Ana's Office Party...!

Ana's office party was on January 6, and since it was after Christmas, they called it a "holiday party". The top picture is of Mrs. Gloria Bohan, the owner of the company, giving Ana her 5 year award! The bottom picture is of Ana with her co-workers, Juanna and Annette. On the table is the Christmas tree that Ana trimmed with decorations symbolic of their Accounting Department. Everyone had a great time, and we enjoyed a delicious chicken dinner with all the trimmings. After dinner there were lots of door prizes, and we WON one!! We received a portable DVD player!

Old Christmas...

For the last two years, our family has celebrated "Old Christmas" which is January 6. I bet many folks don't even know what old Christmas is anymore.. My grandmother told stories of "stealing collards" on Old Christmas :-). And one of the traditional beliefs she passed down to us is that at the stroke of midnight on Old Christmas, every animal bows down and prays. Ana Maria's grandmother used to tell her that Old Christmas was celebrated by exchanging gifts and caroling from house to house. Anyway, our family decided that since Christmas has become so busy and commercialized, we would get together again on Old Christmas and celebrate by having a meal together and read scripture, sing carols and pray. We had a very meaningful celebration this year at Mom and Dad's. Here are a couple of pictures from our Old Christmas celebration (we decided to get together Old Christmas Eve this year). Mom even set up the outdoor Nativity set inside to mark the event! It was a very meaningful evening.

Happy Birthday to Ana...!

On January 4 we celebrated Ana Maria's birthday! We actually celebrated all week, er..ah.. I mean... all month :-) The bottom picture is of Ana with flowers Nicole and Brian sent to her - very beautiful! And the bag of goodies was from me. I got home before Ana, and I made some tea for us to have while she opened her presents. After our tea, I took Ana shopping for a few more birthday goodies. And later we finished the day at the Old Siam Thai resturant where we had a delicious supper and grabbed a few more pictures. I think Ana really enjoyed the day - I certainly did!

New Year's Eve...!

I've certainly gotten behind in posting pictures to our blog.. :-( These two pics are from a New Year's gathering at the house our friends, Sherry and Daniel. We played Chinese mahjhong and other board and card games until way past midnight. We also watched the 'Big Apple' drop at midnight, of course. The top picture here is of Ana getting ready to jump down from a chair at the stroke of midnight. This is an old Portuguese family tradition! The idea is that you are jumping into the new year with the right foot, for good luck :-)