Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very quiet events at home. Christmas Eve we usually alternate between David’s family and mine. This year we were scheduled to spend it with mine, not until the plague hit the hosting family’s home. My uncle came down with a fever two days before Christmas Eve so my Aunt kept me updated on his condition. We made the choice the day before not to go. There was no way I wanted to risk Rafael getting sick. It was a really good thing we did not go since at least 4 people who went are sick with the flu.
Looks like this is going to be a picture laden post. Bear with me.
In person you can barely see Rafael in Santa’s coat. This Santa wasn’t as nice as another one we saw at a different mall. Gabriel started to recognize Santa but it sounds a little more like he’s saying Cheeta.
We had a little bit of a pre Christmas Eve party over at David’s brother’s house on Saturday. Uncle Jo Jo was helping Gabriel show off his awesome glasses here.
On Sunday we headed over to Aunt Barbara’s house for Rafael’s first visit of which I didn’t get pictures of… but I did get some pictures of Gabriel and David playing with all the awesome presents Gabriel got from his great aunt and uncle.
Gabriel was scared of the the horse they got him. David had a little too much fun with the horse.
On Christmas Eve we took the boys on a car ride through a local neighborhood to see some Christmas lights.
Gabriel wanted to wear Mommy’s hat. I think it looks much better on him.
I think he had some fun in the backseat wearing his jammies.
You probably can’t see this clearly but it’s the Grinch stealing Christmas. A+ for creativity.
We thought it was cute that one of our neighbors crammed three inflatables onto their balcony. 
It seems like no one decorates their homes for the holidays anymore. We probably saw about 12 houses total on the half hour car ride we took. Pretty disappointing. Next year we are going to have to hit up the fancy light show that’s close to us.
Rafael hasn’t really made an appearance so here he is with his Daddy. Don’t they look alike. Especially the hairline… 
On Christmas day we waited until Gabriel woke up to open up gifts. He got the hang of opening gifts on his own. He was also good on moving onto the next gift before wanting to play with the toy. Excuse the blurry pictures. I only had my phone on me while nursing Rafael.
We got him a LeapFrog laptop so he can work on it just like daddy.
Before we left for my Grandparent’s house we had to find the pickle. It’s a cute tradition that David introduced to me. Gabriel found the pickle before daddy did. 
My Grandparents brought back all the gifts from the night before. I didn’t take a picture of the pre Christmas Eve gathering (hands full with Rafael) but their pile was double this… I think they made out very well this year.
Side story: Gabriel was terrified of the horse at Aunt Barbara’s house. He just wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to show my grandparents the horse (because it’s so cute and awesome). I took it for a spin around the kitchen once and Gabriel was all for playing with it. He even tormented their dogs with the horse head.
When we got back home all the boys went promptly into dreamland. Not sure why I didn’t drift off either.
I loved receiving everyone’s holiday cards. Christmas time is the best time to look at the mail. It’s a guaranteed time that there is something other than bills in the mail. 
I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s recap on their Christmas Festivities. Kind of makes me feel like I was apart of the party.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. And if you go to a party, have a drink for me. Or three. 
