Life: Where did December go?

It seems like the holiday season takes a long time to get here and when it finally arrives it goes by so quickly.  Christmas time is my favorite time of the year and I think it became more apparent after working for the Mouse.  I used to worked all major holidays and now that I no longer work there it feels odd to actually have the time off to spend with my loved ones.  I'm not complaining about having to work during the holiday season since I was able to enjoy my favorite holiday for two months. However, I do have to admit the park itself was pretty packed during this time of year but being able to see the fireworks on a nightly basis and seeing snow fall upon Main Street made up for it.

I'll be doing a quick re-cap of what has taken place in my life this month just like I did with my November post 


Let's start off with our little goddaughter's birthday.  I can't believe that our little goddaughter has turned 5 years old already. She really hates taking posing for pictures and I often have to beg her just to take one so I can keep adding them to her scrapbook.  This is the best smile she would give me and only after asking her several times to turn around so I could take it.  Can you tell she hates posing for pictures?

If you remember this previous post where she asked me for a specific type of cake for her birthday.  Well I did my very best to personalize it for her and it paid off because she loved it.  She's really into unicorns, rainbows, and flowers right now.

The holiday season is meant to be enjoyed by surrounding yourself with wonderful friends and sharing great food.  My friends and I take time out of our busy lives to have dinner at least once a month with each other.  During the month of December we have a Christmas potluck at one of our friend's house.  This year I made tiramisu and red velvet cookies to contribute to our potluck. Along with taking something to eat we each took a $10 white elephant gift.  If you've never heard of a white elephant gift before trust me you are truly missing out on the fun.  We had a blast stealing each other's gifts.  Here's a photo of my friend's lovely Christmas tree and the cute ornament of their little doggy Lola.

On Christmas eve we all headed over to my aunt's house to celebrate.  No traditional Mexican family could go without having tamales, ponche, buñuelos, and menudo for Christmas dinner.  By the end of the night we were all so full that we didn't fully enjoy the dessert station we had set up.  We all chipped in and brought in yummy desserts and I set it up.  I ended baking another tiramisu to take to my family's dinner along with other goodies.  My favorite part of the evening was when we all began to decorate cookies.

I had originally planned on entertaining the kids by decorating cookies but little did I know that the adults had more fun doing it than the kids.  We had so much fun that I think I'll make a new Christmas tradition.  Here are some of the great cookies my family made which by the way were store bought cookies.  Maybe next year I'll try to bake my own cookies and frosting. 

I am grateful that I was able to spend another year with all my loved ones and I really hope we're all that happy next year.  This is my aunt's beautiful Christmas tree maybe next week I'll post up some photos of the awesome Nativity set they made.

I hope everyone out there realizes that this season is not about receiving gifts but about taking time out of busy lives to enjoy it alongside the people that really matter to us.  My parent's have always taught me that we never know if we'll be here next year so enjoy those you cherish now and tell them that you love them.  I had a great time with my family and I hope they realize how much they truly mean to me.  

Happy December everyone!