Holidays 2013 Re-Cap: Christmas in Atlanta, New years in Miami

Man, it's awhile since I've posted. I feel like I neglected this blog during the holidays. I guess they really took a toll on me ;). I hope you and your families had a fantastic Christmas and New Years together! We sure did! We were in Atlanta, like I mentioned in my Christmas Day post, for a week with my family. My parents and brother are there and although my sister lives in Mobile, due to her new position she accepted this fall she had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day :(. But she came down the 26th and was able  to spend a couple days with us, which was nice!

There really is nothing like family around the holidays, I had never really realized it until I got married and moved to Miami.

The kids had a blast. They basically did whatever they wanted since they were in grandparents' territory. They ate too many sweets, went to bed wayyyyy past their bedtime (we are still trying to sleep re-train them and it's not going well), and did lots of fun other things. Gus and I got to sneak away and had a day date ;). We got some last minute Christmas Shopping done and went out for drinks with some old friends of mine. It was so nice to have some adult time and re-connect.  

 My family has always had the tradition to attend midnight mass as a family, which is such a beautiful service. However, since the kids are still little it is a little hard for us and we have started to attend Christmas morning mass at my parents' parish. The service was beautiful. After opening presents Christmas morning it was really nice to celebrate Jesus' birth, by going to mass and kind of stopping and realizing what Christmas is really all about.

Another tradition we have is to make Baby Jesus a birthday cake, sing Happy Birthday to him and do a procession putting him in his manger. We did this growing up every year. This year Little Gus loved EVERYTHING about this tradition! (He is going through a phase where he loves to sing "Happy Birthday" and blowout birthday candles.)

Goodbye's are always hard. I wish we could be living closer to my family. I know my parents do too. So they could just stop by and say hi. Take their grandkids out on the weekends. Be there for EVERY holiday. But that's not reality. God for one reason or another wants us here in Miami right now. Maybe in the future he will show us what he has in store for us.


On our way down to Miami, my in-laws called us, asking us to take a detour and stop in Tampa. My father-in-law had some family in town that they wanted to see. So we agreed. little did we know we would get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. it was awful. I think that was the worst roadtrip I have ever been on. According to the GPS it should have taken us about 6 hours to get to Miami. Instead it took 9. That's almost what it took us to get from Miami to Atlanta. Anyways, we had dinner with the family that night and the next day we went to a little Greek Town, Tarpon Springs, famous for their Sponge Docks. It was beautiful! We enjoyed some great food, lovely ambiance and some live music played by some locals.

New Years we spent with my husband's family like we do every year. This year his cousin and his wife threw a party. There were Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc.,a lot of people. We had a blast. Little Gus I think enjoyed the party just as much, if not, more than the adults. He didn't fall asleep until we put him in the car to go back home. And little Miss Olivia was able to watch her first New Years countdown! She fell asleep awhile after midnight. I was so surprised she even lasted that long!

I hope your holidays were as fabulous as ours!!

xoxo

Elda