Christmas Tradition

Well I know that this is kind of late to be telling about our Christmas,but I had written it right after New Year's and I lost it all. Then we decided to paint our living room and dinning room and we had to unplug the computer for a couple of days. Esteban got me a new7 piece living room set and a dinning room table with 6 chairs. We painted our walls green ( not grass green) I'm not sure how to describe it. If I told you it kind of looked like mashed peas you might say yuk. (I would too) Anyhow it is pretty. Our lamps our a dark cream color our couches (there again not sure of the color) suede tan and the pillows that come with them have green, cream, gold, burgundy in them. I am going to get gold curtains for my windows. I also got a digital camera and when I learn how to use it I'll take pictures and let everyone see it.
Christmas Eve, we go to my parents' house and get together with my bothers and their families. My sister Rachel is in New York,so she wasn't there. I have one sister-n-law and nephew and 4 bothers and Daniel brought his girlfriend. My grandmother Foster (mom's mom) and aunt Darlene (mom's identical twin) was there also this year. Darlene moved down here in August and she is living with us, and grandma's been coming down from P.A. for 2 years now and staying a few months with my parents. Anyhow we all eat supper together and then dad reads the Christmas story and then Little Zachary passes out the gifts (now that he can read) one at a time. We have a lot of fun. That night when we go home we put the 3 babies to bed and I fill Esteban's and the kid's stockings and then Esteban fills mine and we lay them under the tree. This year we got to fill Aunt Darlene's stocking also. We broke the tradition a little this year. We were to tired to fill the stockings before going to bed so we did it the next morning. While I straighted the kitchen up, Esteban and Darlene filled my stocking and then I sent Esteban and the kids to the bedroom while I stuffed theirs and Dar watched. When it was time to fill hers she went to the bedroom and waited. After all the stockings were filled, we sat around the tree and Esteban read part of the Christmas story in Spanish and then I read the last part in English, and Darlene prayed. We then took turns and opened our stockings. Esteban put a battery charger in my stocking and when I saw it I asked him if he got me a digital camera and he just smiled and I about cried. After the stockings, Esteban passes out the gifts one by one and we have a lot of fun opening them. The best part is watching the 3 children open their gifts. It was Fabian's 1st Christmas. He opened a rolling ball and after that he could care less that he had more gifts to open. He played with his ball and I had to help him open the others. Esteban got me a digital camera and wrapped it in a box and then he re wrapped it in another box. Well it was my turn to open my gift and I opened the one box and then he made me put it back under the tree and wait to open the other box because we are only allowed to open one at a time. Finally, he let me open it and sure enough it was my camera. He did the same with the chip that goes in the camera. I had mentioned something before Christmas Day that i only had to small gifts to open from my hubby. So after I opened them he told me that I had 4 to unwrap. He is always mischief at Christmas. I bought him a big tool box, but it was all bagged up so we took it back and got a set of tools that came in a tool box instead. After we open all our gifts we go to my parents for dinner and spend the day there. We had a wonderful Christmas.
For New Year's Eve, we took the kids and went to see the lights in Tangle wood and on the way home we picked up grandma Foster and she spent the night with us and we played games while the kids were in bed. Well I hope that you all have a good evening and have a wonderful year. Let's stay close to Jesus no matter what happens this year. May the Lord bless each one of you.
Cindy Lopez and Fmily