On Christmas morning, Lorne and I woke up before Jasmine. I think we were excited to see her reaction to her gifts. It was great - I ran out first with the camera poised to take a picture as she saw everything under the tree. She looked so cute in her Christmas PJs and I had matching ones - so we were a perfectly matched pair!
Many of the rest of the family were up and ready to watch Jasmine enjoy everything. She got a train and a Power Wheels car from Santa, an interactive doll from Abuela Meme, and some other fun toys from everyone else. She had a lot of fun opening and was very gracious and saying thank you to everyone who had given her the gifts. 
We didn't linger long at my Uncle's house that morning because we moved our family party to my mom's house. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes, and headed over to my mom's house where she was preparing a lunch feast.
Bobby (my stepbrother) and his family came over as well. We had another great present opening fest. Ryan (our Santa in training - to one day take over Tio Robert's amazing Santa performances) played Santa in handing out the gifts at my mom's house. He was very funny and I think he has great future Santa potential! 
Lorne and I opened our gifts to each other there and also the gifts from my parents and brothers. I was so excited because this year I got something Lorne had wanted, a Wii. He got me some fabulous stuff (he really outdid himself - I totally don't deserve it). He got me a shiatsu massaging pad, a Cricut scrapbooking machine, photo editing software, and other things as well.
Jasmine got another stack of gifts and a stocking at her abuela's house and she sat with her Tio Rory to open her gifts.
Jasmine's Tower O' Gifts 
Then, as per tradition, we sat together and watched a movie. This year we watched a Christmas movie that my dad had recorded, Prancer. It wasn't great, but I always like this relaxing part of the evening when we just veg out. 
Jasmine poses in front of the amazing Nativity Scene my mom builds each year. Jasmine loved the Christmas story and pointing out the baby Jesus and the wise men.
We arrived home around 9 PM and had a few more gifts to open that had stayed at home. Gifts from the family in Australia, neighbors, and friends. We also gave Preston his gifts. He made out this year, everyone in the family always gives him gifts and Santa manages to bring him goodies too. 
After this HUGE day, Jasmine was ready for bed. She was punchy and grouchy and so it was relief to finally put her down for a long sleep. 
I interrupt this catching up on the blog to bring you my views on the BCS Championship game last night. You should all know by now that I am a former Buckeye and as such am completely obsessed with Buckeye everything, especially football (it is something you get brainwashed with when you go to school there and you can never quite get it out later).
They made so many amateur mistakes and I was screaming at the TV, sometimes obscenities - and I just couldn't believe what I was watching. They allowed LSU to intercept, they got penalty after penalty, they roughed the kicker which was probably their worst mistake. And really, it is too bad, they are an amazing team and that school plays some of the best football out there. Not last night I tell you. They lost the title 38-24. The bright part of the game was seeing the best damn band in the land - that Ohio State marching band is amazing - no one compares.
So, Here we are on January 6th and I am just now getting to write about the main event - Christmas! We had such a great Christmas this year, I can honestly say it was one of my favorite ones yet! It didn't begin great -
Then steps in the knight in shining armor, my wonderful husband. He knew how hard I had worked and how crushed I would be to not have it to give so he suggested that we take my entire computer (mind you, I have a desktop, not a laptop) and set it up there and have the family gather round to watch it and then finish the DVD later and give them their copy after Christmas. 
At first I wasn't sure, it sounded like a lot of trouble. There were all the cords, and the monitor and the speakers and the sub woofer and the keyboard and mouse, and don't forget the tower itself. Lorne offered to pack it up for me and set it up when we got there. I thought about it and I agreed, it would be better than nothing.
We headed over to my Uncle's house with a car full of presents and our overnight bags and my computer. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner - I cannot even tell you how good the food was, if you weren't there you absolutely missed out! We ate these amazing manicotti (I totally need the recipe) and a stuffed pork loin. I devoured my plate. It is good to have a chef for an uncle!
