We kept it super low key-we had all been craving al pastor and carne asada tacos, so we made those and Giddy's grandma's refried beans recipe. The night before we let the kids open one present, and we watched some Christmas classic movies, and read some stories. The kids tried to peep at Santa around 1:00 in the morning, but got caught. I laugh now, but at the moment I was not happy hahaha. The next morning, we all opened our stockings and presents. We played lots of games together, and baked and relaxed. It was so nice to just be us, and have some good calm before some good chaos haha. The next morning at 3:00, Lester dropped us off at the airport and we got picked up by my FIL.
As always, Addy asked for the camera to take pictures with on the flight. She got some cool ones and the kids handled themselves pretty well. I am always pleastently surprised by how patient and complimentary people are about flying with the kids...it always makes for a less stressful flight!
Lester joined us a week later, and we spent those two weeks spending time with family and friends, going to the city and beaches, and party after party. The kids did crafts with my Mom like homemade slime, cookie pops, and paint marker ornaments. They jumped on my Dad and even got paid to give him a foot rub. They climbed the hill and trees on the backyard hill. We went to the city with my FIL and to farmers markets, with plenty of cuddles, and a dinner or two with my MIL. We celebrated Sam and Kaia's birthdays with party fun. We had our belated Hanaike family Christmas opening extraordinaire. We went to breakfast w Sabrina and Chris, and I did morning beach days and pastries with Luke. We had fun with my high school friends and their families and visited, then I even got to take off with them one night on my own. We met up and danced, played cards and partied with my Dad's side of the family. We looked at murals in the city in between delicious food stops. We went on sunset walks, and played floor is lava with my friends and their families. We checked out the new SSF library, and the kids made lots of perler beads magnets. We stayed up late watching movies, playing cards, dancing and laughing. We didn't get much sleep-kids and adults included [although they had quite the setup in the garage with their own dorm area]. But thats what I mean when I say the best kind of chaos-it was loud, and a bit messy, and big and warm and overwhelming, and fun and I loved it so much. It's weird how it's always nice to come back to our own space, but also how deep the ache is at leaving every time. I suppose that is just life.
Now we are back and getting back into the routine of life-school started back up today, and Tal and I are busy running errand after errand. I hope we will get to go back in the summer some time, but we will see. We are doing ok, and there is nothing wrong with ok!
