instead thought she wanted a set of regular horses and stable. Hmmm...Santa better study up on 5 year old girl toys!

Our old artificial Christmas tree was once again lugged out of the basement and up the stairs to be decorated for the last time. I bought the tree many moons ago before Shane and I were even married. Every year is a guessing game to figure out which branch goes where. And after years of kitties climbing up and down it, it was time to finally order a new one for next year.

Once the tree was up, the older kids worked hard hanging the ornaments. With little Miss Kate quite interested in taking them off, many were moved just out of reach of her little grasp.

El Dia de las Velitas ended up being on a Saturday this year. Instead of celebrating at home, we were invited to celebrate with some other FANA families at the Recibe/Manaster household. Owen and Rose accompanied us while the rest of our crew stayed at home. It was a wonderful time catching up with old friends, enjoying a delicious bowl of ajiaco soup, lighting fireworks and playing a fast-paced gift exchange game with the kids going wild rolling dice and stealing each others presents. It was a fabulous night!

It was such a busy holiday season this year that the Nativity almost didn't get setup.  Just 9 days before Christmas, the kids helped me carefully place each ceramic piece and Owen quickly rearranged everyone else's placement. He is very particular when it comes to the Nativity!

Christmas Eve was spent at Nana Judy's and Popi Dave's with the Slominski/Dineen crew. We were spoiled with a delicious Italian meal, an exciting game to see who could collect the most prizes wrapped in plastic wrap, and lots of presents.

Afterward, we headed home so the toddlers could nap and then got gussied up for 6:00 pm Christmas mass. We've been going to the 6:00 pm mass for several years now. It's not nearly as crowded as the 4:00 pm and this year it was even less busy. We somehow managed to get our usual seats. After Mass began, we soon we realized that this year the 6:00 pm mass was bilingual as Father greeted the congregation in both English AND Spanish.  Shane, Rose and I thought it was pretty great. Cole, Kate and Aria didn't seem to care. And our pre-teen Owen was fully aware of just how much longer it was taking with everything being said twice, first in English and then in Spanish.

We arrived back home and it was off to bed for all - Santa and El Nino Jesus had a lot of work in store for them. Luckily the kids were tuckered out and sleeping in no time so the gifts could quietly be placed. The last of El Nino Jesus's gifts were placed outside the girls' bedrooms when I heard Rose inside her room. Uh-oh! She was still awake! Thankfully she didn't come out to see that El Nino Jesus had already dropped off his presents.

On Christmas morning, there was excitement in the air. Everyone patiently waited for little Miss Aria to wake up so they could open their gifts. Once she arose, everyone rushed back upstairs to see what El Nino Jesus had brought - a blanket for Owen, a game for Cole, jewelry boxes for Rose and Kate and a toy for Aria.

Then it was back downstairs to open the gifts from Santa.

After our traditional Christmas breakfast of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, the kids were begging to open the remaining gifts. As they ripped open the rest of their presents, the look of excitement on their faces was priceless.

The rest of the day was spent in PJs playing with all their fun new presents while Mom got to work prepping for dinner.

Christmas dinner was a feast of crab legs, grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, candied carrots, and a glass of bubbly - bubbly juice that is! The older three kids love sparkling grape juice which is reserved just for special occasions. The night was getting late and Aria fell asleep before the grand finale - dessert! We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and dished up some yummy cakes - Tres Leches and Flourless Chocolate - from Cafe Latte.

This year was an extra joyous Christmas with Aria home. Last year we celebrated with just a photo of our sweet little girl, but this year we were all together where we were meant to be.

Christmas break flew by quickly with the holiday festivities, including a very special girl's 2nd birthday and various activities interspersed between. But I somehow found time to make buñuelos (I had planned to make them months ago!), a traditional Colombian Christmas treat made out of yuca flour and cheese. They turned out pretty good considering it was my very first attempt.

Soon New Year's Eve arrived and with it the end of the holiday break. We had BIG party plans in store to ring in the New Year - spending the night at home with the kids. They are as much excitement as we can handle these days! I whipped up a batch of ajiaco for dinner and we were all eating when Shane realized I had forgotten the corn. Whoops! There are so many accompaniments that go with the soup - cream, capers, rice, avocado - I had completely forgotten the corn.

We counted down the New Year early and celebrated with the tooting of horns, throwing of streamers, popping of poppers and sipping of bubbly. Thanks to Netflix's various countdown options, everyone got to pick a favorite as we counted down and yelled Happy New Year at least 4 different times.

We wish you all a very joyous and healthy 2020 and in all the years to come!