Christmas 2014

We had a really lovely Christmas. Oliver is at such a fun age right now. He likes to open gifts. All of Chris' family made the long trek to spend the holidays with us. It was a full house, but it was a great few weeks with them. I'm wishing I had been better at taking pictures, especially for Christmas Eve and morning. I'll have to do better next year.

For FHE the Monday before Christmas, Josue and Kenia put on a beautiful production of The Nativity Song. I put them in charge of it last minute, and they were such troopers. Then we frosted sugar cookies and ate them, obviously. Oliver liked the cookies.

We took a walk one morning to our beach down the road. The tide was quite high so there wasn't much beach, but Oliver had a fabulous time picking up rocks and handing them to abuelo. He likes to show off his strength.

The men went crabbing and caught an entire bucket of crab. So we ate it that night for dinner. It was a foggy/misty afternoon, but I think they had a good time.

cooking the poor crabs

For Christmas Eve dinner, I made a ham and Chris made a duck. It was yummy and especially fun now that Sugey, Amy, and Jamir had joined us to complete the family. I made a cheesecake (especially for Josue) that was honestly really delicious. I also made a pretzel, chocolate cream pie that was not as successful.
We did our traditional gift exchange that night. I got some awesome new polka-dotted rain boots. They are perfect. We also read Luke 2 or rather Lucas 2 and sang Joy to the World. How grateful we are for Jesus Christ coming to earth for us. What a wonderful time of year to celebrate his birth, life, example, and atonement for us. That night, Oliver, Chris, and I also got to open and wear our new jammies. I love that Thomas tradition.

Oliver's face is silly, but these are his Christmas jammies from Grandma Jan.

Helping with the gift exchange.

Christmas day was magical. Oliver got a new tricycle from Chris' parents. It is adorable! And he loves it so much. His legs are still a little short to peddle, but he'll grow into it. From us, Oliver got a kitchen step stool Chris made. Now he stands up with me while a cook. He really likes it and even wants to now help with the dishes. Yes! Oliver also got some big legos and books from us. He was so cute opening gifts. We had a great morning exchanging gifts. Chris finally got his djembe drum and harmonicas. I'm thinking of getting a guitar so we might be forming a band soon. Oliver is quite skilled at the harmonica already. I got a food processor! Pesto, here we come.
We ate orange rolls and breakfast casserole. Then the boys plus Sugey headed off to play basketball. The other ladies stayed home while Amy helped us arm-knit infinity scarves. It took us a long time to get them done, but they are awesome. It was fun to make something, especially something I get to wear. That evening we ate ham sandwiches for dinner. It was a Merry Christmas indeed.

We took a trip to Lincoln City to hit some sales at the outlets the next day. A trip there usually means J's fish and chips so we did that, of course.

Oliver was Loving the coleslaw.

We saw Into the Woods on Saturday, which I really loved! We did Izzy's for supper. Then, we took some family pictures, thanks to Amy with her camera and tripod.

Oliver loved the camera.

Everyone!

Then, we all got sick, well most of us at least. My runny nose is still lingering. Chris' mom took over the cooking for the next week. So we enjoyed delicious food and mostly just hung out the rest of the time they were here. New Year's Eve we ate posole. We watched Major Payne, my first time at a Lopez favorite. We played games. And even made it to midnight to have a sip of sparkling cider because we only had one bottle. It was a great night.

Playing the djembe before Oliver's bedtime.

Uncle Jamir is really good at building with legos.

Kenia had a special visitor come New Year's Eve, her boyfriend Chris from Canada. Everyone left January first to drive to school and home, except Chris and Kenia. They spent the day with us in Newport. It was a beautiful and warm day. We walked along the beach, played in the park, ate scrumptious pizza and cookies for lunch. Then, we headed home so Oliver could nap. They explored the rest of the afternoon. It was fun to hang out with them, and they headed back to Rexburg the next day.

Eating one delicious and gigantic cookie.

We had to take a picture with our Olives at Olive St. 

In conclusion, (wow, that felt like I was back in school or something) it was a wonderful holiday. We're grateful everyone made the trip to spend Christmas in Newport. Oliver was spoiled with love and attention. The day after everyone had left, he was quite sad. I think it was just because he missed all the other faces around. I'm not as exciting. We're looking forward to 2015! We have goals and plans and all that good stuff. Here's to another amazing year!