Christmas eve 2012…

for my ENTIRE life, except for the years jarred & i were living in California & didn’t make it home for Christmas, Christmas eve has always been spent at the Gomez’s. grandma & grandpa & all of my aunts & uncles & us cousins all so excited to be there. i remember we would all be so excited to just get home & get to bed so that christmas morning would hurry up & arrive. once again this is such an important tradition for me to give to jarred, mikayla & sophia. just like me, they too have always spent the night before christmas with our Gomez family. the past three years have been different though, my grandparents are getting older & grandpa hasn’t been able to make it to Christmas eve since 2009 but this year both grandma & grandpa were able to be there with us. it meant so much to everyone to have both of them there.

grandma got cold later in the evening so Uncle Danny got out this cozy electric blanket for her… seriously, grandma is so cute!! my grandma is one of a kind, she is pure heart & pure love…

now that i am an adult & have a family of my own i finally understand just how amazing my grandparents really are. my grandpa has always worked so hard & done so much for his family, the mexican-american community & also for our country, he served in WWII in Patton’s army &  shane is the one who made me truly realize just how amazing that is. i love that shane is so proud to tell people about my grandpa. my grandparent’s celebrated their 70th. wedding anniversary this year & that too is truly inspiring.

seeing all of the kids in a circle in the middle of all the adults reminds me of doing the same with my cousins… family traditions are what the holidays & holiday memories are all about…

sophia got a cute book that plays music & reads her the story & a “cell phone” that sings & plays music from my dad & mary-anne & she absolutely loves that phone so much. she holds that thing up to her ear & mouth & has very lengthy conversations, it is so funny because she looks like she is taking a very important call…

the Gomez family is a very musical family ( i have no idea how i missed out on that gene)… so we always have either rocky, uncle danny or grandma playing on the piano & sophia just loves music & she loves to dance so as soon as rocky started on the piano she was there, dancing & running in circles…

of course christmas eve memories for me are all about family, it will never ever be the same without our tony. i know it is just another day in the year but christmas eve, christmas day, thanksgiving, new years… they really are completely different when all you really want is to have that person there with you so badly. we still laugh & hug & tell stories & create new memories because we are still here, we have to live on but deep in your heart & deep in your soul every single thought you have is about this person that you miss so terribly.