Christmas, a la Peru!

A Peruvian Christmas dinner!

We invited a new couple over to our home for after-Christmas dinner and made them anticuchos, papas a la huancaina, chiche, Inca Kola (well, we didn't make that part) and lots of other good, Peruvian food. Here are a couple pictures from the blessed event. :D

As you can see, potatoes are definitely a staple in the Peruvian diet!

Dad busted out the grill for the anticuchos and everything. It took a hair dryer to get it going!

I especially like this one: my abuelita adding spice to the sopa de leches.

Cookie Monster!

Cookies are the best!

Geneology, I am doing it!

Today, while speaking with my abuelita, I learned that my bisabuela was a seamstress and medicinal-type person (knew how to cure lots of ailments with certains teas, etc. along with being a midwife) and my bisabuelo fixed broken bones. It was just about the coolest thing ever, and my abuelita made sure to include stories about how she got rid of cancer with vinegar and cured a twisted neck (the x-rays sounded nasty) with turpentine. I love family history. :)

Shake it up, baby!

Funny moment: hearing a woman with a thick, Spanish accent singing "Twist and Shout." I wish I had a recording!

Christmas comes but once a year!

I have the best pictures to share when I get back to a computer that will recognize my memory cards. I mean, 18 people in one house is just crazy-inducing in general, but it was also my family and Christmas. What could be better? :D

Packing

Because we moved a lot, I got really good and packing things and using as little space as possible but also planning for just about everything.

This time, however, I can't get away with one suitcase. I have to use two. And I'm sad. :(

Hermione Hair

Yeah, I'm thinking that's pretty self-explanatory. :)

So confused!

I have found a new bruise or cut on myself every day for the last week. I am currently at twelve bruises and four cuts and I have no idea how I sustained any of them. The weirdest part was the night that I discovered I'd gotten a new bruise exactly on top of an older, smaller bruise. What's going on?!

Apartment Christmas!

We had an apartment gift exchange again this year. And, since we believe in getting presents for everyone, rather than a Secret Santa thing, we had lots of little goodies for everyone. I love how much we get to know each other from things like writing letters to Santa (something we did last year) and phone calls to each other, asking if an idea is good/will be taken seriously/will be useful. Here are some pictures from our Monday night extravaganza. :)

Okay, so I got a little artsy with some of my pictures. I just really wanted to catch the paper snowflake and the Christmas tree in the same shot. :D

Erin opening her gift from Becca.

One of my presents for Emily, which I thought was pretty funny.

Kerry, marveling at Emily's gift to her.

Another Emily present--this time, for Becca!

I honestly don't remember who got Heather this gift, but I love Heather's expression!

A home teacher crashed our party, so we told him his punishment was having to take our picture so we could all be in the same shot. He included the Christmas tree, which was very nice of him.

Christmas Songs

So, I used to work at a store where I had almost no control over what music we listened to over the intercom system. This only became particularly frustrating when Christmas season hit. And I don't just mean December--I mean October 15thish - December 31st. You see, most of the "approved" radio stations would start Christmas music long before Halloween ever hit. This was kind of . . . annoying? I don't really want to use that word because I do love Christmas music, I just can't take the same 10 songs over and over again. And while in my heart I know there are more than ten Christmas songs out there (even my Church's hymnbook contains 14) it just felt like the stations couldn't wait 45 minutes before starting the same music again. So, I made a list. Mainly because I wanted to be annoying and prove that the stations COULD go more than three hours before repeating a song (I remember hearing Silent Night three times in less than 90 minutes time and, even though they were different arrangements, I more heartily starting thinking ). So, here is a list that I'm making off the top of my head. And I'm going for spiritual and secular here, so you'll see my train of thought sort of wander. If you see something you think is missing, feel free to leave a comment. :D

1. The First Noel
2. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
3. O Come All Ye Faithful
4. O Tenanbaum (Christmas Tree)
5. O Holy Night
6. Silent Night
7. Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
8. Mary, Did You Know?
9. Joy to the World!
10. Handel's Messiah (I'm just lumping them all together; giving the radio a sporting chance)
11. Up on the Housetop
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
13. the 12 Days of Christmas
14. Jingle Bells
15. Silver Bells
16. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
17. I Wonder as I Wander
18. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night
19. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
20. Jingle Bell Rock
21. White Christmas
22. Blue Christmas
23. Santa Baby
24. Baby, It's Cold Outside
25. that Hippopotamus song
26. All I Want For Christmas
27. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!
28. God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
29. Deck the Halls
30. Fum, Fum, Fum
31. Ding, Dong, Merrily on High
32. What Child is This?
33. Feliz Navidad
34. Mary's Lullaby
35. Coventry Carol
36. Stars Were Gleaming
37. the Holly and the Ivy
38. We Three Kings
39. Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains
40. Angels We Have Heard on High
41. O Little Town of Bethlehem
42. Once in Royal David's City
43. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
44. Good King Wenceslas
45. Here We Come A-Wassailing
46. Christmas Waltz
47. My Grown-Up Christmas List (you know, by Mariah Carey, I think?)
48. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
49. Carol of the Bells
50. I Saw Three Ships
51. Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella
    

There. I have 51 songs, and I only had to pause a couple of times (mostly because I can't spell 'hippo' or 'Wenceslas', but once after 39 songs, just to take a moment to see what else I could think of). Let's say the radio station plays three songs in a row, then goes to a three minute commercial break and the average song is three minutes long. That would mean that in one hour, they play 15 songs. So, I have more than three hours worth of material. Huzzah! Now, let's call our radio stations and ask them to use a little variety, eh?

Lights at Temple Square

My roommates and I were able to see the lights at Temple Square again this year. I'm loving that we've started having traditions because we've known each other for a while. :D Here are a few photos:

Becca, Kerry and Erin

The Nativity (in the foreground, and dark) and the Tabernacle.

Mary, Joseph and the Christchild.

The Salt Lake City temple.

The east spires of the temple.

Another nativity, placed in the reflecting pond just east of the temple.

Michelle and I enjoying a moment together (actually, I'd just finished rubbing some feeling back into my feet, lol!)

Twilight review

I don't believe I ever reviewed the Twilight Saga: New Moon, which is sad, because I thought it was hilarious. I don't think they meant for it to be quite so funny, but Tryn and I definitely found humor in more than one spot, especially because we'd lean into each other and say things like, "just put your seatbelt on!" and "is this where you were going?" which I suppose would only be funny to you, dear reader, if you've seen the RiffTrax version of the original Twilight.

Anyway, the movie was fine--it actually had a plot, the acting was somewhat better and because they had a better budget, everything wasn't blue the entire time. Huzzah.

And here is a picture of me and Tryn, laying on the ground, waiting for the theater to open up so we can sit in seats isntead. :D