Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was very special to us this year. My mom was home with us for the first time in 25 years. She is an assistant store manager in retail and you can imagine what that is like. The circumstances of why she was home were unfortunate but she was home nonetheless and it was great. We baked the day before and had chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cupcakes and sugar cookies decorated by us all. Tio made the best banana pudding I have ever had. So good I would have licked the remains off monk’s tray had it not been mixed with bean and rice and tamale bits. We always eat Mexican food on Christmas Eve and so we had tamales, enchiladas, rice and beans, guacamole and chips and hot sauce. Aikman ate four little bowls of beans plus some of everything else. We watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and then a Christmas Story. Monkey needed a bath after dinner and I had pudding in my hair and beany handprints with pieces of rice on my shirt from carrying his little naked self from the dining room to the bath.

Devin and I have started a small tradition where every Christmas Eve we will buy a game and our kids will open it that night and then we will play it all together. Obviously monks is too young right now, but a tradition is a tradition and he will have a little collection by the time he is old enough to play. Last year we bought a Toy Story memory game that still gets played on game nights by us all. Anyway, this year we bought him Bed Bugs. I remember having it when we were little and I loved it. He opened it after his bath and then once he was in bed, his three uncles and mom and dad played it. A game meant for 5 year olds was a huge hit even for 22 to 30 year olds. We called it a night after many games, too much food and classic movies. Wonder if Santa came…….



Opening his game





Saying his good nights