Christmas in Oregon 2018

We were able to spend two weeks in Oregon for Christmas, and as always, we were thankful to be home and surrounded by friends and family. I'll keep my words to a minimum and let our pictures tell most the stories.

Breakfast our first morning back Ben wanted to try, "Slappy Cakes." It's a true Portland gem where you can cook your own pancakes and just like Portland, they had allergy friendly pancakes and a cool vibe. I love this city.

 If you visit Portland, try Slappy Cakes. You won't regret it. 

Not pictured: our struggle to find a Christmas tree. Yes, this was in Oregon, a place that is known for its Christmas tree farms. Granted it was December 20th, but still, there usually is a few places around with trees. By a miracle, we were able to slide into a tree farm 10 minutes before closing and select one of the few trees apparently left in the Portland area. The tree was beautiful and as a bonus, it was cheaper than our half-dead Mexico tree.

 The next evening we joined my sister and her kids at Zoo lights: a Plato/Morris tradition. The boys looked so darn cute walking around in their Santa hats. (Sam, Josh, Seth)

 Pacific NW beauty.

 The beaver, whom we've only ever seen asleep, was out doing tricks for everyone by the window. I guess it was feeding time.

 The crew! 

 The cousins: Clara, Seth, Sam, Aidah, Miriam, Edmund, Josh and John Henry. 

 I'm a huge fan of the light tunnel (and Ben)

 These two were so happy to see each other again and full of mischief as always. 

 Isn't he the cutest?!

 Weird shadows on the faces, but I sure do love my sister! 

 4/5 of the boy cousins

Next it was time to celebrate Christmas with our Morris side of the family. This year Nate and Holly hosted and it was such a treat to be in their beautiful home in The Dalles.

 Grandparents and grandkids: Seth (9), Hailey (2), Ellie (4), Josh (5), Sam (9)

 The traditional "kids" picture. This time there was even a puppy!

 We were pretty excited about the star we brought for Grandma DiDi from Mexico.

 Check out Josh's fist pump for the laser guns!

Ben and Nate got matching fold-able chairs for hunting season. As you can see, Ben was thrilled. 

 Such a great Grandpa

 Morning snuggles. 

 Christmas Eve was with the Platos at our house. I love all these cousins together. 

 Josh and Edmund proudly showing off their desserts. 

 My handsome boys in front of the tree.

 Christmas day with the Ruda Grandparents.

 The boys opened rackets to represent their ping-pong table that we gave them (to be put together when we return to Mexico). Something to anticipate when we go back! 

 Papa and the boys with their new Tigris jerseys. 

We had a lot of fun putting together gingerbread houses. Mom and I even got to do one. 

 Mom and I took the boys to see the new, "Mary Poppins." It was delightful and we all loved it. 

 One evening we were able to go to a Blazers game with Jeff and Diane thanks to Deedo's "ticket guy." Before the game, we went out to another our favorite restaurants, Mississippi Pizza. 

  It's always so fun to walk up to Moda Center...but especially surrounded by cool Christmas lights.

The last time Josh went to a Blazer game, he was so young that he couldn't remember it, so this was really special for him.

 He had a blast, especially after they discovered dairy free Dippin' dots as a snack. (Note: the butterfly bandaid on his forehead due his forehead being slammed into a basketball hoop by an unnamed brother trying to block his shot. Thankfully, it wasn't an ER trip, although we considered it.)

 Everyone at the game! 

 On one of our socially free days, Ben took the boys up to Mt. Hood to try skiing for the first time (I bowed out and decided to go shopping with my sister instead...a worthy choice). 

The boys did awesome learning and are now convinced that we need to ski a lot in our future. 

Between these pictures were a lot of visits with friends and neighbors, hours of basketball on the court in our backyard, Thai food twice, and a whole lot of fun. Before we knew it, we were cleaning up the house, trying to pack too much into too little luggage, and then boarding a plane to Mexico on New Year's Day (cheap tickets on January 1...I wonder why). 

Here's looking forward to a great 2019!

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Pre-Christmas in Mexico

Christmas season starts early in Mexico and is super fun. 

To begin with, December has some amazing sunrises. 

Next, it was awesome to have Mexican friends to get into the spirit of Christmas with. Thanksgiving weekend we kicked off the season by going to the "Defile de Navidad" (Christmas parade) with Martin and Mayra's family. 

