Christmas Break With Family

So, after our fantastic trip to New York, Walmir and I spent the rest of the holiday break with family, which is such a blessing for us. Our families rock and the more time we can spend with them, the better.

We celebrated Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) at my parent's house in Ft. Lauderdale along with my grandparents and Walmir's family (mom, dad and sister's family). I'll admit that I feel like we are the luckiest as far as in-laws go. I love his family and he loves mine and we get together all the time. It's really a great thing. Anyhow, my favorite thing about Noche Buena, besides family and the fact that it's the night before christmas, are the platanos en gloria. If you have never eaten these, then you haven't lived! It's a salvadorean dish made with platanos, meat, cream and queso blanco. It is to die for!

Anyhow, this break was especially memorable because my tio Mario (my mom's brother) and his family were able to visit. I hadn't spent time with them for many years and so this visit was really amazing. Mario and Vickey came along with three of their kids, Marito, Diego and Missy. And so we hung around doing what latinos do best: cooking and eating, dancing and laughing. New Year's Eve was so much fun! We threw a party at our house, invited tons of people, including the Cardona family from Miami, ate great comida and danced merengue and salsa until about 4 in the morning. Seriously, what could be better? I feel such a connection to my familia and just being around them reminds me of my heritage and where I've come from. Just look at the picture with me and Marito and Diego. You can see how much we look alike, and the connection runs so much deeper than that! Honestamente, no hay nada como familia.

Part of our vacation was also spent at Regina and Walmir's house (Wally's parents). It was really neat because it was the first time in a while that their three kids were together. I'm sure it was special for them. Walmir's brother Renato came down to visit from Utah and Sandra and her family were there from Deltona, and of course we were there too. Walmir's dad set up a bowling tournament for us and it was a ton of fun; especially with Sandra's kids, our adorable nieces and nephew. We spent most of our time in the pool and playing games. It was really nice being there. By the way, how great is it that we were in the pool in late December? Florida rocks!

So the holidays were great, not just because of the time of year, but because we were able to share it with family!

Below are a few more pics from the holidays. The first few are from New Year's Eve 2007. The ones in the pool were taken at Walmir's parent's house in Naples.

My mom and tio Mario.

Me, Walmir, Vickey and Mario.

My brother Charles, Walmir, Diego and Marito.

Me and my sexy hubby.

Walmir and his dad messing around with the underwater camera. I love his dad's expression!

Walmir with our niece Hailey.

Our adorable nephew Dylan.