After dinner, we read Jasmine Twas the night before Christmas and we baked cookies for Santa. She was so cute, I had bought her a little baking set from Bed Bath & Beyond and so she had an apron, a small cookie sheet, a rolling pin and some cookie cutters. We make chocolate chip cookies but we still used the shape cutters. Jasmine was totally into it. After we baked the cookies, we peeled some carrots for the reindeer (can't leave them out) and made some hot cocoa to go with the cookies. Jasmine was so excited to leave them out for Santa.
It was then time for her to say goodnight to everyone and settle in for the night. We got her into her Christmas pj's and read the Christmas Story to her. It was so nice because my cousin Natalia came into the room and shared this moment with us and it was so nice to have her there. Jasmine loves her titi very much.
After putting Jasmine to bed and indulging in some sweets for dessert, it was time to sit around and watch my creation. I have to tell you, I didn't expect the reaction I got. I knew the family would love it but I didn't expect the gratitude and emotion. It was truly the best gift to me - to see them loving the gift of the slide show. My abuela, uncle and mom were in tears and my uncle was especially touched and expressive in his thanks for the gift. It made me feel so loved that everyone loved the gift and I hope they all know how much I love them.
Before the opening frenzy began, my aunt annouced that I needed to open the gift her and my uncle had gotten for me. I thought that was odd, and wondered what it could be that I had to open it in front of everyone. It was the most thoughtful and touching gift I received. They bought me a chef's coat embroidered with my business name, Occasionally Cake and my name and Executive pastry chef underneath it. It was such a sweet moment. It was also sweet because I had thought to purchase one for Marcia and I knew she was sitting there with it in a gift on her lap. I had her open hers and we posed for pictures. It was an awesome moment and I know my uncle is proud of me for continuing the line of business in the family. I guess deep down inside I always knew if someone was going to do it, it would be me.
We all then opened our gifts and thanked each other and showed off our wares. Then Santa Lorne and Sabrina got to work, eating the cookies and leaving some crumbs, munching on carrot sticks and drinking some cocoa. We also had to put together some gifts and get all of Jasmine's things under the tree. I built the train and Lorne built Jasmine's power wheels pink Volkswagen Beetle. 
I was up until 5 am with my family as we finished watching the slide show and then went to bed. Thus ended Christmas Eve. 
This year, we left Thursday afternoon and arrived around 9:30 PM and picked Lorne up from the airport. He flew there from his business trip to New York. 
We had a great time on Friday as we went shopping at Easton and had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We played around in the square by the Christmas tree and then headed back for some relaxation and movie watching.
On Saturday, we helped with party preparation and Amy & I got to go shopping. Jasmine also enjoyed singing Christmas carols with Amy at her piano. The only downer was that Xander, Amy's miniature shnauzer, had a hard time learning to play with Jasmine. He nipped at her and barked and knocked her over every chance he got. We had to keep them seperated. We think Xander thought Jasmine was a toy to play with.
Before the party, we met up with Michelle and her boyfriend John at Olive Garden for dinner. I went to college with Michelle a long time ago! 
Originally, we were supposed to go to the Columbus Zoo lights and then to Amy's parents house, The Garvers for cookies, hot cocoa and caroling. Well, as it was a nice evening (50 degrees) the rest of Columbus had the same idea. We sat in a line of cars for 45 minutes and we only moved about 10 feet. Amy decided that we should just go to her parents house and so we ended up skipping the lights. Well, there is always next year.
We had a great time with the Pluths and we even stopped by Cindy & Kevin Zarcone's house on the way home where we were treated to cookies (freshly baked) and hot cocoa and visited for a bit before going home.
It was such a great trip, short, but great. We stayed in a hotel that had an amazing view, the room wasn't much to write about but the view was something I couldn't get over. And the amount of wildlife we saw just sitting on tha balcony was astounding. We even saw dolphins swimming in the bay! I had never seen dolphins in the wild before and it made me wish Lorne had been there because he loves that kind of stuff.
View from my hotel room!
The graduation was nice, the speakers were a bit boring but watching Rory walk across the stage and get his degree was totally worth it! For those of you who don't know, he double majored in Marine Science and Biology and minored in Chemistry. There is no way I could ever master those subjects!
