Thursday, December 29, 2011

Three Days of Christmas

Our First Christmas Together!

We are still recovering from our long Christmas weekend. Whoa. It was wonderful to get to see our family, but the kids especially were worn out by the time it was over.


THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS


We started the weekend off with a visit from the babies’ Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Winn. The babies seemed to really enjoy the visit, and Ellie discovered that Great-Grandma wears necklaces that are really fun to chew on. :-)

With Great-Grandparents Winn: Ellie, Caleb, Abby, and Eli

They brought a gift with them that was big enough to pile all of the babies on top of. Abby didn’t seem to get into the Christmas spirit as quickly as the others, but eventually, they all took turns tearing (really more like chewing) on the wrapping paper. They brought us one of those Super XL Play Yards. Or as I affectionately refer to it, “The Baby Cage. “ We’ve already started using it to corral the kids. Awesome gift because these little people are all over the place now!



What is this big box?Opening their first Christmas gift

Friday evening, my parents, brother Mike and his wife and daughter, and my two youngest brothers, Josh and Chris, came over for dinner. We decided to have a New Mexican Christmas dinner as a nod to our childhood. It’s so hard to find good Mexican food here in the Midwest, so we like to make it ourselves to make sure it is good. :-)

New Mexican Christmas Dinner

I made Chicken Fajitas with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole.

I baked some bischochitos as well. They are the traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie. Made with brandy or white wine, rolled thin, and dipped TWICE in sugar and cinnamon. Yummy!

Bischochitos

My Mom wrote down my grandma’s posole recipe while she was in Mesilla, New Mexico visiting last week. Cooked correctly, it takes a while to get that perfect flavor of pork, hominy, and red chili, but it is so worth it. Mom made her red chili sauce from scratch just like grandma used to do. She also brought a big pot of chile con queso (not rotel, mind you. I’m taking about the real stuff!)

Sarah brought Little Smokeys and Taquitos. Little Smokeys? That’s not technically Mexican, but every Christmas Eve, we had a potluck at my grandparents’ house and someone always brought Little Smokeys. It’s just not Christmas without them. The only food item that got a complaint were the Taquitos. Mike told Sarah that they weren’t quite right because she didn’t cut them in half for him like when we were growing up.

But, other than Mike’s small complaint, everyone thoroughly enjoyed skipping the Traditional Christmas Dinner, and going with the New Mexican version. Can you tell it was one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend??

Uncle Josh, Uncle Christopher, Grandpa, Cita, Daddy, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Mike

There is even talk about making it a tradition from here on out. I’m totally on board with that!

The kids thought that the wrapping paper was the best part of the evening. Then they got to the toys and realized that Grandpa and Cita brought all toys that make noise. The kids LOVE the fact that they light up, move, and play music. (Sean and I are still coming to terms with the extra layer of noise in our house now.)

First Christmas!

Two of my siblings couldn’t make it back from Christmas, but we were lucky enough to get to Skype with my brother, Mark, from New Mexico (he moved back to the area that we grew up in). We wish that he could have made it here, but Skype is a good compromise!


THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS


Saturday afternoon, Sean’s parents, and sister Ruby and her husband and daughter came over for a traditional Christmas dinner. Ham, sweet potatoes, cheesy corn, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Another delicious meal! Which reminds me, I still need to get that cheesy corn recipe from Ruby. It was beyond amazing!

That was followed up by some Wii Bowling before we dug into pie and then into presents.



Pa, Cousin Marissa, Ma, and Daddy Playing the Wii


Cousin Marissa, Uncle Todd, and Aunt Ruby recovering from Christmas Dinner



So much for our kids not being spoiled! They were simply showered with toys, books, and clothes! But they are having a great time exploring all of their new items! Ellie was also held for two solid days, so we are still suffering from the ramifications of that. I didn’t really think it would be possible to spoil quadruplets. Uh…I was so wrong.





Abby, Cousin Mo, Eli, and Caleb looking at the Bilingual Learning Table from Uncle Todd and Aunt Ruby


Ellie and Abby unwrapping a new book from Ma and Pa


CHRISTMAS DAY

Sunday morning, it was just our little family. How fun to have their first Christmas! Unfortunately, by the time we got to Sunday, they were completely done with anything related to Christmas. Sean and I didn’t do much in terms of gifts for them (consignment sales is where it is at!), but even the little we did was completely unnecessary after the windfall of gifts they got on Friday and Saturday. In fact, I collected all of the puzzles they got from us for Christmas, and I’m going to rewrap them as birthday gifts. Yep, I’m that kind of mom. I won’t be able to get away with that for long, but I’ll take it while I can!

The babies and their three days of loot

Post-Christmas Day

Monday morning, our kids who are usually awake and playing in their cribs by 8am, slept until we woke them up at 10am. We didn’t take them anywhere due to our lockdown, but apparently they were exhausted just from interacting with everyone.  Whew!


Eli and Caleb, tired but still playing...


The only thing that Ellie wanted to do all day on Monday.


This was not posed! Abby was just too worn out to play or crawl around anymore. Eli makes a nice pillow. :)


Even though we enjoyed our first Christmas together, all six of us need a break. I hate to say that I’m glad it’s over, but it’s nice to get back to the regular way our house runs.

But, I’m already looking forward to next year when our kids will be able to make Christmas crafts, eat Christmas Dinner with us at the table, help us decorate the tree, and start understanding the real reason for the CHRISTmas season!

2 comments:

  1. Loved your blog, Rebecca. I read it every time you post. Looks like you all had a really fun Christmas. The babies seem strong and heathy. I pray for God's continued blessings upon your family in 2012. PS Give "Cita" hugs for me ok? Myrna Vaughan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Man, that food was G-O-O-O-O-D........ :P

    Quadrunkle #4

    ReplyDelete

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