In Spanish this phrase literally means "pure life" but is more commonly thought of as meaning "full of life." Costa Ricans use this phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike. This blog is about our life... Pura Vida!

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Friday, January 14, 2011

The Holidays

It's snowing again as I sit here. I just can't believe how much snow we have already gotten this year! Joe is of course thrilled because he can snowmobile like crazy! I enjoy days like this watching the beautiful snow fall. It's so beautiful... until you have to drive in it! :)

Well, another Christmas and New Years have come and gone. (sorry, I'm a little late in updating!) It was a wonderful holiday season for us. Christmas week started will a big snowfall (over a foot!) And having lots of family come home. We had many celebrations. Christmas eve morning and early afternoon we had a nice winter walk followed by sledding, Maria trying cross country skiing for the first time, snowmobiling and roasting hot dogs over a campfire. That evening we went to Christmas Eve Mass. It was a lovely start to the Christmas season, except that Emma wasn't very happy to be in church! :( After mass, we went to the Heidelberger's to have appetizers and a steak and lobster supper. Then of course we had gift exchange. Emma enjoyed opening her presents, and then continued to be crabby for the remainder of the evening for her first Christmas. Maria enjoyed playing with cousin Olivia and honestly didn't have much interest in opening her presents. Olivia would open hers and Maria just wanted to play with her toys (even though she had almost the same things in her unopened presents!)
Christmas day, Maria was excited that Santa had arrived and brought presents. Then we loaded up the car and headed over the the Staples for a Prime Rib dinner and more presents. Maria loved all her new gifts, especially her new little Mickey four wheeler she can drive. New Years Eve was another great celebration with family at the local bar, followed by games at our house. The weather was terrible, so we decided to keep it close to home. It turned out to be a great time, until we got the call that Maria had the flu! During the next few days, we all got sick! :( Just in time to go back to work. We are almost over all our sickness now finally!!

Last week the girls had some quality time with both of their grandparents as Joe and I ventured to Indiana for a friends wedding. It was a long trip! (12 hours one way) But we had a very nice time. Wednesday night when we arrived, we had a nice supper with the whole wedding party followed by the bachelor/bachelorette parties. Here is a picture of us that evening, which was also our third anniversary. The waiter brought us a lovely dessert, and it was delicious!

Hope you all had a great holiday season and have a wonderful 2011!!