Christmas Break

Merry Christmas!!

Hope that you have had a wonderful Christmas break, and are looking forward to bringing in the New Year, 2011!

My Christmas break was really wonderful. I was off from work Dec 23-26th, and really enjoyed my 4 day weekend!

Thursday, Dec 23rd, I hung out with my dear friend, Jane. We went to lunch, then worked on finishing some Christmas projects. Jane was knitting for her son, and I worked on some doggie jackets for Canon and Nikon.

Christmas Eve~

A quiet morning, and a snowy day filled with running errands to get ready for dinner.

Our menu for the evening was a 4 course meal.

Course 1: Baked Brie with orange marmalade sauteed with jalapeno

Course 2: Black bean & corn soup

Course 3: Chicken and beef tamales and red rice

Course 4: Flan

Here is our stove. Ruben helped with the rice, and I ordered the tamales from a local grocery deli.

Course 1: Baked Brie
(It was delicious!)


Course 2: Black bean and corn soup

Course 3: Green Chicken and Red Beef Tamales with Red Rice

We opened some presents while we were eating.

Here's Ruben opening a gift from Heather.

We love our sign! So perfect for our first Christmas as the Gonzalez Family!!

We also love the stemless wine glasses that she got us too!

Course 4: Flan

(Yummy dessert!)

The Gonzalez's Christmas 2010

After dinner we finished opening our presents!

Here's Ruben opening up the new watch I got him, and Nikon with his new ball. :)

Ruben found all these wonderful Snow Village pieces!!! I was so excited!

Ruben also got me a new winter coat, some nice slacks to wear to work, and a couple of vintage watches. This one is a digital and analog watch. So cool!!

My Aunt and Uncle got Ruben and I these awesome Northface jackets that are really thin and very warm! They always give us great gifts that we wouldn't necessarily buy ourselves! Very thoughtful! Mom pitched in and ordered us a TV! We are so excited as we have not had a TV since our flood in July.

We are so grateful for the wonderful gifts and blessings we received this holiday season.

Christmas Morning~

I received a beautiful silver tea set and tray.

The dogs were excited to open their stockings and see what they got!

And were excited to be in their new winter coats and chewing on a new bone! :)

Ruben and I then opened our stockings.

He's got the whole world in his hands! :)

It was a fun day, and wore some of us out!

I also had the chance to video chat with mine and Ruben's family on Christmas day, and it was so special! So wonderful to be able to say hello and talk face to face, even though we were not able to be with our families this year. It was so perfect!!

On December 26th, Ruben had to be at work at 8am to work his Sunday Brunch shift. I usually drive him to work, and decided to stay and have some breakfast. I treated myself to a yummy eggs benedict, then went home to clean up the house.

(Me in my nifty new jacket that my Aunt and cousins picked out.)

This week, the last week of the year, will be a quiet one at work for me, and a busy one for Ruben. Ruben is in rehearsals all week for a play that opens in January, and is also rehearsing & performing a classical concert this weekend on New Years Eve.
We have been so blessed that Ruben has been busy playing bass and working at the restaurant!


I want to thank you for following along my journey. It has been 2 years since I started this blog, and it has been such a blessing. A wonderful way for me to look back and remember all the wonderful events that have happened to me, as well as offer my family and friends an insight to my life here in Chicago.

Much love to you all, and many blessings for 2011!

Dogs in the City

Canon and Nikon took a trip to the office with me today!

Everything is super quiet today, our last day in the office before the Christmas break. So, I decided it would be a good day to bring the dogs along to spend the day with me. Ruben had to teach this morning in Indiana, so, it seemed better than them being alone all day.

Here's a pic of Nikon as we walk to the opera house. :)

Here they are in my co-worker Tim's office. :) Another co-worker had shared a ball with them. They are having so much fun getting all this attention.

In the rehearsal department, Josie brought her puppy too!

Nikon is outside my messy office. :)

Canon seems to be saying, "get to work!"

While I'm working, they are resting and staying by my side.

Such good boys!!

Holiday Cheer!

It's that time of year to gather together with good company and eat lots of food! And believe me, I have been doing just that for the past few weeks. Bring on the holiday fun, and hopefully not the pounds!

Ha!

It started with the Wardrobe Christmas luncheon on Dec. 7th. The wonderful people of the wardrobe department served a yummy array of Polish food. I have to admit that I have never had a meal of Polish food, but I really enjoyed it, and so did everyone else!

Here I am with Lucy, the Wardrobe Mistress..

and with Maureen, the Wardrobe Supervisor. They are a team that run the department, and were so sweet to include me in their party!

The next day, Dec. 8th, was the Technical and Production departments' potluck and white elephant gift give-a-way. I made pulled pork, for the first time with great success. Here we are diving into the food before we open our gifts. :)

That weekend Chicago had a large snow storm, which brought about 8 inches of snow, and blustery winds.

Here are the dogs, during their morning walk.

Here is a view of downtown.

Ruben and I braved the storm to do a little shopping.

On Monday, December 13, our dear friend Sarah O'Neill visited Chicago for a job interview.

It was so wonderful to have her visit! Her interview went so well, that they asked her back for a second! We are praying that she gets the job, and is able to move back to Chicago.

Here we are with some friends of mine and Sarah after dinner. Seated next to me and Sarah, are Matt and Tye, who graduated from Texas Tech.

On Wednesday, Dec. 15th was the Lyric Opera Administrative Party, which the company hosts for the full time admin staff. It's a lot of fun, as we don't all get to see eachother during the workday. It's always good to mingle and make friends with co-workers from other departments, it makes asking for favors so much easier. :)

They have dinner and drinks provided, which helps provide a very festive astmosphere.

Me with some of my fun co-workers. :)

On Friday, Dec 17, Ruben and I took a road trip to Indianapolis, IN to pick up a Christmas gift for Ruben. We love road trips, and it was a great day to travel, as the weather was good!

Of course, we stopped at a few thrift stores in the area. This one was great, and we found all kinds of fun things!

This past Saturday, Dec. 18th, Ruben and I held a Christmas party in our new apartment. It was so fun!

I made a yummy Mexican bean soup, with 3 types of salsa, and baked some cornbread muffins and gingerbread cookies. I also bought some cheeses and some spinach dip.

Here are my friends hanging out in our living room.

Drinks were served in the kitchen. :)

This is the first party we have had at our new apartment, and were so excited that it went so well!

Last night, Sunday December 19th, my friend Tina and Mike hosted their annual cookie decorating party. As usual it's full of sweet cookies and icing and a viewing of "Creature Comforts" Christmas special.

I love the holidays, because it is a wonderful excuse for people to get together and share some memories. I fondly remember the family gatherings and social parties held through out the holidays growing up as a kid. It's nice to be able to include them in my life as an adult.

This week is a quiet week as we get ready to celebrate Christmas. I'm working till Wednesday this week and next, and really looking forward to 2 long weekends in a row!

Hope that everyone is getting excited about their holiday plans! I'm looking forward to spending my Christmas with my wonderful husband and two precious puppies. More pictures and stories to come!

Much love, and Merry Christmas!