¡Feliz Navidad!

When we arrived home after our trip to Queretaro, we had a bit of time to relax since the family was at the hospital with a niece of Poncho's. From what we can tell, she is very sick with Chrone's Disease as well as some other health problems.

We finally left the house for Alejandra's mothers around 10pm. Steve and I were already quite exhausted from our weekend excursion and didn't know what to expect on this very different of "noches buenas" (Christmas Eves). It was quite the sight with the five of us piled into Ale's small Seat (the make of her car). Luckily, they let Steve sit up front, but his knees were still under his chin.

Alejandra's mother lives in the same house where she raised all 10 or so of her children (there were originally 13). From what we understand, she was married at 13 and started having children at 14. She is still living and wanted to cheer (brindar) everyone last night. The entire family is quite a hoot and they really get a kick out of Steve's height. We got a great picture with Steve, Alejandra, and Rocio, Alejandra's older sister. They both come up to his belt and not much more. There were about 50 or so people- I guess half of the regulars were missing.

We were served drinks and ate Cheetos and Doritoes for a few hours and then the festivities began. Carmina, a younger sister of Alejandra's read the nativity story and then had the children sing a song to put the baby Jesus in his place in the nativity scene. It seemed to be the annual ritual. Once the clock struck midnight, we hugged and kissed everyone (literally everyone) and then we were served soup followed by a trip through the buffet. People exchanged gifts (we got a back scratcher, some candy, gloves, and a notepad holder for the kitchen) and then everyone ate until they were stuffed. Everyone kept trying to feed Steve more and more food- I think they were more impressed than anything and wanted to see his breaking point. He has reached that point many times in the last week and I think he's starting to learn his limit...

We all headed home about 2:30 and were in bed by 3:00. All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas Eve and we feel lucky that we were able to celebrate it in such a unique way. Steve and I were getting a bit tired by the end, but it seemed like the party was just starting. Even the kids were wide awake and living it up.

We are on our way to our friends Mac and Catherine's apartment for Christmas dinner at 3pm today. We were asked to bring the dessert, so we went out on an adventure last evening and found an amazing Swiss chocolate cheesecake with fruit on the top. We're very excited to try it and our family is hoping there will be some left to bring home.

Take care and we hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. We'll be on our way home next Saturday and feel a bit bittersweet about our return. Our family has already asked us to return to visit in the future.

Love, Steve and Jenny