Merry Christmas from the Gallups!!

We finally sent out a Christmas email this morning. I used to always send cards, usually handmade, but as life has gotten busier, I've realized the cards stress me out too much!! So I sent an email last year and now this year. Here it is, because if I didn't send you an email, then I'm sending YOU this message now!

Treasured Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas!

How we love this time of year when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. How grateful we are to Him for His sweet humble birth, His perfect life and example, His vital teachings and especially His atoning sacrifice.


"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

We are a very blessed family. Life can be full of challenges, but also, full of many blessings and we strive to focus on the blessings. We have a family blog which tells you much more than a Christmas letter could. It's not always up-to-date, but if you would like to see our happenings, you can check it out here:

thegallupfamily2.blogspot.com

We are so grateful for the blessing of dear friendships. We sincerely wish all of you love and peace at this time and in the coming new year.


With much love,
The Gallups
Craig, Suzy, Isabella, Olivia, and Cecilia

P.S. Please forgive us that we really like sending emails for Christmas! (Especially to those of you who have taken the time to send us such gorgeous cards with beautiful family pictures through the mail.) We love your cards and hope you'll keep sending them. We have just realized that we get too overwhelmed by the thought of them. Life is so busy! Please feel the love that is coming through this email! :)

Las Posadas

What a special night! We had so much fun participating in the "Las Posadas" (the inns) procession at Olvera Street tonight.

The festivities started with some dancing by folklorico dancers, and then a pinata! It was seriously raining candy.

Soon the Posadas procession started-- where we, along with shepherds, angels, and musicians, got to sing and help Mary and Joseph look for lodging. Tonight they asked at the Candle Shop which is one of our favorite stores at Olvera. The musicians and the songs were so beautiful-- it was really fun to sing "Los Peces" and "Noche Buena" which were songs that I learned while on my mission in Spain. We also sang "Noche de paz" (Silent Night) which was wonderful. In the end, we all got to enjoy some delicious pandulce (sweet bread) and champurrada (a hot cinnamon drink.) Yum!! This was a first for us, but I hope we can make this a Christmas tradition! We finished the night with some sweet tamales (with pineapple.) I can't resist a good tamale at Christmas time! :) !!Feliz Navidad!!

Advent Spiral

Tonight we joined some of our home school friends for an advent spiral. It was a beautiful night. My girls had so much fun with their friends! We started with a beautiful story that united the celebrations of Solstice, Chanukah, Kwanza, and Christmas. We did the spiral last year too and if you click here, you can learn in more detail about what it is. After all the kids lit their candles and put them on the path, we had dinner. The kids especially loved the trampoline! It was a sweet gathering.

Christmas Dinner

Today Brieanne came over with her cute kids and we made a delicious dinner of chicken soup with rice. While we cooked, the kids partied and dressed up as they love to do!

We lit our fourth advent candle which was so nice. Our chicken soup was possibly the best I've ever had!!!

Later, the missionaries joined us for carob brownies with carob sauce for dessert. I know Brieanne was sooooo happy to see Elder Neves after so many months! We were sad that Eric couldn't join us, but he had to stay at the farm to take care of the animals. :(

Christmas Island

Today Bella and Olivia were in their dance studio's Christmas show. They performed a Hawaiian hula to the song "Christmas Island." They were sooooo adorable, and I was a beaming, proud parent. Craig videotaped, I snapped, and Grandpa and Ceci watched. It was a lot of fun. There were so many cute performances by lots of cute little ones!

I seriously finished their costumes this morning!! I tried to make their tops a little more modest by making them longer, but I think it just made them more puffy and they still are way more uncovered than I liked! Oh well. I also made the purple crowns and their bell bracelets.

Here the girls are with their group and with their sweet, beautiful teacher. She was so patient with my girls, (especially when they would fight in class!) I don't think I'll be putting them in the same class again.

After the show, we went home to relax after such a big day.













































I went back to the dance studio for the later show with the adult dancers. I HAD to see the Flamenco dancers that I would watch practicing while the girls were in their class. They were FANTASTIC!!! They had a live Flamenco guitarist that was amazing, he could play and sing. And the Flamenco dance teacher also sang. She sings wonderfully! Then, after several dances, she got up and danced for us and blew us away to end the night! Wow! What a fun night!