Happy New Year!!

2012!  Can you believe it??

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and a wonderful new year celebration!  I had an amazing time with my family.  We ate, we laughed, we ate some more, and laughed even harder.  It was an awesome break from everything.  I actually enjoyed my time away from bloggin' (as much as I love it).  It was nice to just focus on nothing but the family and what fun we were going to get up to each day.  Thank you Lord for the abundant blessings!!

Now that I'm back from my much-needed break, I can't wait to share some Christmas highlights with you all!

First, let's look at the crafty Christmas costumes my family and I got into for our Christmas Eve celebration  (or as we call it the noche buena).  Our theme this year last year was GAMES.  So my son Javaughn thought that our family should come as PLANTS VS ZOMBIES.  Lui and I jumped onboard (mainly because Lui didn't like my idea of coming as BAKERY STORY where we would've had to come dressed up as cupcakes and other sweets, haha).  Lui was our Zombie (he had no choice in the matter, heehee).  I was the sunflower.  Javaughn was the gatling pea.  Javier was the sea-shroom.  And Carlyle was the puff-shroom.  You're probably wondering "huh?" well, here are some pics to help you understand :-)

From left to right: Conehead Zombie (Lui), Sunflower (Me), Gatling pea (Javaughn), Sea-shroom (Javier), Puff-shroom (Carlyle)

And now, my family as Plants vs Zombies...

All our costumes were made out of cardboard, masking tape and a lot of paint.  We used whatever was available to us to avoid more spending.  I did, however, buy a red tie and an orange cone from the dollar store for Lui's costume, but that's about it.  I painted some white stripes on the red tie, to copy the actual character.  It needed several coats which was a bit of a pain, but at least it looked great!!  My green dress was actually made by my Mum for my best friend's wedding in Rarotonga (Mum's amazing at sewing).  I didn't have time to iron it though, oh well.  Here are some progress shots...

Javaughn painting his helmet (aka mixing bowl, lol)

Thanks for visiting my blog this new year!!  I'll be back some time this week to share more Christmas and New Year's highlights!!  I look forward to another exciting year with you all!!

Enjoy your holidays and see you back here soon!!

xo,
Jackie