Wrapping up...

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. So much has happened and is yet to happen that I really hesitate writing this post. But, I don't want to not write just because it seems like a lot of information. Christmas and New Year's were a lot of fun. We continued in our same traditions and had so much fun sharing them with these 3 new kids. Thanksgiving was good too. It was fun to share the love that we receive so naturally from our friends and family. Since this is a pretty random post with lots of information I'll just get right to it.
Thanksgiving- We continued the tradition of going to Freeport to spend time with both of our families. Elias and I are so blessed that our families are from the same town and we literally have a 4 minute drive from one house to the next when we go home. I think the kids were a little overwhelmed by exactly how much family we had. I told them not to panic too much at Christmas when we were with my mom's side of the family. The kids had never really had a Thanksgiving meal before so they were definitely shocked by how much food there really was.
Christmas- Again, we went home and continued in the traditions that we have done pretty much our whole lives. Christmas Eve we went to my mom's sisters house and had our traditional tamales, beefy mac and other things. I can't imagine not being with everyone on Christmas Eve. It was sadder this year, as we lost my cousin earlier in the month. It was weird not having him there making fun of the girls plates as we stack them higher and higher with food. Or telling us how beautiful we are. Or cracking jokes on just about everyone. He was one of us, one of the cousins. Most of my memories of my family include him. It was weird having just his face in a frame on the wall. To not hear his goober laugh or to hear someone say "Ay, Christopher!" But we had a good time again this year. We'll just definitely miss him. My mom's family then headed home and did our traditional opening gifts at midnight. As we are all getting older we are wondering why on earth we opened presents at midnight, but we do and it's always fun. Christmas day my dad's sisters came over and so did Elias' sister and girls. We had fun watching movies and eating tamales, menudo and posole. That night we went to Elias' brothers house for a little while. All in all, Christmas was fun.
New Years Eve-We continued the tradition of having people over for game night. This time we had some friends we've made through the police academy. It was a lot of fun. I definitely think the highlight was seeing cadets dancing to "Jump On It". There was lots of yummy food and lots of fun was had.

That is the holiday wrap up. Next up...kids.