It was impossible to get all the kids to stand still for a long exposure shot. 

The parade and the things it featured were hilarious: case-in-point, Santa's on motorcycles. (Notice in the background the lady on stilts. There was SO many people on stilts.)

Can't have a parade here without a pinata float. 

And voted best float of the night by our family: the very odd reindeer laying on his back that maybe looks kind of like a turkey.

We're so thankful to have local friends to hang out with now. After the parade, we sat at small taco stand on the side of street and hung out in the dark talking (all in Spanish), while the kids played. We felt very Mexican and it's one of my favorite memories in Monterrey to date. 

The boys' school had their annual Christmas party, which was as socially awkward as expected. 

But, at least there was fake snow and a cool "Grinch" theme.

Our Christmas tree hunt this year brought us through the saddest "Christmas carnival" we've ever seen and into a Christmas tree lot with small, sad Douglas Firs for a whopping $80 price tag. We promptly walked right out past the empty carnival booths and drove to the parking garage of the grocery store and bought a slightly less sad tree, for a slightly less, but still exorbitant price tag of $50. And you thought that Oregon was having a Christmas tree crisis. 

A Christmas tree in an elevator never ceases to make me giggle. 

We decorated the tree over a couple different nights. The boys were completely in charge. (Note: shirts are always optional when decorating the tree in Mexico.)

Did anyone else ever want tinsel on their tree as a kid? Well, I always did and only got to have it once (on my Grandma's tree none-the-less). So I had the thought, "What a fitting time to have tinsel on our tree: in Mexico, with no carpet. The upkeep will be simple." Well, let's just say, tinsel is overrated. It's a pain to put on, a pain to be continually cleaning, and it's still scattered throughout our house. Furthermore, it didn't look great. Lesson learned. 

Our apartment is on a pretty busy street, so I was super excited to have some lights on our balcony. So many people would see it!

Another highlight of our Christmas season in Mexico was going to our first posada. Martin and Mayra hosted a group of us from church. Mayra is an amazing cook and made us cochinita pibil (our favorite taco meat here!). Then we had a pinata and fireworks, which are traditions at Christmas time here. 

Mi amigas: Mayra, Carol and Megan. 

It was decided that oh-so-tall Ben would be the keeper of the pinata string. 

Even the moms got a chance to hit the pinata. 

Mayra had reason to be scared of Josh swinging madly. 

Josh

Sam

Sam

Seth

Ben had way too much fun bopping the kids on the head. 

Candy! 

Your treats are placed into one of the cones of the star. 

Firework time.

Tiniest sparkler you ever have seen. 

Mayra also made us a traditional drink called "ponche." It like a fruit tea and you use a sugar cane stick to stir it...it was amazing. 

Sam slipped and fell while we were there and got this huge goose-egg. Thank the Lord it wasn't worse. 

We had such a fun month at SMCA school. Bev and I had the kids basically making a Christmas tree ornament a day. 

The was one of my favorites (Antonella, Josh, and Elias)

The kids all put on a play for the parents on the final day before break. Josh was a shepherd (aka, sign holder). 

Cutest shepherd ever. 

He did a great job with his sign-holding (a very important job, you know). 

I'm so thankful to be a part of this group! 

The other teachers: Christina, Katie, Bev and I, along with Brooke, who helped us with the play. 

After the play we had a special lunch together and decorated sugar cookies. 

Apparently I wasn't watching Josh close enough to regulate his cookie decorating; he really took some creative liberties. 

I got to visit Seth and Sam at their school one day for a "writer's cafe," in which they each read me a story they had written. It was really nice to get to see them during the school day! 

Seth, Sam

Ben and I got out for a date night to a dinner put on by the Canadian consulate. Actually, dinner isn't the appropriate word to use for this year's event, as it was just finger foods, most of which I couldn't eat. We were both starving by the time we came home. (Let's just say the excitement of this evening was a far cry from the gourmet dinner and then grand prize winning night of the Canadian consulate dinner last year). However, it's always fun to dress-up and go on a date and I also surprisingly connected with a friend, Sara, whom I hadn't seen for a long time. 

Ben and I;               Sara and I

One final December sunrise for this post: 

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