Home for the Holidays

It seems that as soon as the table is cleared and the Thanksgiving dinner dishes are done we launch full force into the busy holiday season. Our first December event this year was the special and singular blessing day for baby Ruby on December 3rd. It was truly a wonderful experience to come together as a family to share this special day with Alex and Nick and their sweet little family. Little Ruby brings such love and joy to the family. She wore the handmade smocked dress that Mom made for Tara when she was born, and has been worn by each of our daughters and granddaughters. Being a grandma is full of indescribable feelings. Maybe it's because you get to revisit those thrilling moments in parenthood of absolute joy, or maybe it's because you can love and pamper without complete responsibility -- but whatever the reason(s), being a "Grammie" is heaven on earth!

Lee and I took a weekend trip to San Antonio to celebrate our 47th wedding anniversary. We wandered around downtown visiting the Alamo, and had dinner and dessert on the Riverwalk; we stayed in Stone Oak and did a session at the San Antonio Temple; then enjoyed yummy bread and soup at Kneaders before driving home. Fun to look back at those innocent "kids" that started a life together 47 years ago, and reminisce on our life together.

We enjoyed several fun holiday parties and events with friends and family throughout the month, including piano recitals for Leo and Isabelle & Olivia, and the annual Nutcracker . Isabelle auditioned for a solo part on pointe, and did a beautiful job.

The Vernons hosted our annual family Christmas Eve buffet. We followed what is now the fourth generation of the Christmas Bingo tradition, where everyone won a fun prize, before hanging our stockings in anticipation of Santa's visit.

Christmas morning Lee, Tara, and I made quick visits to the Cosby and Vernon homes to see what Santa had brought, before coming home to get started on Christmas dinner. After a yummy ham dinner, we had an awesome afternoon of opening gifts, dessert, playing games, puzzling, and sharing the joys of celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Over the next two weeks we were able to achieve all of our combined goals for Grand Christmas IX, with the exception of riding in the back of Grandpa's truck to see the neighborhood light displays (which we were just too wimpy to do because it was actually too chilly!).

We had a fun day in the kitchen baking cookies and making treats. We celebrated Lee's 71st birthday with breakfast at IHOP, a family soccer game, and ice cream cupcakes at the Cosby's. We went ice skating, then warmed up with dinner at Potbelly's at Market Street. We went to movies, finished three 1000-piece puzzles, played games, had puppet shows, and had a sleepover. The kids directed and filmed their own 15-minute movie, "Reality is Real," then invited us to the original screening. The final event of two weeks of celebrating was a trip to College Station to attend the Texas A&M vs LSU basketball game. Although A&M lost by one point in the final three seconds of the game, we had a great time cheering them on.

The gift of loving and sharing time together as a family is a true celebration of the birth and life of Jesus Christ. Giving of one's self to build and lift another is LOVE -- is Christmas.