I brought cookies!
I appreciated that someone other than me (or Jim) had a talk with James about patience and generosity. Other people will open presents and not all of the presents would be for James! Thanks ChaCha!
Jim tries out the pool table in the new basement.
Whoa! Are all those presents for James?! No :)
Yule log on a big ass TV.
One of the first presents James opens is from Tia Kiki and Tio Berto in Japan. They sent the Harry Potter Wii game!!!!!!!!!! James was so excited! So excited that as soon as we got home on Monday that was the FIRST thing he wanted to do- play the game! He was pretty patient, waiting for the chance to get to the Wii so how could I say no? It was fun :)
Grandma gets Tequila! It was to go along with the bar blender that she asked for. Margaritas for everyone!
Uncle Rich accessorizes.
Uncle Rich gives Jim an Ipad! Uh... a fake one.
Wow! A Lego Star Wars watch! We opened this when we got to our house too. James loves it. He really loves the Darth Vader figure- he didn't have that one yet :)
I prepped James about receiving clothing. He was polite and didn't throw them to the side. Of course they don't generate the same level of excitement but he did well for a five year old!
Grandpa Larry gets a wooden Vikings head. We bought this for him at the Renaissance festival in September.
A Harry Potter castle!!! WOW!
Tia Kiki sent Larry a Japanese gong. James loved it! We decided the gong signals the start of happy hour :)
Wow! A tooth fairy pillow from ChaCha! And she made it. Extra special!
James was all over Uncle Rich. Those are his grubby little hands behind him as Rich tried to pose with his new Vikings head gear.
ChaCha, is that a real dog? Yes. It's my pup.
I tried on my new Wonder Woman apron for tamale making! It's awesome! Thanks Ana!
Three cucumber margaritas for the chicas. It's a must when you're about to spend a goodly amount of time in the kitchen!
Corn husks are prepped.
Ana starts with the masa.
We had four fillings. Rosie ties off the tamales after they've been filled.
In her spare time (ha!) M-O-M roasts peppers and chiles for salsa and guacamole.
Filled and ready to be steamed! We ended up with about 6 dozen.
My Mom borrowed this tamale steamer from a friend. It was so tall that Ana had to use a step stool to reach in!
Apps. Salsas, guacamole, and crab tostadas.
So pretty!
While we were cooking the boys played pool and downstairs. Well, Jim had to spend a good amount of time putting together this castle.
Ahhhhh. Dinner!
I cut into the tamales so you can see the fillings- these are pork with red chile and chicken with tomatillo/cilantro sauce. Yums.
After dinner James asked if we could have a campfire and roast marshmallows. He is refused nothing around that house and actually the weather was great for it. Too bad the only marshmallow in the house fell into the fire! Haha.
At bedtime James escaped Grandma and ran around the house sans pants! He moved so quickly and was so amused!
What a great day!
Thanks SO much for posting pics of the family Christmas! I miss you guys so much and it's especially harder at the Holidays.
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Kiki =)