Bee is for BLESSED ...: Zoe's first Christmas!

Zoe's first Christmas was amazing!!! It was everything I could've asked for ... time with God ... time with family ... time for me =).

Christmas Eve was at Sunbeam Hotel and the motif for this year was silver and purple. Tita Bot, as always, did a great job transforming her house into a different world. For the food, everyone prepared their own dish(es) to share with everyone. I ended up making truffled mac'n'cheese with bacon, a caprese salad and spanikopita with tzatziki sauce. Mom made all the complicated dishes like relyenong manok, morcon, arroz valenciana and nilaga. Tita Bot "cooked" Chinese style pork chops and eggplant parmigiana while Jay made his famous salmon and lettuce wraps. To add to all that food, there were also the sapin-sapin and other rice desserts plus chocolate covered everything and other sweets. As you can see, our Noche Buena was a feast!

After an early dinner, we all went to the 9 pm mass at the Cathedral. Since we wanted to make sure we got good seats, we arrived an hour early. Zoe used this time to stroll around the altar and to ham it up for anyone watching her =). Her ninong Kevin celebrated the mass and had a beautiful homily. Afterwards, he even gave Ima a special blessing. He was happy to see his goddaughter on Christmas Eve as well =).

When we got back home, it was time for the kids to open their gifts from Santa. Even Zoe got some gifts! I guess despite her not having her own stocking or even bothering to write a list, Santa knew what she would want and rewarded her for being such a good girl =). Once the kids opened their gifts, we moved on to the reflection part of the evening. Last year, I asked everyone to wrap 3 things that symbolized 3 blessings they received. This year, I had everyone draw a question out of a stocking and to share their answer with everyone. All of the questions centered around faith, hope and love ... it was great to hear everyone's answers! The reflection portion has become one of my favorite parts of the evening and has truly made our celebrations a lot more meaningful. After the last question was answered, we did our annual secret santa gift exchange which was followed by more eating! Zoe was a social butterfly and seemed to really be enjoying her first Christmas celebration. She didn't sleep until 1:30 am!!!

The next morning, Mike, Zoe, Jay and I decided to go to 11:30 am mass at Nativity Church to visit Zoe's other Ninong, Fr. Francis. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Jesus' birthday!!! We really really really really really really miss Fr. Francis and his amazing homilies =).

Later that day, Mike, Jay, Chris, Tiana and I decided to go to Alhambra to try their $15 Chinese Foot Massage. Mike and I have been to a couple of foot massage places in the Valley, but they were $20/hour. So we were curious to see how the $15/hour one compared. The massage was amazing (and definitely worth $15!) and it was a great way to end our Christmas day. Needless to say, Mike LOVED his massage and decided he'll be coming back there for sure =).

As an added bonus, the twins -- Jaden and Kaylan -- along with Jeric put together the cutest puppet show ever! Tita Bot and Tito Charlie transformed their living room into a theater ... it was so fun to watch them perform! Again, such a great way to end an already perfect first Christmas for my family. I can't wait until next year when Zoe will have a better understanding of what Christmas really is ... but as far as first Christmas's go, this one was absolutely perfect. Thank you Lord for gifting us with your Son so that we may live forever. Christmas is my favorite holiday of all time because it's a special day where families get together and celebrate God's greatest gift to us: LOVE.

Here's a video montage of Zoe's first Christmas followed by pics of our great celebration: