I am shocked, amazed, astonished, and grateful (to say the least!) I am wonderfully blessed to have such a wonderful father, family, and Savior this festive season.

the evening kicked off with a call to Bche, where Oma, Cristina, Santi, and Pablo were waiting to talk and exchange holiday greetings. I walked in the door just in time to participate (I haven't talked to them for a long time!)
Then we sat down to dinner (I had a homemade concoction version of The Crazy Pepper's tomatillo soup [minus the chicken & tortillas], everyone else had the best smelling milanesa I've even missed out on!) We ate, we talked, we cleared the table, and I brought out the chocolates mom made last weekend. I tried my dangedest to pawn many of them off on others, but it was like pulling teeth.
Finally, we moved into the living room for gifts. From Carol I got a cool cat shaped treat container that meows when you open it, a vase from Cerámica Bariloche, and a snowglobe that my grandmother gave the entire family long ago (she packed it away for when I had my own place...) Heidi hit the spot with a beautiful set of flatware (we had a conversation about my lack there of while she did my hair.)
My dad knocked my socks off! First, he gave me a hand-colored [at 5:00pm with high-lighters from work *giggle*] piece of paper that simply stated

To:Amancay

From:Dad

Re:Loan

This is to inform you that the loan you had with dad has been hereby paid in full.

Thank you!!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Dad

Now keep in mind, almost a year ago he quickly came to my rescue with a hefty loan of $1,000 with the agreement that I would pay him back $90 at a time (giving him a fair amount of interest after a year of monthly payments.) Since then I've barely accomplished 5 payments... Talk about wiping the slate clean! Not only did he promptly hand me back a check i had given him when I walked in the door that evening, but he still gave me a $100 bill on top of it all.
Continuing in the $ department: Josh got us all [Hair Stylin'] scratch tickets, and I won $2 from my 5. Dad got us some [special Christmas kind] too, and I was the only one who won anything [$5]! Woo Hoo!

I am so thoroughly blessed!