Living, Laughing, Learning, Loving ... and Laxatives

This year's holiday season was a little unconventional. We started on Christmas Eve here in Texas and just returned home yesterday, Jan. 6, from Oklahoma. We figured ... hey, drag it out as long as possible; after all, the holidays only come around once a year.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we stuffed ourselves with Cuban food and Cuban laughs. Throughout the past 4 years, I've slowly (and discreetly) brought my American ways of game-playing and dessert-eating into the family. Before I came along, I guess there was no game-playing. Albert says all they used to do is sit around and make fun of him. And for dessert, they ate vanilla ice cream and frozen peach cobbler (which took 3 hours to defrost and bake). By the time it was finally ready, I think they had all already forgotten about it ... or it had sat in the oven so long it was no longer edible. Anyway, I think I've influenced the family to incorporate at least a few good things into their holiday routine.

The day after Christmas, the Carrillo family loaded up our bikes and skateboards and took a trip to the Rockport beach. We had a day full of exercise, sun, and birds ... there seem to be a lot of those around here.

On our way to Oklahoma to spend Christmas with my side of the family, we stopped to celebrate New Year's Eve in Denton, a small little college town north of Dallas. According to an intoxicated group of ladies wearing zebra and leopard jackets and walking along the sidewalk in downtown Denton: "Oh my Gosh, you have to go to Dusty's! They have the best burgers everrrrrrrr!" So, we checked it out for ourselves, and surprisingly, they were right. Great burgers, good music, and a whole restaurant full of good ol' small town people.

On New Year's Day, we headed to western Oklahoma and celebrated Christmas with my family. Ate good food, opened presents, and of course, played games. According to Albert, my mom cooked his "dream meal," featuring steaks & shrimp, and she even ordered a bottle of his favorite Argentinian steak sauce - Chimichurri. He stuffed himself for 5 days straight, but my poor husband still hasn't been able to digest all of it ... he made a trip to Walgreen's today for a bottle of Miralax, which he says is highly recommended by many of the top gastroenterologists in the Midwest.
Oh, and here's a picture of a kid with a gigantic fro in Weatherford, OK.