Our first Christmas at home...

On Christmas Eve we had a great visit with our friends and a wonderful call with Dominic's foster family. Our family tradition for Christmas Eve includes eating dinner out:




And then heading home to watch A Christmas Story. Although the movie runs continuously for 24 hours, we have to watch the first one. Anyone caught napping will be forced to watch the next showing beginning to end. Reciting the movie and A Christmas Story trivia is encouraged! :)

This year, in addition to my mom's cookies as our after dinner treat, I made Guatemalan ponche. Dominic's foster family was so excited to hear I was making it for the holiday, since it's tradition for the family hosting on Christmas Eve to prepare the drink for their guests.

We had a great time making it



and even Dominic helped out (and ate some of the ingredients).



It simmered for about an hour and had the whole house smelling of cinnamon and fruit.




Dominic helped Papa stir and preferred to eat all the apples instead of drinking from his cup.



Dominic fell into the coffee table, so there was some drama near the end of the evening and we forgot to leave cookies and milk for Santa......

but he still stopped by!



Mommy and Dominic Christmas morning:

Dominic was excited and after a few weeks of "No, that's not for you" wasn't sure what to do with the gifts! He began handing them out and helped everyone unwrap theirs.

He loved his play food for his kitchen:

but his favorite gift - his own cell phone!

We headed out to my sister's for dinner (and a nice nap!) and Dominic got to practice his unwrapping skills a bit more!

He loved all of his gifts! But his favorite part of the day? Hanging out with his cousins! :)

It was a wonderful Christmas and I couldn't have asked for more! :)