December 2013 Recap

Hey folks!  It's time for Christmas in review!  I recognize that it is February, but better late than never.  It has been a pretty busy time for the Petersons, so sorry for the long pause between updates.  We had a great December, although it was definitely very busy.

It started off with a Christmas party at the Consul General's house here in Juarez.  The traditional Christmas food in Juarez is tamales, so I had about 15 of them, then we went home.  Not a bad party.

Not to be outdone by my boss' Christmas tree, Sarah and I managed to pick one up at the Wal-Mart here in Mexico.  I recognize that we will not always be able to get a live tree in our line of work, so I figured we should take advantage of the opportunity when we have the chance.  On the plus side, you can buy live Christmas trees in London as well, so the whole fake Christmas tree dilemma is something we won't have to worry about for at least a few more years.

Later in the month, we went to the Consulate's so-called "Winter Gala," or as a I like to call it, Consulate Prom.  Fun fact about the Foreign Service: every embassy in the world holds a Marine Corps Ball to celebrate the birthday of the Marine Corps.  We do this because Marines provide security at all embassies overseas.  However, we don't work at an embassy; Sarah and I work at a Consulate.  Hence no Marine guards, and no Marine Corps Ball.  To make up for it, they have the Winter Gala instead, which is an excuse to get dressed up and hang out with your friends.

After that, we had a small pre-Christmas morning with just me, Sarah, and El Senor.  El Senor was apparently a pretty good boy this year, because his grandmothers saw fit to shower him with gifts upon gifts.  Look at all those presents.

By far his favorite, however, was this green ribbon.  I'm sure he'll get around to playing with the actual gifts sometime soon.

After that, it was time for the moment Sarah and I had been dreading for some time: taking a newborn on a cross-country flight.  Unlike some babies, El Senor will literally NEVER go to sleep unless he is in a dark room by himself.  Which means trying to get him to fall asleep on a plane, then in a connecting airport, and then on another plane, is virtually impossible.  In all fairness, however, he was a trooper, and did really well.  Nice work, little guy!

El Senor had a great time visiting Sarah's family back in Virginia.  He finally got to meet his great-grandmother and his uncles, along with Santa (after 90 minutes of standing in line).  Again, what a trooper.  On the plus side, El Senor got yet another giant pile of presents, so I think he forgave us for the whole 12-hour travel day. 

That is, until we took him out for some family photos one chilly East Coast afternoon.  This was his first time in actual cold weather in his entire life.  El Senor was not amused.  All in all, however, we had a very exhausting, but very enjoyable holiday season.  Hope you had a good one as well!