A Texas Life: A Christmas Vacation Part I

Long post[s] coming at ya!
Hehe. Fair warning ;)

Because this is our first year being close to both our families (6-8hrs driving distance to either my in-laws or my parents) we decided that this was a great year to do a double whammy, and we visited both our families during the winter holiday. There were also a number of things we wanted to be there for~ Q's brother and his wife were going to be in NM right after New Years, the Christmas pageant happens in early December at the school in Anapra, and this was going to be Baby E's first birthday. So the plan was we would drive down to Mexico for BE's birthday; we'd stay with my parents for the holidays and meet up with Q's family at the same time as his brother, then stay a little bit longer after his brother left.

Well, the plan worked! Haha!! I am very happy about this because while it certainly is true things never go exactly how you imagine, it is nice that some times the structure of things actually works out as planned :)

We arrived in Anapra very late one night in December, a day or so before BE's birthday party, and basically slept and woke up to get ready for the party. I was surprised to see that mom and my sisters had done most of the (very difficult and apparently dangerous!) work of making the trophies that we wanted as party favors. In Mexico "party favors" is really not the right term, though. We make baggies of candy- big, fat baggies with lots and lots of candy. The booty should be enough candy that it rivals whatever a kid would get from braving a swarm of other excited party-goers to get their pin~ata candy. Thus, the dollar-tree tiny little trophy would not do. We had to make them, and I fully expected to make them- except they were already pretty much done when we got there, and they were glorious:

We did have a fun day of cake baking (6 boxes worth of cake!) and lots of catching up with the family. The cousins were there to play and LO and BE had a blast.

A little creative napping.. hehe..

Who gave her the chocolate treat!?! Not Abuelita, no....

We mostly worried about the party, but my parents were also preparing for the Christmas pageant in Anapra and the Christmas Service at church, which, as always, was absolutely beautiful. The children from both church and school were meeting to rehearse their songs, dances, sketches, etcetera. We were there for a few rehearsals at the school, mostly because I needed to use the internet at the school (no internet at the anapra house) and the children of Susana Wesley were simply the most wonderful new friends for Little Owl. They really took her in and played with her despite the language barrier (I am embarrassed to admit there was one) and the kids of fourth grade even invited her to participate in their dance with them during the actual festival.

I am so very thankful to Teacher M and her beautiful, well-behaved group, for their generosity. The children were holding hands with her, making sure she didn't fall, getting her up and down the stage... their generosity extended to the day of the show! The song was special because they used a black light and special wands, and the one little girl who had been making friends with LO gave her the wand! For a child to do that, for their one and only presentation! It was just so very special to me.

Thank you, my sweet little girl!

A LOT happened during our holiday, of course. The church also had a Christmas service, and the kids had a Posada, and the teachers had a posada, and my cousin's birthday party was the day after BE's party, and then we went out a whole lot, and there was my Tia S's birthday, and there was the tree decorating and cookie making and....uff!! Lots and lots of fun to be had.

Anapra's Posada

HAHAHA! Trying to get a picture taken can be hard!

And here is Baby E enjoying life! LOL! I just think it's so funny that he was on my uncle's lap for so long and was just SO AT HOME with him!! Like it was ME holding him, you know what I mean???