Blizzard time!

All the snowfall that we got during the Christmas break was MORE than welcome by our family!  With the Florida gang in town, the Cecil's visiting from Germany, and our neighbors coming to play... everyone had fun (even ALL the adults!)  All of these are pics from our Christmas week!

sledding with Lacayo's and Cecil's!

 I absolutely LOVE Alex and Gabi's huge smiles every time they went down the slope!

  

Merry Christmas!

Paco&Funny (our elves) left messages on our windows!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.  Not sure who was more excited this morning... the kids or Tobin!  He was laying in bed anxious for the kids to wake up.  They slept in until well past 8 (since going to bed late the previous night).  However, once they were all awake, we were joined by Abuelita, Gramma and Bapa for our reading of the Very First Christmas.  A beautiful story of Jesus's birth and a wonderful keepsake for us.  Afterwards, Isa led us all in Silent Night and followed by "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus!
Gabi was so cute this year, especially with her commentary during the story.  She remarked that baby Jesus was "so cute", told us that the she "was excitement" and "ahhhhhed" at many of the parts in the book.  She was sent down to see if Santa had come.... but we shortly had to follow since we didn't get a response =).  Will and Isa immediately ran towards the tree and found their own little bags of treasures!
Will's presents were wrapped in Angry Birds paper and his favorite gifts were his Angry birds jenga sets.  He also got a Hot Wheels set, SWAT suit, and remote control cars.
Isa's gifts were wrapped in Princess paper.  This year all she asked for was a "dream lite pillow pet."  She got that, a Baby Alive that walks who she named Elizabeth, Yahtzee, and Brave.
Gabi's gifts were wrapped in Cinderella paper.  She also wanted a Dream Lite and received that.  She also got a scooter, Merida doll, and Candyland.
All the kids loved their gifts, new books and little treats.  Santa pancakes for breakfast, playing games together as a family and staying in our pajama's until almost 5pm was awesome!  Couldn't have asked for a more intimate and loving Christmas Day.

 

Christmas Eve

This year, we had a wonderful Christmas Eve.  Our morning was spent relaxing and sharing time together at home.  After trying to figure out what time Mass we would attend, we decided to skip the early Mass and McDonald's  and the gang came our way for an early dinner and evening Mass.  We had spiraled Ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potato, salad and a GREAT CROWD!  It was real nice spending the time together and chatting.  We were all able to attend the Christmas Eve Mass at the church (versus the gym) this year too.  The kids did much better than expected and after Mass we did our usual tour of neighborhood lights before heading over to Gramma's and Bapa's!
Over at the Sikora's everyone was in the Christmas spirit.  The adults exchanged gifts, many humorous and mostly well thought of.  The kids played well together as the adults engaged in conversation.  Then the kids opened gifts from their grandparents and from their secret partners!  Everyone had a wonderful evening being silly, playing games, and chatting!

ready for Christmas morning