Tag Archives: holidays

Christmas Eve: SAC, Samson and Santa Hats!!

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons, Samson by

Today is Christmas Eve. The first gift the universe gave to me was a day off of work! Yee ha!

Traditionally, Christmas Eve is a time for our little family to be together.  We do our own thing and then get together with the rest of the family on Christmas Day.

Growing up, the Atencio family had its own traditions. We would open one present on Christmas Eve, which was a big tease and lots of fun.  We always went to midnight mass so we would stay up and watch A Christmas Carol to pass the time. My dad would guffaw with laughter at the exact same spot every time (when the charity guy comes up to Scrooge and says “Excuse me sir, you don’t know me..” and then Scrooge says, “And nor do I wish to”). If you know my dad, you know that he rarely guffaws at anything. Inevitably, one of us girls would fall asleep before the movie ended and my parents would have to wake us when it was time to get dressed for church. Then we’d pile in the car and head out. It was always freezing and so when we got back, my mom would make hot cocoa and we’d warm up with that and some cookies. Then we’d crash in bed and anxiously await Santa’s arrival.

Here I am with my sister. This was taken Xmas Eve 1994, right before we left for church. I was 18 and she was 20. Don’t you love our shiny purple shirts? No we didn’t dress to match on purpose, we just happened to have the same taste in clothes. We don’t look-alike at all, do we? Although, she looks more babe-a-rific here than I do.

Don't you love the look on CJ's face?

CJ and I have tried to start some Trader family traditions of our own. When we were first married, we would drive around town and look at holiday lights while drinking hot cocoa. When we got Samson, we brought him with us and he got car sick and puked in the back seat. We’ve left him at home ever since. Last year we didn’t go look at lights because Isabella was so little…and we were buried in snow. We won’t make it out this year either. That tradition will have to wait until Isabella is older and can enjoy the light show with us.

Samson's bday breakfast

Christmas Eve 2010 started out with me making pancakes for everyone. Isabella enjoyed them immensely, as did Samson. Since today is his birthday (he’s 5, can you believe it?), I put a candle in his pancake and we all sang “Happy Birthday!”

Then we all got dressed and headed out to the SAC Museum because they had a couple exhibits CJ wanted to see and we thought it would be a great place to let Munchkin stretch her legs. SAC is pretty much a big hangar of airplanes so there was lots of room to walk and we didn’t have to worry about her breaking anything.

Isabella was really in to the Christmas trees they had there. We liked the planes, she liked the trees. I guess that would be about right for a 1-year-old.

(It kind of looks like I have a bomber jacket on in this picture. I’d like to say I coordinated it that way on purpose, but I didn’t. She was pointing off camera and shouting “TREE!”)

 
She actually did enjoy running around the hanger under all the big planes. Although, she also enjoyed the garbage can, the utility truck and the signs too so not sure we can say she will grow up to be a pilot just yet. I purposely stood back and let her get ahead of me to show just how tiny she looks under this massive jet. We had a lot of fun there.

Then we came home, had some dinner and started in on the other traditions, like opening one present!

Samson

Isabella

 

Me

 

CJ

Last  year we started a new tradition of taking our family picture wearing Santa hats! CJ and I have had them for years and wear ’em when we go caroling with his old high school friends. CJ’s has a black band, mine is all sparkly and then we got Isabella a “Baby’s First Christmas” hat.

2009 - Aren't we cute?

I love the look on Munchkin’s face that says “OMG my parents are so weird…someone help me…” That, or she’s pooping.

Here is this year’s picture:

2010

She’s still not so sure about this whole hat thing. She didn’t really want to sit still for the picture so this was as good a picture as we could get!

Now the little one is sound asleep, dreaming of sugar plums, airplanes and Christmas trees.

In honor of Samson’s birthday, I’ve included some links to albums I have made of him over the years. If you feel like strolling down memory lane with me, take a look!

Samson Book Volume 1

Samson Book Volume 2

  

If you like this, you might also like:

Samson Stories: The Escape Artist;

That’s the way the cookie crumbles;

Treats and the Wiggles

‘Tis the season

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by

I heard 2 stories today (thanks Rhonda!) that were good reminders as to what this season, and what every season, should be about. Christmas is not about all the gifts or cookies or lights or movies. It’s about helping each other and demonstrating love, in whatever way we can.

Here are the 2 stories:

“I just got this message from my friend who is a receptionist at Westroads Hyundai and this just happened as she sat there and watched. A lady in the waiting room was talking to the Service Rep about her car needing brakes badly and said it would have to wait because she was broke. Another gentleman overheard the conversation and pulled the Service Rep aside. He told him to put the brakes on and put it on his bill and to not tell her who paid for it. He said tell her God was looking out for her. True story…just happened.”

And the second one:

“My friend is in Italy and had her purse stolen on Tuesday. So she’s at the Consulate getting a new passport and she’s 1 euro short of the cost and doesn’t know what to do, after standing in line etc. The lady behind her gives her the money.  My friend says give me your address so I can pay you back and she said nah just pay it forward!”

Amen to that and here’s to paying it forward!

