Month: December 2013

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Mirlisa bloggerLeave a comment
Temps dropping into the 30’s on Christmas!
It was an unusual Florida Christmas Eve…the temperature was wintery….WTF? Nevertheless, we were not going to let frigid weather dictate our enjoyment of this holiday evening.
Emma had put up her little tree and we gave it a little love by taking its picture. Tis the season!

The Nochebuena meal was prepared by Emma and Nancy. They worked diligently during the day to create a traditional Puerto Rican dinner…it was a meal to remember! The centerpieces of this gastronomic endeavor were the pernil and the pasteles. Forbes had a really good, and very accurate, article about pernil – it’s worth your read – click here.

One’s plate might resemble this one below:

Clockwise: pernil, brussel sprout, avacado, pasteles, sweet potato, beans and rice.
And, dinner is never complete without dessert! We enjoyed a yummy rum cake garnished with strawberries and whipped cream.

This rum cake was excellent! In fact, one piece was not enough…
An evening constitutional commenced after eating – complete with coyote stick to fight them back should we encounter any along the way. And, no, we did not sight any wild four-legged creatures this night but we thought we heard them howling in the distance.
Christmas Eve is not complete in this Puerto Rican household without a game of dominoes. It was a surprisingly close game, though, our team did not prevail.

“Shuffling” the dominoes actually does require a bit of skill. Here Miriam takes over as my attempt caused pieces to overturn.

On the way home, we tuned in to NORAD to keep track of Santa’s locations as he delivered presents to boys and girls across the world.

Merry Christmas or Feliz Navidad to all and to all a good night!

Weekend Before Christmas

Mirlisa bloggerLeave a comment

It’s the weekend before Christmas – and a relatively quiet one. Our women’s basketball team hosted it’s annual Holiday tournament and won both games!


If you look closely at the picture you will see “Buddy the Elf” – aka soccer Coach Becky Burleigh!

This is our little tree. We’ve simplified Christmas to reduce stress and it has worked wonderfully!


We also added a few lights outside.

And, of course, we walked up to the Thomas Center for the luminaries, music, and fun.


I’ve been playing around with a new phone app that creates a watercolor out of an image. My target image was of Sydney. She stays put longer than Peanut so it’s easier to snap a shot of her.

And another…


I’m kind of liking the look of these images. Next will try to get a good pic of Peanut…

Merry Christmas to you!

Post Thanksgiving

Mirlisa bloggerLeave a comment
It’s been a lovely holiday weekend despite the cold weather. We’ve been able to relax some and take Sydney on several walks. Both she and Pea have had some quality nap time with us.

And, of course, what would the holiday season be without Baileys? We stocked up for the cold winter nights ahead.

Had the pleasure of watching that Bama-Auburn game – quite an ending. After that, every other game feels blah. Was hoping Bama would win ( I dislike OSU). Now, it looks like I’ll be rooting for FSU. 
Our women’s basketball team won today at the Junkanoo Jam. This was a needed win and I hope they can use it to jump start a string of good games. We really need to win out before the SEC season begins. Go Gators!
Got some more football to watch.
Ciao.