Who wants to spend Christmas in tropical climate anyway?

First of all, if you can tell me which movie the quote that is acting as the title of this post is from, you will win the award of Friend of the Week...

Secondly...

I'm baa-ck... but not necessarily by choice. Remember how nice the weather was everyday that I was in Florida? Remember how we actually had to blast the AC? It was so wonderful to get away from the cold and to go spend time with my family. Mostly, I hung out with Abue (my grandma) during the day and with my mom and sister when they got home from work.

It was an exhausting break though. We had visitors nearly every day. My mom's cousin and his two sons were in town the first weekend. It was fun to have them there and to be able to show them around South Florida. The only downside was that they were very interested in going to the Sawgrass Mills Mall (AKA HELL) and we ended up spending like 45 years in there while Gabo and Daniel looked for gifts for their girlfriends. Still, it was good to hang out with fellow Costa Ricans.

We all headed up to my brother's house in Fort Myers and met up with Aunt Kat and her family. Downside here was that the baby got a 24-hour virus, so naturally, every single person in my family got sick... with the exception of my sister and I. We attribute our good health to positive thinking/karma/being awesome. We haven't decided which. Probably the last one.

The second week, I stayed with Esteban, Jessica (Esteban's wife) and Rodrigo (baby, named after my Uncle Rodrigo). I am glad I got to do that because I was able to get to know Jessica a lot more and spend a ton of time with the Munchkin (aka Rodrigo).

I'm sad Christmas is over. It has been such a long time since the family has been able to get together for the holidays. I am glad my grandma's visa got worked out. That was truly a Christmas miracle. We all had so much fun.

Abue and I at Sanibel Island... My second favorite place... at least until I travel to Europe, then it may get bumped down.

Esteban and I at Fort Myers Beach

My cousins, Esteban and Ebony at Fort Myers Beach.

Sister and I.

Ft. Lauderdale Beach with Daniel and Gabo.
Hideous picture, but the only one where all four of us got in the frame.

Protecting my shoes from the waves.

Mama.

Abue was the honored guest, so she got to place Baby Jesus in the Nativity scene this year.

Fla-Amalia and I. We also call her Little Jerk and Lovely Hobbit.

Christmas Eve dinner. So good. We got Miguel to join us again, which I guess is now sort of a tradition.

I just like my house a lot. My mom did a great job designing the living room.
I was going to say decorate, but I remembered Jeff will disown me as a friend if I use that term as it refers to interior design.

That baby wins favorite person of the year. No battle. He has this new thing where he chews on his hand all the time because he is teething. So precious.