Christmas 2014

Quick recap of our 2014 holidays happenings. Mostly pictures and fairly similar to last year as we are trying to establish some Christmas traditions with Maia and Eva. Although Magan has suggested skipping town for Hawaii next year and creating a few Christmas traditions there! 

Maia's school Christmas play. She got to be the Angel Gabriel this year, with her very first speaking role. Next stop...Broadway! 

Christmas Eve Mass. It's important to remember the real reason for the season! 

Celebrating with friends on a late night Christmas light hunt! 

Cookie decorating! 

21st century letters to Santa. Kids these days... I also suggested they do an "old fashioned" letter in case the wifi was down in the North Pole! 

Christmas morning! The girls were extremely excited to discover that they had been good enough for a stop over from Santa, who left the fish they requested (yep, we now have 5 new mouths to feed each morning...). Of course, they continued to be spoiled by both family and friends with so many new toys and books - thank you for making a couple of girls very happy! 

The best Christmas gift came from Mother Nature in the form of snow! We got dumped on here in Durango and spent about 2 hours outside making snowmen and snow angels and having snowball fights. I hope Maia and Eva will be able to remember the snow this year as it is not often we get a white Christmas. It was truly a fun, old fashioned, family Christmas this year! 

Hoping our friends and family were also so blessed this holiday season. Happy 2015! 

Hasta...

Santa and Trains

It appears we have unknowingly created a Garcia family tradition. For the third year in a row, we have made our Santa visit while on a train. The first year happened to be on the Georgetown Loop Railroad and the last two years have been all-aboard The Polar Express here on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. 

Rewind to the original trip in 2012... Eva was 1 and Maia was 2 and they were both terrified of Santa! They thought the train ride was the coolest thing until the Big Man made his appearance in our car and they wanted nothing to do with him. 

Fast forward to this year... The girls had prepared speeches on how good they have been and what they would like Santa to bring them (fish). They couldn't wait for the train to pick him up at the "North Pole". How quickly things change! 

The Polar Express is seriously one of the coolest things the Durango train puts on each year. The kids get to wear their PJs and the actors play out the book/movie with all the singing and dancing and hot chocolate and cookies...and Santa of course! 

It really is awesome to watch the excitement in my girls eyes with the magic of these Christmas adventures! This is definitely a tradition that I plan to keep up as long as possible. Not going to lie, I picture myself dragging my teenager daughters out to take their dear old Father for my annual train ride with Santa! 

Hasta...

Good Old Fashioned Family Christmas

This was the first time we have ever cut down our own Christmas tree. Thanks to our friends, the Frazier's, for showing us the ropes. 

It was a pretty cool adventure and just might become a new Garcia tradition! 

Found a nest (yes, it was empty) in our tree. Magan told the Maia and Eva that made it extra special since a bird had also picked out that same tree for her babies. The girls thought that was the best part! 

Hasta...