Christmas!!!

This lovely Christmas day was full of warmth, laughter and snow! Although about 3/4 of our family was missing, we managed to stir up excitement although a tear or two tried to make it's way out at the thought of how much we missed everyone. Traditions can send your mind into chaos when change comes. We become so used to certain people surrounding us and certain things being done a certain way to make it Christmas.

I expected a room full of men playing Xbox or watching movies as the woman attended to the cooking, laughing and keeping order with the littlest ones. Then prayer followed by pushing and shoving to get to the next dish and finding a place to sit, cause no dinner table on earth could fit us all together. Then the waiting...waiting....waiting..... and asking constantly "is it time yet?" from the kids. Until midnight when we all gather by the tree to open up our presents. I miss all the oooo's and aaaaw's and the priceless expressions on the children's faces when they see what they got.

The waking up the next morning and driving to Mexico and breathing in the smell of burning brick down the highway and finally getting to my Grandma's house where our uncles are already visiting. The hugging and kissing and wishing Merry Christmas and then all the cooking. Tamales, carnitas, tortillas, buñuelos, coffee, champurado, everyone would always gather in my Grandmas kitchen no matter how tiny it is, haha. The fire outside that always brought into the house the smell of smoke (love it!) and every kid covered in dirt from head to toe from all the playing! Leaving Grandma's really late at night to get stuck at the border for about 2-3 hours to get into the U.S. Can't forget the Mexican candy we always bought in bulk! hahahaha.

Well despite this missing in our lives this year, we did have a whole new experience. We had a white Christmas and a big warm meal and lots of presents (thank the Lord) and met a whole new bunch of people who invited us into their homes and lives. We got to play Monopoly to kill time before midnight (when we get to open presents) and the next day, Christmas, I walked outside with my sister's and played in more than three feet of snow! Some parts it snowed up to our waist. We got to tackle each other and throw snowballs and roll around in the snow! Unforgettable. God is so good to us, I mean He really is. All our friends are in AZ, but here we at least have each other to pick on. It was a beautiful Christmas, and placing all the traditions aside, we never put aside the fact that our Savior was born to this world and brought our redemption on this special day where so much happens. I thank God I was born into a family who taught me to appreciate this. I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas.

Monopoly....

Snow fighting!!!

A Christmas Play.....

I always imagined what that day might of been like. The day Jesus was born. I can't imagine how Mary felt in her youth as she prepared to give birth to THE promise that would save mankind. Such a beautiful thought. Here's the thing, I was asked to prepare a play for the church for our Christmas Celebration. Well I had great people to work with, who are funny and daring. I didn't make it a big event, I tried to make it as simple as possible with lots of humor. Well it came out so funny and lovely at the same time. We are always painted the clean, perfect picture of how Christ came into the world and we kinda forget that Mary and Joseph were human! So I dared to make Joseph a nervous wreck and Mary a moody lady in labor. An example of this is when Mary is walking towards the Manger she gets a strong contraction and squeezes Josephs hand to the point of fracturing it, and both equally yell like girls in pain! So funny! I am so glad the church played along and laughed at all the right moments.
My parents played the Manger owners with an extra thick accent (they speak mostly Spanish, so they have a heavy accent anyway) and when my Dad is showing Joseph the manger he mentions his wife had 10 kids (my parents literally had 10 kids) and she could assist Mary in her labor. When my mom shows up she is this over emotional woman who seems more excited than all of them that Mary is having her first child! "Oh ju have fyirst baebae, I member my fyirst baebae, 10 pounds!" she yelled, with her hands and face guesturing every word! everyone just laughed!

The angels were another one of my favorites cause Eleina on the far right was the messenger angel who had a scroll with the message inscribed on it. We turned on mission impossible music as she walked in, like a spy on the lookout, passed all the church pews. Then as she is getting near the other angels she trips and the music is shut off abruptly. She jumps up and as she adjusts herself says, "I'm OK!" Well they get to the shepherds in the field and try waking them up three different times until one of the angels finally yell, "HEY, WAKE UP!" and as the shepherds wake up, a recorded track goes on with a choir singing, "HALLELUJAH!"

It all came out perfect and funny! I love these people for taking a risk from the norm. They made this day so special and laughter filled the church. It's good to not get so caught up in the whole neat, clean and perfect manger scene. These people were human and perhaps had many flaws just like us. The play ended with the two little angels leading the two songs "Away in a manger" and "Silent Night" It was beautiful.

This is a picture of Pastor and his little girl, who was an angel, following him around. I just thought it was so cute cause I feel like this is how God looks out for us, we have our guardian angels.

Winter Wonderland..

Well it's been snowing and the air's been blowing savagely for the last week or two. So we got snow everywhere! Edward found himself a project. He tried to dig a tunnel through this HUGE pile of snow.
It's so funny cause it just piled up and made a kinda wall and left a little passageway.....

Well he tried making the tunnel but he said he accidentally tapped the wall and it ended up caving in....

This is the entrance to our home, yeah we were stuck! We had to get it plowed cause we tried to drive through it and got stuck.....

This is Shorty after a long attempt to dig a tunnel. His cheeks are so rosy! It was a good 4 degrees outside. I love that we are going to have a white Christmas, it didn't snow this good, last year, until January. We were kinda bummed, but this year is going to be beautiful! Thank you God.

This was funny.

