There was also traditional roasted pig and, of course, rice and beans. The traditional Puerto Rican fare was wonderful.
The kids weren't so interested in the traditional food though. It was all about the presents!
The do-it-yourself Build A Bear. This was a very cute idea. Unfortunately for Siena, she has me for a mother. I am sewing challenged. I spent over an hour on Christmas day trying to properly sew and assemble this for Siena. Supposidly this is something a 7 year old can do. In the end, the poor bear's arms and legs were arched behind him and his back stitching looked like he had undergone a major operation. My profound apologies Siena. However, there is no one else on earth I would have gone through the planet for.
Presents for Mason! More train tracks! These are a hit. He is super good at putting these together.
And a new fleese...
The cousins and tia. Andre has a matching fleese.
Luis may have been the Transformer master as a kid, but these new fandangled Transformers are a totally baffling breed. He spent a lot of time trying to help Andre transform a car we had given him.
Christmas Day we went to Yaya and Papa Ron's house. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera. However, most of the present opening looks like many of the above pictures. We had a wonderful time all playing with the kids and their new toys. They're of an age where their toys are fun for all. We played Lite Bright, helped Mason paint his cars, and played with Siena's new game.
The highlight of the day for everyone though was when Mason requested that we all go outside and sing Christmas carols (a family did that in one of his Christmas movies). For those of you that know this crowd, we're not much of singers, at least not voluntarily, but Mason was adament. I don't know if there is anyone on the planet that could get Papa Ron outside in the cold singing Christmas carols but we all did it. Afterword, we all agreed it was the highlight of the holidays.
Saturday...Boxing Day...we didn't box much. The kids got to play with their new toys. I also took the kids to lunch to meet my friends Sarah and Laura. It's always nice to hang out with my fellow sandwich ingredients. We were supposed to go see Grandma Bessie after that but due to an infection following a cat bite, she wasn't up to it. Next weekend.
Today, Sunday, was pretty low key. After a busy few days we were feeling lazy. The kids had a soccer game which Yaya and Papa Ron came to watch. After that we went to Gustavs for some German dinner.
In all, it was a nice Christmas.