Okay, okay... I procrastinated.
So I missed updating about Thanksgiving. And I missed updating about Christmas. And I missed updating about New Year's! What's important is that I'm doing it now, right? So here goes...
Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house in Stephenville (the land of cowboys, UFOs, and football). We had someone extra at our Thanksgiving table, too - my brother's fiancee May. We welcome this talented pianist to the family, for we sure could use some talent around here! ;-) The Thanksgiving dinner was the norm and delicious as always.
Christmas. For the second time in our 6+ year marriage, we had a Christmas tree! We hosted Christmas at our house since Mateo is getting older. We were very fortunate to have my Mimi (my mom's mom) join us, too. 
For the first time in a long time I was very into Christmas this year. I enjoyed all the shopping, decorating, and meal planning. We combined both Cadle and Campana traditions together to create our own. 
On Christmas Eve Rafi and I cooked a Panamanian style meal with Panamanian tamales, ham, arroz con guandu, green beans, and homemade bread. 
I also surprised Rafi with his mom's recipe for arroz con leche. Everything was delicious, though those tamales were more trouble than they were worth. I would post a photo of it, but since we were elbow deep in corn and banana leaves, we didn't take any. I think next year I'll try to order some frozen ones online. On Christmas Day I roasted 6 cornish hens and served them with mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade bread and more ham. 
Christmas morning was not what we expected. Mateo was a little overwhelmed with everyone looking at him, so he clung to my side for a while. He ate the mini cookies from his stocking while everyone else opened gifts. Once he warmed up to the idea, he opened his which included a red retro kitchen from Santa, lots of play food, and an Elmo Live.
New Year's Eve. We had the Smith family over (Tina and Greg and half of Greg's family from Michigan) to celebrate. The celebrations aren't the same as they used to be due to having little kids ranging from 3 months to 22 months, but we enjoyed it just the same. The food was delicious (smattering of breaded greenbeans, mini empanadas, flautas, mini pizzas, veggies, and cheese and crackers along with rice krispie treats and cookies, of course). 
And the wine was great. Midnight proved pretty funny as Mary (Greg's step-mother) had some difficulty opening the champagne bottle in time. But after what can only be described as some funky dance moves with some hardcore tugging, she got it open.
So there. I did it. Now you're all caught up. :-) And for your further pleasure, I'll tack on a photo of our attempt at a family portrait.
Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house in Stephenville (the land of cowboys, UFOs, and football). We had someone extra at our Thanksgiving table, too - my brother's fiancee May. We welcome this talented pianist to the family, for we sure could use some talent around here! ;-) The Thanksgiving dinner was the norm and delicious as always.
Christmas. For the second time in our 6+ year marriage, we had a Christmas tree! We hosted Christmas at our house since Mateo is getting older. We were very fortunate to have my Mimi (my mom's mom) join us, too. 
For the first time in a long time I was very into Christmas this year. I enjoyed all the shopping, decorating, and meal planning. We combined both Cadle and Campana traditions together to create our own. 
On Christmas Eve Rafi and I cooked a Panamanian style meal with Panamanian tamales, ham, arroz con guandu, green beans, and homemade bread. 
I also surprised Rafi with his mom's recipe for arroz con leche. Everything was delicious, though those tamales were more trouble than they were worth. I would post a photo of it, but since we were elbow deep in corn and banana leaves, we didn't take any. I think next year I'll try to order some frozen ones online. On Christmas Day I roasted 6 cornish hens and served them with mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade bread and more ham. 
Christmas morning was not what we expected. Mateo was a little overwhelmed with everyone looking at him, so he clung to my side for a while. He ate the mini cookies from his stocking while everyone else opened gifts. Once he warmed up to the idea, he opened his which included a red retro kitchen from Santa, lots of play food, and an Elmo Live. 
New Year's Eve. We had the Smith family over (Tina and Greg and half of Greg's family from Michigan) to celebrate. The celebrations aren't the same as they used to be due to having little kids ranging from 3 months to 22 months, but we enjoyed it just the same. The food was delicious (smattering of breaded greenbeans, mini empanadas, flautas, mini pizzas, veggies, and cheese and crackers along with rice krispie treats and cookies, of course). 
And the wine was great. Midnight proved pretty funny as Mary (Greg's step-mother) had some difficulty opening the champagne bottle in time. But after what can only be described as some funky dance moves with some hardcore tugging, she got it open. So there. I did it. Now you're all caught up. :-) And for your further pleasure, I'll tack on a photo of our attempt at a family portrait.
Labels: Christmas, Thanksgiving
posted by Jodi C. at 8:06 AM
2 comments