Treats and The Wiggles

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CJ and I enjoy sending Christmas cards and every year we send one with a family picture on it.

Here we are in 2006 (our first Christmas as a married couple):

2006

 We looked so in love, didn’t we? Also notice that I’m practically strangling Samson to get him to hold still (he was almost a year old). We actually had a treat balanced on top of the camera so that he would look in that direction. When I let go he lunged for it and knocked the tripod over. Goofball.

Then we thought we’d be creative and do one highlighting just how naughty Samson was as a puppy (yet, so darn cute! I just want to snuggle up to his wittle fuzzy face…):

2007

And then we got really creative and did a retro card (1950’s theme):

2008

I had to Photoshop several different pics together for this one. I took the base image of me and the tree and then added in CJ and Samson from different pics. I also digitally added in the fireplace (we don’t have one). 

And then Munchkin came along and we had to add her to the mix!

2009

As mentioned yesterday, we originally wanted Samson in this pic too but gave up after a while.

Each year it gets harder and harder to come up with new ideas. And it becomes even harder to actually get them to turn out now that we have a spunky labrador and active toddler to contend with.

So we decided to split it. I took the pics of CJ with Munchkin and CJ took pics of me with Samson. There were still some mishaps and frustrations (for example, we have a new camera and CJ was having issues getting it to take the pic when he wanted it to) but in the end we got what we needed. We had to once again use treats to keep Samson in place and we used The Wiggles to keep Munchkin still. So if it looks like she has a glazed look in her eye, it’s because she’s engrossed in Captain Feathersword.

Here are some of the outtakes:

Munchkin walking in front of the camera

Munchkin in the shot again..carrying her Elmo book

 

Blurry CJ talking

You’ll have to wait to see the final card. Don’t want to give it all away just yet!

Thanksgiving

Posted in Holidays and Seasons by

I am exhausted. These last 2 days have been packed full and I am feeling it. I’m not complaining though. I absolutely LOVE this time of year and this is a good kind of exhaustion.

CJ "yamming" it up!

It started Wednesday evening after I got home from work. We did our usual family stuff and then after Munchkin went to bed, CJ and I got busy cooking. I made mashed potatoes and CJ made candied yams. It was really fun to be in the kitchen cooking together. We haven’t done that in a while. Usually one of us cooks while the other entertains/watches the kid. So it was nice to have that time together. After the food was prepared, we played Wii for a couple of hours. Haven’t done that in a long time either. Seems like there’s not enough time to play anymore. Nothing like the impending holidays to bring out the kid in you!

Thursday all the family gathered at my parents house (CJ’s dad joined us as well). We ate and played games and napped (well, the guys anyway) and ate some more. There was interpretive dancing (of a cat…long story and I do have video but promised my mom I wouldn’t post it), booty shaking (this was me), Lego building, football watching and at the end of the day, when we were home and tired, lots of snuggling.

Our little fashionista!

Thanksgiving is my absolute most favorite holiday for 2 reasons: lots of yummy food and a kick-off of that magical feeling in the air that comes with the holidays. I also love the time to stop and reflect on what I’m grateful for. There really are too many things to name so I’ll hit the highlights – my wonderful husband, my amazing daughter, my loving family and supportive friends, having a great job, being healthy and happy, and just having an overall awesome life. I am truly lucky.

Another big part of yesterday was scouring the Black Friday ads. My sister and I hit the stores early every year. It used to be we’d go out to get all the great deals. Now we just go for the fun and excitement (and still some good deals). It’s our thing and I like that we have this tradition.

I was up at 2:45 a.m. this morning and out the door by 3:05 a.m. Usually we have a list of 4 or 5 stores to hit and some that we have to get to early for some kind of doorbuster. This year it was narrowed down to 2 stores and there really wasn’t anything spectacular we had to have. I did have my eye on a digital camera so we started at Wal-Mart so I could get it (and I did)!

The first year we did this we met at Younkers at 4 a.m. (that was back when the doors didn’t open until 6 a.m.). We wanted to get some gemstone jewelry that was advertised for $15 each. It was COLD that morning and I was all bundled up in a big poofy yellow coat. My sister almost couldn’t find me because I was like a little Eskimo. When the doors opened it was a mad dash and I literally had to shove people out-of-the-way to get to what I wanted. The jewels were all gone in a matter of minutes. Another year we split up and I went to Best Buy while she went to Shopko. I got to BB a couple of hours before open and the line was already wrapped around the building. Some people had even camped out.

This year was very tame. No elbowing or shoving or madness. We didn’t even have to wait outside because Wal-Mart is open 24 hours so we could go right in. We hit our 2 stores and were done by 7 a.m. Easy peasy. We both commented that we felt the tiredness more this year. Not sure if it’s because we’re getting older or that we have families now or what. It was still a ton of fun.

Now it’s time to get the house ready. Tonight before bed I’ll pull out all the Christmas decorations (won’t put them up until Sunday). Tomorrow is the Family Cookie Baking Extravaganza! This is where my mom, sis and I get together and bake a gajillion Christmas cookies. It will take us all day. I’ll try to take pics of the creations because they are all pretty and yummy!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Cheers to you!