Merry Christmas!

For me, Christmas means family. There are often other lovely things – decorations, food traditions, music, the rare bit of snow – but mainly, it’s everybody gathering at my parents’ house, hanging out, and talking about memories and future plans and funny stories.

fresh tortillas, freshly made green chile salsa, bacon, eggs fried in bacon fat – just your average breakfast at my parents’ house. 🙂

I should have taken photos of all of my mom’s Christmas decorations – every corner, every shelf had a bit of Christmas cheer. She also baked three types of cookies (the BEST chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies) and a banana pudding cake, made several batches of spicy tamales and fresh flour tortillas, and fried up eggs each morning. How does she do all this?! No clue, but we love being spoiled by her. 🙂 (And kudos to my dad for my perfectly medium rare steak on Christmas Eve!)

banana pudding cake. yep.

This year, the whole family got to hang out. We played games, put together puzzles, and talked, talked, talked. The BEST.

Also, there’s this little gal:

hiding from her dad, so cooly, under the table

My grand-niece is like the brightest star in the sky. She brings us all such joy with her imagination and silliness and cuteness. For me, she’s a mini-version of my niece, and her tiny voice reminds me of my nephew when he was just a little thing. (They’re both in their 20s now, how in the heck did that happen.) It simultaneously makes me feel old and young, and I love it. 

Anyway, I am so glad we were able to spend a few days with my family before we make the move to South Carolina. I know we’ll be back soon, but I wanted to sop up as much family love as I could. Success. 🙂

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