Winter Break

School started on Monday, so the break is behind me now, but I wanted to make sure to post a few pics at least.

As usual, we spent about 10 days back in Albuquerque for Christmas. Overall, we had a great time, though I was fighting a nasty cold the whole time we were gone. I even lost my voice almost completely on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so that was pretty disappointing. Everyone took good care of me, though. :-)

Our visit was a bit different from usual because Mark's parents had recently sold their house and were preparing to move. They actually left ABQ the day after Christmas to go look for a new house in Missouri. So we ended up dividing our time a little differently than usual (spending most of our time with his family for the first few days and with mine after Christmas, but keeping our usual Christmas Eve/Christmas Day traditions) Despite the extra bit of hecticness, I think we all enjoyed seeing each other as much as always.

Some highlights for me this year were the Mother-Daughter Tea my mom hosts, spending a whole morning catching up with Becca, shopping (for tea with Mom and Grandma and for clothes with Grandma), enjoying all the NM and family foods, the big snowstorm we had, and celebrating Mark's graduation (again).

Here are a few pics from my camera and Mark's brother's (I don't have anyone else's yet). Every year, I tell myself I should take more pictures. Here, I did really well with the Tea and Christmas morning, but not so well with the rest of the trip.

The table all set for tea.

Cookies for tea

A great pic of Mom and Julie!

Hannah and Katie

Mom and Heidi

Grandma, me, and Julie

Mom always reads us a story.

Katie modelling a cute headband Julie knitted.

Christmas morning with my family.

Alaska pics on a tray for mom.
(It was delivered with a small crack. When I called customer service,
they agreed to send a new one ASAP for free, so I got to keep this damaged one!)

Grandma got an Alaska photo gift, too. 

New rocks in the front yard

More new rocks

Backyard

Pond

Celebrating Mark's graduation at Garduños.
Julie, Mom, and Dad were there, too, but I didn't get
a good photo of their side of the table!

My meal--an appetizer called El Pequeño.
(I'd like to remember that this is a great option!)

Beautiful, snowy Sandias!

A walnut bread I made for Dad, with Mom's help.

Playing Taboo with Mark's family
(tough, because I didn't have much of a voice at this point)

Beautiful decorations at Mark's parents' house.

Mom got a selfie stick in her stocking. It was a big hit.

We came home late on New Year's Eve and had a few leisurely days of catching up on housework, unpacking all our new treasures, and generally vegging out before going back to work. I also did one short afternoon of placement testing for ESOL and hosted an open house (my favorite excuse to cook up tasty treats!).

Sugar cookies; raisin, date, and walnut scones;
and chocolate crinkles

Cream cheese, salmon, and cucumber bites

Green chile cheese dip

Mark started back up with his Monday afternoon work at Wauseon high school on the 4th, and I went back to teaching on the 11th. My schedule is almost identical to last semester's, so I feel like I've been given a "do-over"! I am really pleased to get the chance to teach these classes again, but feeling more like myself, and hopefully staying healthy all the way through. So far, we're off to a good start--I've even been walking to school again. :-)