Christmas Eve traditions and Urgent Care part 2...and talk

What my family does on Christmas Eve:

• Frantically buy all the gifts for each other
• Wrap said gifts
  
• Drive down to Old Town Albuquerque
• On the way there and back sing EVERY single Christmas carol known to man (Daddy joins in some of the time)
  
• Look at all the luminarias
• Buy hot chocolate and drink it after holding it for about 15 minutes because they make it too stinking hot EVERY year
  
• Buy homemade tamales from the same vendor every year
• Drive down Rio Grande Blvd (which goes along the Rio Grande River :) ) and drive into the old neighborhoods that have their homes, streets and practically everything else lined and decorated with luminarias
• Get home and eat said tamales
• Emily and I open one gift that Santa left early for us...which happens to always be new pajamas
• Emily and I go and put on pajamas to model for Mom and Dad
• Dad goes to bed
• Mom for some reason stays up way later than Emily and I do...tonight she said that she had some business to discuss with Santa...(I checked, we don't have any mistletoe, so there won't be any hanky-panky)
• Emily and I sneak out really really late to check out everything that Santa brought us...

Okay, I have to stop there, because the last thing doesn't really happen anymore. We sleep in. Are you kidding, waking up REALLY REALLY early to see what Santa brought (yes, we still get Santa stuff) when we could sleep on our day off and see what he brought later? HA!

It was much warmer this year than last year (although being that Warren and I were dating and he tagged along I didn't notice the cold that much last year). I was grateful that it was warmer, I enjoy the experience much more when I am not FREEZING!

I LOVE family traditions. Daddy went to bed, and Emily went back to the master bedroom and forced him to come back out so that Emily and I could open up our one gift. :) We have a tradition where Daddy has to read who the Christmas gift it to and from...otherwise it doesn't get opened.

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Went to urgent care AGAIN...she (Physician's Assistant, who by the way did a much more thorough job of checking me than the doctor did!) said that it was probably a viral infection. So, no antibiotics yet. She (unlike said MD from last visit) gave me a cough medicine (who would've thunk, cough medicine for a cough!) prescription. It works a lot of the time, but for the last hour or so I have been hacking pretty good...

ALLERGIES, hah!

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope everyone is much healthier than I am, and even if they aren't, I hope that after tonight's sleep they will be much better. My heart and love go out to all of you. I know that for some of you, this may be not so happy of an occasion for many different reasons. I pray and hope that you all may have gratitude and joy in your hearts for what you have.

What a wonderful thing to celebrate, the birth of the only Begotten Son of the Father...even though it is on the wrong day. (He was born in the Spring, NOT in December, December 25th was a hedonistic holiday to celebrate the sun...read up on it...um....hang on, let me google it....here . You can find better places to read up on it I am sure, but this was first one I found that was semi reputable. (History Channel website)

Enjoy dreaming of sugar plums and all the such. :) Take lots of pictures of all the jolliness tomorrow morning, I want to see!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good night!