A Christmas, without the white

We spent Christmas with D's parents "farm" last week. It is a great location to gather as a family and spend time with each other. It is about 2 hours Northeast of Dallas, 12 miles from the next biggest town, kind of in the middle of somewhere yet nowhere. It is always fun to be with our family, have the cousins spend countless hours together, adults staying up late - playing games, Guitar Hero III, a card game new to me, Pounce, and this year, D found a BUNCH of tapes his family sent him while he was in Japan 18 years ago. Oh, the Southern Twang on those tapes (Missy!)! And the fashion!



Bug did great on his first flight, even with an ear infection! He was so happy the whole trip, even when he got a fever and cough later in the week (it was bound to happen with 24 people in one house together!). Always eager to smile and his cousins chanting his name often. And D's sister and her family were on the plane with us, the first year ever that we aren't the only family not living in Texas. This is my niece Reagan, who despite kicking my seat the whole ride down, is dang cute.

Christmas morning is pure chaos and fun. Unfortunately, my camera was out of battery power, so I will just let you know that E got his Wii (thrilling display of excitement at opening it) and Girly had her fill of princesses (I never thought I would princess the heck out of someone like that, but she loves them). Later that night we did a nativity. Girly was an angel, E was an observer (doesn't like this productions, that is the me coming out in him) and Bug was asleep. Reagan was an amazing Mary, bravo, Grant was a great Joseph with a light saber (who knew?) and Madison and Aniston did a great job narrating.

Some great things about the farm, lots of land, little safe four-wheelers for the kids, one big one for the adults, the weather isn't way to cold to send the kids outside to play but is cold enough that the snakes are hibernating and so are the mosquitoes. The funniest thing? Girly explaining more than once that she doesn't wear pants, ever (she doesn't consider pj bottoms pants, they are pajamas). Funny girl.

We spend a lot of time just being together, E has 3 other cousins his age (the quads), Girly is the oldest of the triplets, and Buggy is the oldest of the other triplets, although this year the other two are 1 and 2 months old - fun in the years to come. We get to see D's family, and although it is a lot of togetherness being in the same house for one week, we are grateful for it. I have great in-laws, nieces and nephews.

We did spend a lot of time video-gaming, here is D and Matt boxing on the Wii. D just came in the room and noticed the picture, "Ah, me kicking Matt's butt at boxing" - see, such wholesome and fun memories. I wish I had pictures of my sister in law April boxing, she is a mad woman.

We came home on New Year's Eve. Our neighbors were great, we didn't have any shoveling to do after the three or so storms that occurred while we were gone, the cat was well taken care of even if she didn't care for the caretakers (sorry!). But it was way too cold.

D teased me about another New Years with him being the only one awake at midnight. I came home with a cold and fever but managed to stay up with him until 12:10am while watching the new Harry Potter and then dragged myself to bed (we are such fun folk).

My parents waited until we got home to do Christmas with us. The kids had so much fun. My mom and dad are very good at buying gifts for each of us that are appropriate. They love seeing the kids get so excited about their gifts, especially E.



Don't let Buggy's face fool you, he was excited to be home too and be opening presents, he had just woken up and Opa had gotten him out of bed and all the excitement overwhelmed him for a few seconds. I received a lot of great things but was thrilled and touched that my mom had remembered my absolute adoration of Gyo Fujikawa and gave me "The Night Before Christmas" that she illustrated. I have a few of her books that are now 30 years old, but they remind me of my childhood more than maybe anything else.



Seen and heard at my house tonight: Girly is laying on the kitchen floor, moving her arms and legs. I said, "Girly, you are making a snow angel." "No Mama, I am making a Girly Angel." She was right.

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season. Ours was frantically splendid and 11 more months ought to be enough to help me look forward to the next one!