We're headed home for the holidays (home meaning wherever family is) tomorrow so I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas before we left. I still need to clean the house, do some laundry and pack but I am SO excited. All I want to do is go through Miriam's Christmas gifts again. I hope the holiday stress is wearing off those who are feeling it, and everyone has a wonderful holiday.
Darin took his annual trip to a local Asian market for Filipino food supplies. He bought a ton of stuff including dried mango, and nuts for our stockings, and nata de coco for Miriam (and to make halo halos). We decided we wanted to incorporate our missions into the Christmas season because that was such a spiritual highlight for each of us, and my dad's mission was always a huge part of my Christmases growing up. He served in Denmark, and since our ancestry is Danish, it was natural to use what he had learned to celebrate. I loved it as a child and still love it as an adult. I want to keep some of the Danish traditions, but create something new with my little family.
To incorporate Massachusetts we decorate with the traditional one candle in every window-no other outside lights (some day I will have a wreath with a red bow for each window as well), we hide the Christmas pickle (that is actually a German tradition but I learned about it in Boston), and (thanks to my Father-in-law) we are having amazing Clam Chowder for dinner. We want to make a Flilipino meal before Christmas (because most members of our families wouldn't really enjoy it), and then have Fillipino stocking stuffers for Christmas. Tonight we made Ginataang langka, which is my favorite. It didn't turn out exactly how we would like but we have enough ingredients to do some experimentation until we come up with the perfect recipe.
My Pink Christmas came today! Thank you Tx Girl!! I was so surprised and overjoyed you had my name. Those of you who read my blog regularly will appreciate how cute it is that she made me a bag out of maps!! There is a present inside I am waiting until Christmas to open, but she also sent some plain good mail. Isn't that brilliant? I had something to open today, which gave me the will power to wait till Christmas on the rest. Thank you for the bath teas and the book. It is seriously perfect...I was looking for something to read over the holiday, and I love to have smelly stuff in my bath. Because I have eczema I can't use bubble bath, fizzies, salts or lots of other fun stuff. All natural bath teas I CAN use, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before?
This last photo is for the "Dixie Chicks". It was so fun getting together girls (Amber we missed you). I wish I had a photo scanned from our college days because I swear we all look the same. I had so much fun chatting, I hope we can keep up this holiday gabfest/snackfest tradition we have going.
