tradition... tradition... Navidad, Part 1

So this post is all about the winter traditions - both old and new.

To start, for the past 5 years I've held a Holiday Party for all my ladies at TES. This year we put a spin on it since one of my besties, Tracy, is expecting baby number 3 (just shows you, you think you're done and oops! you're not!!) so it was a Holiday Baby Shower Party. The ladies had a grand time and a thousand thanks to Mary and Ozlem for all the help. Awesomeness.


the gals - love them all! - think there were like 15 of us.

again this year emi was not invited to the party - she had her own social event to go to and enjoyed the fun from the stairs with a.

This year we started a new tradition with Emilia, the Elf on the Shelf. Our elf's name is "Gnomo" ("Elf" in Spanish - I know, super original). Basically, the elf's job is to 'spy' on Emi and report back to Santa on how well she's behaving. The added bonus is that Gnomo would bring Emi a little prize and leave it in her Advent calendar. He brought her all sorts of good stuff.


gnomo would show up in the most unusual places!

Another new tradition - Emilia got to pick a tree of her own for her bedroom for the holidays. She loved looking at the lights every night (and during the day too!)

of course it's purple - i tried to direct her to pretty much any other color/size/shape but this is the one she wanted.

Every year my Tia Lo makes matching pjs for her and her family. I've always loved the idea and decided to steal it. With help from my mom (and a super easy pattern) I made matching pjs for Marcus, Emilia and I for Christmas. Cheesy - yes. But it's Christmas. It's all about the cheese.

modeling her jammies and bedhead. note the eeyore slippers next to her - a present from Fafa and Abu Cesar (Marcus' parents).

gnomo came with his own book. poor nana had to read it about a million times during our visit.

The 'girls' used to be really good about having 'girls only' events. But then life got in the way, Nena went to college, Bug went overseas to school and we didn't have the chance to do these types of things. We decided to reinstate 'girls only' events and started off by having holiday tea at the Ritz.

buggie, nena, nana, a, and tia marga.

some of the delicious munchies... though we decided that next year we'd skip tea and stick with the bar!

Holidays mean eating TONS of yummy food at Gampa's house (my dad). Meals at his house can really be quite a show. Emilia got lots and LOTS of delicious stuff thanks to Gampa.

attacking a big old pile of delish cookies.

Finally, visits to DC would not be the same without our traditional stops at Firehook bakery in Old Town Alex. They have delicious pastries, the kind folks there don't mind if a certain someone runs around a bit, and the coffee is divine. We love having quiet breakfasts there just the 3 of us. It's a great way to slow down during our busy DC visits and enjoy the moment.

in a moving car - hence the blur... can you tell i still can't really work my camera?

look mama - chocolate donut!

Next up - Navidad, Part 2!