So anyway, I bought Edward a Christmas stocking with a soccer ball design cause he LOVES soccer! In the front of it is a little pocket to insert a photograph of the stocking owner. So I told Eddy I needed to take a pic of him. He was hesitant cause he doesn't like his pic taken but I can force him to do anything, so I got him to do this.

Well when he saw the pic on the computer, he was so hard on himself. He kept saying things like, what's up with that fat face? look at my hair, it looks too soft, I look like a girl! I look retarded! My face looks so fat! Take it off I look stupid!

He kept going on and on about how much he hated the pic, when to you and I he looks like a little cutie! So I told him to shut up and that he looked handsome, and that it's better to take a girls word for it! So he calmed down, but then he ran to take the stocking to my mom and started all over again until my mom told him he looked fine in the picture. So I haven't heard him bring it up since. I really didn't think boys ever dealt with things like this, I thought only girls were this hard on themselves! I think he prefers to take pictures of him being goofy over sitting still being serious and handsome. BOYS!!!

Fun Makeup!

So coming home from church and having lunch and cleaning up our mess, I really had nothing to do. Edward and I were the only ones home, so we sat on the couch and watched a movie. Also, I really don't fancy ice cream, but once in a while I crave it, so I had a scoop of Death by Chocolate and a scoop of Butter Pecan. Weird combo, but that's what we had in the freezer! Afterward later in the evening I was restless so I played with blue eyeshadow! I think some of the pics looked better in black and white though. So anywho hope you like!

Makeup can really be a miracle worker for woman! I mean I look flawless in these pics, when like many woman have endless flaws! Well one thing that I thought was so funny was that I normally have a thinner upper lip compared to my lower lip. So what I did, for the blue on my lips to really pop, was I took a cotton ball and ripped a piece from it and shoved it under my upper lip to get just enough lift to create the illusion of a thicker upper lip! I thought it was so funny but I figured out how to make lips look more plump for when I do pics with girls who have thin lips, and want a more fuller look! hahahaha! Beauty is deceiving! Don't be fooled people this is only for the sake of art! hahaha. The pics with the cottonball in my mouth are the ones in black and white, I think you can tell the difference! hahaha.

Webcam Fun!

Had a lovely conversation with my Nephew Ceazar on the webcam and also spoke with my brother Carlos. My little niece Carla kept getting in the shot and was doing the goofiest things, but looking at the things my brother was doing I can see who she gets it from!

This is where Carlos came into the conversation!

And then my parents came over and joined us, while Carlos put three Rudolph noses on his head, they were all lighting up on and off. So funny. Then Carla took over the show and kept us laughing for a while. She's so funny. She also sang "Something Beautiful" from the Newsboys! She sings it so good! Little girls got talent!

Job Interview!

I HAD A JOB INTERVIEW TODAY!!
Well, I think everything went well, but it's so wearisome to have to wait half a week to see if I got it or not. I have had a previous phone call telling me, "We want to thank you for applying, but we have given the position to another candidate." I kindly say, "That's fine, thanks for calling me." then I hang up and yell, "AND CRUSHING MY SPIRIT!" Job hunting stinks! I am hoping to get this job and get some night classes, this job will provide this opportunity! I realized there are a lot of things I have missed out on, so I want the new year to be filled with goals. Of course not all of them will be completed by the end of the year, I am sure cause some are just too big, but just to know that I am making the journey a joy to walk and getting those rewards when I have completed them! To God be the Glory!

It can be stressful sometimes but that's why I am grateful I have God in my life. I know that the many roads I take are little veins within God's path for my life and through those little journeys I slowly discover who I am and best of all they disclose God's mystery, that's the greatest reward. To befriend God more and more everyday and know Him more intimately. The path that led me to Montana and the many choices I am making here have shown me to just chill, breathe and delight in the Lord for all that He is and all that He wants to do through me. Just help me pray about this pending job, to have the will of God be done. I won't stress about this anymore. I bring it to your throne Lord!

Anyway, check out the sunset we had last night! The sky was on fire, the sky here is always morphing into something new, never a dull moment. God takes my breath away! This was on the road to our house. It's our front yard view! We got the big screen compared to alot of city houses, who have to settle for the 24" hahaha, I don't know what that means, you figure it out!

Ciao Now!

Blessings<><

~~BLIZZARD~~

I am wearing a scarf now!! Winter is totally here!

I had one of the scariest days! Well this morning I was awaken by the sound of strong winds and I got up to look out my window and it was crazy outside. Wind was blowing strong, carrying the snow through the valley. Well I had no idea Mom wanted me to go somewhere with her today. Note we have never driven the van in the snow, it has no snow tires. Well after much debating whether we should drive in the blizzard into town, she finally convinced me it would be ok.

Well, it was not ok!!! The moment we got on the highway the van began to swerve! She managed to get it under control, but that was more than enough excitement for me. I think I was about two seconds away from jumping out of the van and walking back home in the middle of the blizzard than to risk the van swerving straight into a Semi truck! Mom managed to calm me down, I think she noticed me gripping the door handle.

Anywho when we got to the stop light it didn't seem too bad until she hit the accelerator and the van wiggled slightly back and forth the whole way down the hill. I HATED IT! The whole time we were driving around the little city we would randomly slide here and there, I think I watch too many movies!

Well she chose not to drive to the next city to meet my Dad, THANK GOD! I was freaking out as it was, imagine driving in that going 50mph on a four lane highway! We got home safely and carried in some wood to keep the house warm through the chilly night. I love snow!

Well November is gone, and Christmas is coming soon!! WOOHOO!