Christmas 2008

What a fabulous Christmas - even though I missed my mom and my Titi Lisa!! I did get to see my Miki and Michael on the 22nd which was a lot of fun! We went to Kohls, had coffee, made strawberry daiquiri's and harassed Lisa! We made a lovely appetizer dinner with pecan crusted chicken strips, buffalo chicken strips, home made guacomole and salsa, and Shrimp Scampi - yummy!

Mallory came to visit for a short trip this year and got to spend Christmas day with us but had to head home the next day. We took family pics - can't wait to get them!, we goofed around, went Christmas shopping, made Christmas cookies, had hot cocoa and just really enjoyed our time with Mallory.

The kids made out fairly well but could have gotten more if they would have behaved this year!

Jason got gameboy games, Pirates toys, tee ball set, Spiderman set (thank you Titi Miki and Michael), Batmobile remote control car (Thank you Titi Lisa), Batman Dark knight toy (Thank you Titi Krystal and Chris), bubble bath, AMC gift card (Thank you Grandma!), toys r us gift card, hot wheels card holder, hot wheels cars from Angel, Money (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Smith), and a stuffed animal from Mallory.

Angel got her Nintendo DS and Nintendogs (courtesy of Titi Miki), digital camera (thanks Titi Lisa), AMC gift card (thanks Grandma!), Birthstone jewelry (thank you Titi Krystal and Chris), make up, money (thanks grandma and grandpa Smith), bracelets and rings from Jason, suspenders and belt from her fave store Hot Topic, lip gloss, clothes, Twilight book, CDs, Hillary Duff perfume, and a stuffed animal from Mallory.

Mallory got Mario Cart, Nintendo Babysitting game, iPod (thank you Titi Miki and Michael), birthstone jewelry (thank you titi Krystal and Chris), Mani/Pedi kit, lip gloss set, AMC gift card (thanks grandma Tita!), money (thanks Grandma and Granpa Smith), CDs, bracelets and rings from Jason, clothes, purse, Love's Baby Soft perfume, high school musical bicycle helmet set, High School Musical poster, High School Musical accessories and Akeela and the Bee movie.

Yasmin got an exersaucer, a little leap drum, a little leap catepillar, 2 teething rattle toys, a moose rattle from Grandma, and money from grandma and grandpa Smith. From Titi Krystal and Chris she got a Santa suit but we haven't put that one on her yet because we had gotten her one too - I promise to put her in and take pics soon to upload.

The family got a Wii with Cooking Mama, Wii Play, The Price is Right, Sims and Wii Sports. We are getting Mario Cart soon we already have wheels but the game was sold out! The kids also got a Basketball hoop for outside.

Curtis got a bar set, a weight lifting bench, a pillow from Mallory, CDs from the Angel, UT cup, socks and his PS3 (we made him go through a scavenger hunt to find the game in the oven and microwave!) and Madden 09 and iTunes from Miki and Michael.

I got a Vera Wang purse, a Bulova watch, lots of clothes, a Coach bag fom Titi Miki and Michael, the Deceptively Delicious Cook Book, Simply Delicioso Cook book, Extreme Fat Smash Diet book and CDs.

We spent Christmas Eve at home with a simple dinner together and me and Curt staying up until 12:30 wrapping gifts. Thank you children for another year of not waking up before 8 am! I am so glad that my kids are not like I was when Christmas rolled around and woke up at 5 in the morning! The kids slept together in Angel's room and giggled themselves to sleep!

Christmas moring I made biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs and of course a nice big mug of coffee! We played Wii and stayed in our PJs until 1pm when we had to start getting ready to go to our new friends the Meneses' for Christmas dinner in McKinney (about 25 minutes north of us). I made Arroz con Gandules and a Chocolate Silk Pie with Oreo Cookie pie crust -YUM! Dinner was very good at the Meneses - we had pernil, pasteles (PR style - direct from the BRONX), yuca with garlic sauce, fried chicken appetizers, ham and this yummy Strawberry desert that Selina and her husband Rudy brought. Annete's mother and stepfather were there visiting from NYC and made me miss my mommy so much. They danced salsa and we just partied!

The weather was 70 beautiful degrees on Christmas day!

It was a very pleasant holiday and we miss everyone very much! I can't wait for my sisters and my mom to come out next year!