The Blogging Ghost of Christmas just passed...

This past December was one of the busiest and most unforgettable months of my life. Christmas 09 brought relatives (known and just met for the first time), lots of sweet goodies, tons of food, a million parties and get togethers, fun gifts, but most of all it brought the Spirit of Christ into our home and the feeling of the Savior's love that cannot be replaced by anything.
I hope that these pictures will tell all of the sweet experiences this past holiday season brought to us, enjoy!
Temple Trip
Elder Chappell was one of the first missionaries to teach us the Gospel and help us get baptized. I don't think he will ever fully understand how much he means to our eternal family and how much we love him. John and I got the opportunity to go to the Temple with him one last time (thanks Josie) before he went back home to Utah, as he completed an honorable mission Dec. 23rd. He said he was going to strap a big red bow to his chest so that when he landed, his parents would find their giant gift. We heard later from a fellow missionary who flew in the same day that he spotted a missionary with a big red bow on his chest. :  ) We plan to visit Elder Chappell in March, so watch out Salt Lake, here come the Riries.




Lodge Christmas Party
The lodge throws a fabulous Christmas party every year with tons of food, a real Santa, and gifts donated by the members. If any gifts are not taken they are donated to the Ronald McDonald house. I soaked it all in as Sebastian participated as John and I both feel this will be Bash's last "Santa" Christmas. He dropped a lot of comments this year that eluded to his thoughts of there being no Santa.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. We still have Mia and the baby.




Noche Buena

Another fabulous Cuban dinner, prepared by my MIL, complete with candle light, some mood music, and a little Martinelli's to complete the celebration! We had so much fun! We played a game that the Brenner's had played the week before at their family party, sort of a spin on charades. We also got to meet Yanet's cousin from Miami and his wife who live here and have the most exciting jobs. He is a reporter for channel 11 news, and she is a professional make up artist to the stars and whoever else they ask her to do. Oh how we look forward to Noche Buena!
It's ok, it's Martinelli's


Christmas Eve
One last family pic before we assembled and set out the kids gifts




Christmas morning/Mia's first Christmas


She had no problem ripping the paper off










This was a regular occurrence around the house as Uncle Joe was head over heels, absolutely in love, and smitten with Mia!

This looks like John and my first date

Peas in a pod






Grammy with her grand kids