Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas Eve

Christmas was a little different for me this year. In my 30 years of life this was the first one I've spent away from my family and not been in West Virginia. This year I spent it with Beezy and learned how he celebrates Christmas eve and Christmas day. This is also the first Christmas I've spent in California the two years I've been living out here.

On Christmas eve, we headed out to his dad's house. Every year he goes over and spends the evening with his dad, step mom and that side of his family. They make tamales and have a dinner. It was the first time we've seen a lot of that side of his family since we got engaged so we experienced a lot of questions about the wedding and wishes of congratulations. It was very nice.
 
I always love getting to see other people's Christmas tree. I feel your Christmas tree tells a story. This was his dad and step mom's tree.
This is some of Beezy's cousins and they are the sweetest family. They always take the time to ask me questions about how we are, what we're up to etc. Don't you love people who take an honest interest in your life without a hidden agenda. They definitely get an invite to the wedding.

Once we filled up on tamales we made our second stop of the night which was to his mom's side of the family. They were also making Christmas eve tamales. We also took a practice run at playing the White Elephant game. His family had sent out a mass text saying we would be playing it on Christmas night. So when we got to his aunts house, his cousin Dan decided that we should play a dry run of the game. He went out and got "clunker" gifts. As we started opening them, some were clunkers but others were really nice! We had a lot of fun.
 The Salsa bowl that we actually ended up with from the White Donkey game.
 
That hat... definitely one of the clunker items.
 
When we got home though, we did one of my traditions which is put out milk and cookies for Santa. Since I came down with a horrible head and chest cold literally the day before Christmas eve, I didn't have the energy to make cookies like I had planned. So Santa may have got a two week old, soft Christmas tree cookie.
 
I also got to Skype with my mom for a little bit! We opened up our one gift on Christmas eve. She opened up books, I opened up a wedding planner and Beezy opened up a pair of shoes! We were all very happy.
Of course we had to take some photos! She opened up the book version of Romancing the Stone! Clearly, that is one of our favorite movies.
 
We were completely wiped out so we went to bed so Santa would come visit...

3 comments:

SWMNBN said...

I love learning about how people celebrate Christmas and what their traditions are. Sorry you got a cold- we've been hit with the flu- we're on day 9 of sickness. We pretty much skipped Christmas this year, which is such a bummer!

Smiling is Good for Your Teeth said...

Christmas Tamales sounds amazing! And I love that you played a White Elephant (or Donkey) game! Holiday games are one of my favorites! :-)

Selma @ Crazy Little World Of Mine said...

You had quite some Tamales eating going on. Hahahaha! Sounds like a great Christmas!!!! :)