I didn't get as many family photos as I would have liked on Christmas Day. I mean, of Malu, Sina and I together. But I got tons of us with various friends and family members and that is good enough for me. We did get A LOT of stuff on video, including clips of Sina opening up her first gift (cool stuff), but I'm way too lazy to post those. However, I'll give you guys snippets of our wonderful Christmas.
It was pretty low-key, which, by our family's standards, means that we only had one party to go to as opposed to three or four. Every Christmas Eve, we attend a candlelight service at our church. As usual, the service was beautiful. I'd wanted Sina to see the whole thing, but she was sound asleep through the entire service. And what a shame, because no one got to see what a cutie she was in the outfit that Grandma Lema got her.
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| Yes, this "stink eye" look is normal, but she's still so adorable! |
Every Christmas Eve, my Auntie Edith and her family invite us to her house for noche buena. The literal translation of the term is "good night". This is what we Filipinos refer to as the "night before" or Christmas Eve. We have a great dinner, have the kids open gifts late into the evening, and just have fun and great fellowship with our friends and family. I was just thrilled that we actually had a child to throw in the mix. She had so much fun hanging out with all of the other kids.
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| Mom & Auntie Edith with all the kiddos |
We slept in a little bit on Christmas morning since we stayed up so late that evening. We also decided that we would wait until my brother and his fiance and my Uncle Raymond and his family could join us to open gifts. After all, our family does a Secret Santa every year and that's half the excitement of the entire day. While waiting for them, we took some pictures in our jammies.
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| Well, most of us were in our jammies. Here are Malu and his brothers. We were so happy to have them here with us! |
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Sina with Rozzie, Mom & Grandma |
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| Mom & Dad with their favorite little girl |
But before we were to open gifts, we made plans to have lunch on post at the dining facility. Most military folks know that the major holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, are the best days to go to the dining facility on Fort Carson. They usually serve lobster and steak or turkey and ham and just have a fantastic spread. It has become somewhat of a tradition in our family to go on Christmas and we usually join a couple of our other family friends, who are also military families that know that the dining hall is the place to be on Christmas Day. Here's a picture of the entire group, which was pretty big.
After lunch we did our gift exchange and then opened more gifts. Malu and I made it quite clear that we didn't want gifts this Christmas. The last thing we wanted to do was lug more stuff to Germany. But with Sina, well, we gave them free reign. And it was made quite clear to us that she would be spoiled on her very first Christmas. And spoiled she was. Let's just say that we're either going to get another suitcase (or two) or going to mail boxes to Germany for all the clothes and toys she's been getting. And it's not stuff from immediate family either. Every day (it seems), more of my mom's friends bring her more gifts to open. How lucky is she? And how lucky am I? Malu got me the Nook Color that I'd been asking for. Love you honey!
Later that night, we had dinner at the house with our extended family. By this time, we'd picked up Malu's sister, Lulu and she was able to spend a few days with us.
We ate and laughed the night away and played games like Just Dance 2 on the Wii and Catch Phrase. Fun times.
Sina probably didn't understand much of the hubbub of that day and the entire month leading up to it. However, the bright little girl that she is, I'm sure she clued into the fact that our Christmas is all about the family and friends that we cherish and love. It's about giving thanks for everything that we have, because we certainly have more than we need...and then some. And that these blessings come only from God who gave us the most precious gift that we can ever receive in life...His Son, Jesus Christ.
And if she didn't clue into all of this, well, Malu and I are definitely going to teach her these things every day. We will be making a promise to do so when we do her baby dedication this Sunday.
I hope all of you had a beautiful Christmas. From our family to yours, we wish you all the best that this New Year can bring!
