Starting where I left off…
As soon as we had packed the car so tight that we barely had room for Daven, we headed home from Oklahoma. While on the five hour drive home, I couldn’t help but miss the Marshall family already. However, I was so anxious to make it to Portales to see Autumn and the rest of my family that I couldn’t sit still! When we finally pulled in to Clovis, we dumped all the packages and gifts out of the car only to fill it up with the packages that needed to be delivered in Portales. (are you confused yet?) Then we headed towards Portales. I finally got to see my brothers, my sister, my sister-in-law, my nieces, and so many aunts and uncles and cousins…TOO many to mention!
We immediately started preparing for our Christmas Eve festivities. Keep in mind, we planed for 30 to participate in our Christmas Eve festivities revolving around our 1950’s theme. Festivities include singing carols, Chinese gift exchange, Elvis impersonation contest, hula hoop contest…and so much more. We had an amazing evening with so much laughter that tears were streaming down my face. You will see in the pictures a few examples of our Elvis impersonation contes
t. First is PapaT showing off his lip singing skills and second is Ponga and Monga (my grandparents) as Elvis and his “smoking hot momma” singing I’ll have a blue Christmas…Ah, the memories! You just thought you would get away without these pictures being published. HA! I owe it to myself to share this amazing experience with the rest of the world!
Daven’s favorite part of the entire evening was the singing. The look on his face when all 30 of us belted out Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and Silent Night was priceless. He was in awe. After that, however, he was not feeling so well. We rocked and bounced and walked…all night long simply trying to keep him calm. Traveling, strange faces, and too much commotion had finally taken its toll on him. He needed a break. I anticipate many more Christmas’s like this. Daven simply does not do well in situations such as this. Don’t get me wrong, he LOVES my family and loves being the center of attention…which he is. He just gets so overwhelmed so quickly. I hope things will get better as time goes on.
After the fun and games we each claimed a section on the floor to crash, grabbed a chair at the table to play poker, or ran to a local gas station for a quick midnight snack. And we all settled in for a long winters nap. (Or a long night sleeping on the floor!)
After we celebrated our Christmas morning with so many packages and ripped wrapping paper that made a mountain in the middle of the floor, we looked over all our gifts and exciting treasures again. Once again, we were blessed with such a generous family. Daven had calmed down a bit enough to play with a few toys, we all ate Monga’s amazing cinnamon rolls (we wait all year for those!), and slowly one by one found an empty shower to revive us again from a long night.
Once we finally sat down to eat a fantastic Christmas dinner I looked around at my family and knew there was no other place I would rather be. Little did I know that I would get to spend lots
of time with my family. You see, a winter storm blanketed most of New Mexico and Colorado with snow. This meant that most of my family would be snowed in for an extra 4 days! We played poker, stayed up way too late, and laughed so much that it made me sick. I still haven’t recovered from my head cold and now it is making its way to Daven. Too much fun and lack of sleep gets me every time!
Okay, I have officially said way too much! I will save Daven’s birthday party for yet another post.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
By the way, the beautiful woman holding Daven…is my Auntie Alowetta that I have mentioned before. One of the smartest people I know!
As soon as we had packed the car so tight that we barely had room for Daven, we headed home from Oklahoma. While on the five hour drive home, I couldn’t help but miss the Marshall family already. However, I was so anxious to make it to Portales to see Autumn and the rest of my family that I couldn’t sit still! When we finally pulled in to Clovis, we dumped all the packages and gifts out of the car only to fill it up with the packages that needed to be delivered in Portales. (are you confused yet?) Then we headed towards Portales. I finally got to see my brothers, my sister, my sister-in-law, my nieces, and so many aunts and uncles and cousins…TOO many to mention!We immediately started preparing for our Christmas Eve festivities. Keep in mind, we planed for 30 to participate in our Christmas Eve festivities revolving around our 1950’s theme. Festivities include singing carols, Chinese gift exchange, Elvis impersonation contest, hula hoop contest…and so much more. We had an amazing evening with so much laughter that tears were streaming down my face. You will see in the pictures a few examples of our Elvis impersonation contes
t. First is PapaT showing off his lip singing skills and second is Ponga and Monga (my grandparents) as Elvis and his “smoking hot momma” singing I’ll have a blue Christmas…Ah, the memories! You just thought you would get away without these pictures being published. HA! I owe it to myself to share this amazing experience with the rest of the world!Daven’s favorite part of the entire evening was the singing. The look on his face when all 30 of us belted out Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and Silent Night was priceless. He was in awe. After that, however, he was not feeling so well. We rocked and bounced and walked…all night long simply trying to keep him calm. Traveling, strange faces, and too much commotion had finally taken its toll on him. He needed a break. I anticipate many more Christmas’s like this. Daven simply does not do well in situations such as this. Don’t get me wrong, he LOVES my family and loves being the center of attention…which he is. He just gets so overwhelmed so quickly. I hope things will get better as time goes on.
After the fun and games we each claimed a section on the floor to crash, grabbed a chair at the table to play poker, or ran to a local gas station for a quick midnight snack. And we all settled in for a long winters nap. (Or a long night sleeping on the floor!)After we celebrated our Christmas morning with so many packages and ripped wrapping paper that made a mountain in the middle of the floor, we looked over all our gifts and exciting treasures again. Once again, we were blessed with such a generous family. Daven had calmed down a bit enough to play with a few toys, we all ate Monga’s amazing cinnamon rolls (we wait all year for those!), and slowly one by one found an empty shower to revive us again from a long night.
Once we finally sat down to eat a fantastic Christmas dinner I looked around at my family and knew there was no other place I would rather be. Little did I know that I would get to spend lots
of time with my family. You see, a winter storm blanketed most of New Mexico and Colorado with snow. This meant that most of my family would be snowed in for an extra 4 days! We played poker, stayed up way too late, and laughed so much that it made me sick. I still haven’t recovered from my head cold and now it is making its way to Daven. Too much fun and lack of sleep gets me every time!Okay, I have officially said way too much! I will save Daven’s birthday party for yet another post.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
By the way, the beautiful woman holding Daven…is my Auntie Alowetta that I have mentioned before. One of the smartest people I know!
4 Responses to “Christmas 1950’s Style”
Leave a Reply
About me
- I'm Aspen
- From Clovis, New Mexico, United States
- Happily married to Logan for 5 years. We have a precious son Daven Tate who was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome (a genetic disorder)at 11 months old. What a joy it will be to watch him grow. Daven just turned TWO!
- My profile
Are you related to Martha Stewart?? I can't believe all the fun things you do at Christmas time!
It's so nice to hang with family, and to be snowed in must have been the kicker. What a great time!
Sounds like a great family time...I want to do all that stuff too :)
What a party! I loved the theme! These are the memories you will always treasure...and, thankfully, you take many photos to document everything!
I can't wait to hear how the bday party went. I loved the "spin a wheel" thing...oh, it is so nice not feeling alone in this!
Love,
Nance
Of all things, I am so jealous you had snow! It is rainy and 50 degrees here, crazy. Thanks for sharing your holiday with us, way more exciting than ours!