Merry Christmas!

Hello Christmas 2010.

A visit from Santa during the night.

Stockings stuffed with cool treats. (When I was little the stockings were always always a favorite.)

Lots of discarded wrapping paper.

A few toys strewn every which way.

And a few favorite presents.

Family Pics

Christmas Eve. We spent part of the afternoon at Great Grandma Ali's, and the evening at our house, opening presents and having a nice turkey meal. We got our annual family pictures as well. It isn't easy getting the kids to sit still long enough to snap a couple of pictures, but I think they turned out OK.

A closer look

A closer look at our tree reveals our soft Santa Claus - one of the first Christmas ornaments Andrés and I got for our tree. There is also a gingerbread ornament the kids made a couple of years ago, and a big green car, which the kids also picked out two years ago.

I love looking at the ornaments and remembering the stories behind them.

The Pageant

Today was the big performance. It went fine. Luckily I didn't have a main part, but as you can see it was a bit difficult to fit everyone into the auditorium. Plus, it had rained that night, so everything was wet and the kids had to stand. I'm not sure Agustín could see my stellar performance.

Here he is, next to the girl in the blue jacket. I couldn't get him to look at the camera!

I had Nico with me (Daddy had to work and the rest of the family is at the beach house), and he was somewhat difficult to handle (he was so nervous being alone in the crowd while I was on stage), but later I convinced him to be good by handing him the camera.

Later that day we had the annual CEC potluck. We had a great turnout, and it was a nice time to visit with teachers that I don't always get to see or spend time with.

The food was great too. We brought Buffalo cheese dip with homemade pita chips and Noodle pudding (a Taste of Home recipe - very interesting, everything I try from those magazines are perfect!), but there was also potstickers, egg rolls, candied almonds, hamburger noodle dish, lots of cakes and cookies and breads, salad, Christmas tamales, beer :), and I can't remember what else, but everything was delicious and I definitely ate more than I should have. :)

Sheep... or Big Foot? :)

This year for the Christmas pageant at Agustín's school, the parents are putting on a show for the kids. In our grade we are doing the story of the reindeer who felt ugly, so we have to dress up like animals. I am a sheep. The costume was huge for Ecuadorians, but I barely fit into it.

Agustín is VERY excited to see Mommy out there dressed as a sheep.

The Newest Addition

We have a new addition to the decorations this year. I wanted to get something special for the kids, something like the cool (yet corny) Christmas decorations I remember from my childhood, something that in 20-30 years my kids will want for their kids. I found this cheesy snowman that sings "Let it Snow!" at a Christmas shop. He moves back and forth while he sings, and then the marshmallows come up out of the hot chocolate for the chorus.

He lasted 14 hours. Now he doesn't move, but the marshmallows do.

According to Nico, Agustín broke him. But I wonder. This thing was probably cheap in the U.S. Here, it was still cheaply made, but expensive. They just don't make things like they used to, and maybe he wasn't made for lasting more than one Christmas...

I am going to try new batteries and hopefully that will work. Otherwise, we will just enjoy the marshmallow chorus.

Our tree

The kids helped me decorate the tree this year. Agus was so excited to put his star at the top. I loved watching them both choose the ornaments they were going to put up. Agustin even helped me string on the lights!

Yeah for shopping

Well, as my previous post Mission Impossible stated, I had some trouble this weekend getting online and blogging. I had all the good intentions in the world, but life got in the way. One of the big pieces of news I had for everyone out there is that we will be arriving in MSP on December 16, in the morning (on the new Delta flight out of Quito). Yes, we finally bought the tickets (our return is Saturday, Jan. 6). And I am SO excited to be going back home, to see everyone and to do some major Christmas shopping! WOOHOO! By the way, Bati will also be coming, but one day after us (Dec. 17 am). He wants us to pick him up from the airport and go directly to the Mall of America. No goofing off on his part, you see. Gotta get the serious stuff out of the way, haha!

In the meantime, I just HAD to go shopping this weekend. I bought a new Christmas tree, since last year the stand on our old one went kaput - and no one could help me find a new stand. Actually, we eventually found one, but it is too flimsy for our big ol' tree. So I am going to be getting rid of the old and coming in with the new this Christmas - even though we will really only be in our house for a few weeks during the season. (I also got an advent calendar, which should be fun to do with the kids.)


I also decided to "splurge" on a new purse. My old ones are so old that I can't wait a couple more months before we go back to get one. I like the one I found, but I will definitely be purse shopping this winter.