Family time

My Christmas Eve and Christmas were wonderful.  It was the first Christmas that I felt like I had two complete families to spend time with.  I love that both of our families are so accommodating.

Christmas Eve was a little busy.  We went over to the Francis' house to see them before they left for the airport and we gave the boys their Christmas presents.  Then we went over to the Rosens for dinner.  It was kind of funny because it was supposed to be a Christmas Eve dinner, but over half the people there were Jewish!  Evan's girlfriend and her family are Jewish, and this other family they invited were also Jewish.  We were the only Christians!  This was one of the few times my brother has spent time with them and I was really glad he went.  Julie always cookies this huge traditional cuban meal, and it's always delicious.  Unfortunately, Nicole and I had to leave early for bells, my Dad had to leave to help with luminaries, and my Mom had to leave to pick up a family friend for church.  So we kind of ate and ran, but at least we spent a few hours there.  At the service I was kind of overwhelmed.  There were a ton of people at church that I haven't seen in a long time.  It was also strange to look around and see all the newlyweds/couples/new babies/pregnant people.  It made me jealous because Daniel's mom wouldn't let him come to the service with me.  I felt like going to church on Christmas Eve with the person you love is very important, but it didn't happen that way.  After the service I got to see Beth, Jake, and Ty, which cheered me up instantly.  They were the people I wanted to see the most even though I have seen them recently.  And Tyler came up to me and Nicole and gave us presents!  It was very cute.  Then I spent the rest of the night at Daniel's house with his family and Evan's new girlfriend's family.  We opened gifts and hung out.  

Christmas morning was very relaxed.  We woke up late and opened gifts around 10:30am.  I got a lot of very nice gifts from my whole family.  My dad even got me a GPS to take to Europe (and it will help in Denver too).  I also got lots of jewelry and a nice big check from my grandparents to put into the Europe fund.  Daniel came over and we all went to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas lunch.  She made a delicious prime rib roast.  Everything was delicious and perfect.  I think I may have the best (two) families in the world. I am so lucky.