Winning First Place And First Day Of Advent

It was a full week, what with celebrating our anniversary, Thanksgiving, my daughter's graduation dance and then her gymnastics tournament.  And then we kicked off the Christmas season with the first day of advent.  I have to say, it was one of the best weeks ever!

First Day Of Advent

Anniversary Lunch date

Junior Proms Be Lit

In Costa Rica, they take their dances seriously.  Everything is planned down to the most minute detail.  You have the venue, the decor, the food, the DJ, the host and the entertainment.  My daughter's 6th grade graduation dance was everything I expected and more.  It was better planned and executed than my wedding and it was a lot of fun.

Some people might think that having such an elaborate dance for 6th graders is a bit of overkill but you have to remember that in Costa Rica 6th grade is the last year in 'middle' school and then it's off to high school.  It's the last big celebration before the kids start their journey to the next phase of their academic career.  So it makes sense to go out with a bang and they sure did, fireworks included. To say the dance was lit is an understatement.  It was literally on fire.

                                        My princess getting ready for her dance

                                                   All dolled up and ready to party!!!

The Most Amazing Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2019 has come and gone and it was one of the best ones yet.  I didn't have to host this year which meant less work for me overall, but I still put in some work in the kitchen to put my traditional stamp on one of my favorite holidays.

We celebrated the day at hubby's cousin's house with about 16 or so of ur family members and good friends.   The food was as always, delicious.  And the festive atmosphere made everyone giddy with happiness and joy.  Laughter could be heard for about a mile, we were just having so much fun.  The best indicator of a great party is once it's all over, the last piece of food has been eaten and the space cleared yet no one wants to leave.  We said our goodbyes about 3 different times in the span of about an hour and still found ourselves lingering about.  It was a great Thanksgiving.

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit

It took me a little while but I am finally getting into the holiday spirit.  It's not like I wasn't excited about the upcoming holidays.  I truly am ecstatic! But a few things had to be taken care of first before I could really let myself get fully immersed into the season.

First off, the most exciting thing we have planned for the holidays is our trip to Boston to spend Christmas with my family.  This trip initially started off as an idea last year, like so many other planned events. But then it quickly started to take fruition after I began the process of applying for all the kids passports.  Now that I have the passports, I have one more errand to run and then we can actually buy all the tickets.  With tickets in hand, it's no turning back.  We'll be heading to Boston for the holidays.

With Boston travel prep and plans under way, I can finally get festive.  Last week, I took the kids to our first Christmas event at the mall to see Santa and his crew.  After that, I started decorating the house bit by bit until Christmas took over.  Granted, I am keeping the decor very minimal this year as we won't be here for Christmas and most notably on the MIA list of decorations is my Christmas tree.  But the house still looks pretty festive with the few decor pieces I decided to utilize this year.  Because even though we will be leaving soon and the decor will have to come down before the actual holi-DAY, I still wanted to enjoy my home for the short time I had until then.

I also hosted our somewhat annual Secret Santa and gift exchange party with our friends and that was a blast.  Kids got some pretty cool gifts and I got a very tasty box of chocolates.  I cannot wait to see all that the rest of the holiday season has in store for us.  While most of our time will be spent in Boston living our best lives, I will still try and stick to many of our traditional celebrations as well.  We will be still be home when we officially kick off the season with our advent and the Polar Express.  And I still have a few presents I need to buy for a few family members and school personal.  So, while it won't be our norm, this is probably going to be one of the best Christmases we've ever had.

Halloween Fun At Mall San Pedro

For the second year in a row, I took the kids trick or Treating at Mall San Pedro and it was just as much fun as we remembered from the year before.  I love how far Costa Rica has come with all the various Halloween celebration offerings for kids.  And since we all know Halloween is not just about the costume but also about the candy, this year did not disappoint and the kids walked away with three buckets filled to the brim with assorted candies, lollipops and chocolates.  It's safe to say Halloween in Costa Rica was a success for the kids, another great year in the books.

More Halloween Fun at Lincoln Plaza

Thanks to Automercado for the free halloween goodies.