Christmas 2014 in Germany

Christmas morning!

We celebrated Christmas this year with just the three of us in our apartment.  We tried to keep up with some traditions so that it would actually feel like Christmas.  In the 9 days leading up to Christmas we celebrated our version of the Colombian Novena.  We sang a few Christmas songs, read parts of the scriptures that took us through the life of the Savior, and put related ornaments on a little tree.  I should have taken a picture of that tree when we were done, but oh well, I didn't.  

On Christmas Eve we were still left delivering some last minute goodies to friends and neighbors.  Funny how that always seems to take longer than you think it will, but it was nice to get out and see people.  We got home later than intended, so I don't even recall eating anything special for dinner.  But the next morning we woke up and had a traditional Hatch cinnamon roll Christmas tree.   

We filled each other's stockings, and other than that, just gifted ourselves a nice set of Essential Oils to try in the coming year.  I always tell Hyrum I don't like surprises and would prefer to pick out a gift that I know I'll like, so this works out well for us.  We just buy ourselves something every year, or in some cases, take a big trip.  [And for the record, half of my stocking was filled with chocolate--always a good thing--and it was gone before the year was over.  whoops!]

Tiago with my chocolate (unopened, of course... I wasn't sharing)  Also, these Christmas pajamas are size 6-9 months... so a little small.  Now that the holiday is passed we can put them in retirement.  

We opened presents from my mom, which are always notably prettier than the presents I personally wrap.  I got a cozy bath robe that I wore the rest of the day.

Hyrum bought himself a nice watch last month, but randomly told me he wanted to unwrap it on Christmas.  So surprise!  You got a watch!  The tag on the present said, "To: Hyrum, From: Your bank account."

Tiago got some fun toys.  Figures that his favorite was a box of $2 crayons.  He didn't color with them, but entertained himself by taking them out of the box, then putting them all back in.  Over.  And over.  He also got some dinosaur pajamas, and a train that plays music.  He didn't completely grasp the idea of opening gifts, but when he realized the train toy was playing music he was a lot more eager to take off the paper.

This little Adidas outfit was as much for Hyrum as for Tiago.  It says "Soccer" on it, and kind of matches the new Adidas pants that Hyrum got for Christmas.  The rest of the day was spent hanging around and relaxing.  Tiago watched Mary Poppins, which he does literally every day.  He never gets sick of it.  And he spent plenty of time playing with his dad.

Hyrum spent several hours in the kitchen.  Gasp.

A few weeks ago I challenged him to learn to make at least one meal, since his previous cooking skills only involved eggs and rice.  Instead of something simple, he researched typical Colombian Christmas recipes, and came up with three semi-complicated things: coca-cola rice, ensalada rusa, and pork chops with cranberry sauce.  Plus some avocado dip.  It was delicious!  He had some things to learn along the way, like how to cut onions or chop cilantro, but it all worked out.  [After he was done, I realized he didn't know the difference between 'T' and 't' in recipes... hopefully that was a lesson learned.]  Since he chose three Colombian dishes, the deal was that he also would have to do dishes.  So I got the good end of that deal!

Best Suarez family Christmas meal yet!