I must start by apologizing for my 3 week hiatus!  I feel like life has been a whirl-wind of Christmas shopping, parties, wrapping, decorating, and traveling since this month began.  I absolutely adore Christmas and everything this season entails, however, I am very much looking forward to getting back onto a normal schedule and a normal DIET!  Holy, calories, Batman!  This fat kid LOVES her some grub, so I have been on a binge with all this delicious holiday food.  I need some veggies back in my life and fewer cookies and pies and carbs!

I’m not sure how I got off on the food tangent, but… moving along…

This Christmas was one of the best I’ve had in a many years.  To start, last year was the WORST, so in contrast this one HAD to be better.  Last year, I had a few too many drinks and at one point I found myself crying, alone, in my aunt’s guest room because my sentimental (and tipsy) heart could not handle that so many of my favorite family members were absent that year.  I couldn’t tell you what I got for Christmas last year, but I could list the names of everyone I did NOT get to see at the annual Christmas party.  So… that being said… as long as I didn’t end up having my own personal pity party this year, it was expected to be an improvement.

We kicked off Christmas this year with one big surprise gift for my husband the Sunday before Christmas!  In early November, I bought Texans tickets to surprise him with as a Christmas/Birthday gift.  I had some money secretly saved from much earlier in the year that I had kept under wraps with the intention of doing something special for his 30th birthday (coming up in January.)  He has been whining for months that we needed to go to a couple games this season, and I was constantly shooting the idea down because of the cost.  We haven’t been to a game in 2 years, and I could see he wanted to go badly, so I thought tickets would be an ideal gift.  I got us 2 middle-of-the-road tickets (not nosebleeds, but still within the budget) to the Vikings vs Texans game.

On the Sunday before Christmas, Tyler was NOT a happy camper because he did not understand why we had to get there so early and he especially did NOT like that I was being such a mean wife and making him MISS watching the TEXANS game!  I, knowing the tickets to the game that day were secretly wrapped up in a box in the back seat of the car, was loving every moment of his crankiness and doing my best bluffing to keep him in the dark.  Driving from Nederland, we can either take the exit to I-10 E to Louisiana or to I-10 W to Houston.  I took the “wrong” exit towards Houston.  Tyler, knowing that I am often an easily distracted driver and not at all surprised with my mistake, calmly (but clearly annoyed) pointed out that I was heading us in the wrong direction.  At that time, I handed him a small wrapped box and instructed him to open his Christmas present.  He gave me a weird look and started to comply as he was also pointing out that I needed to exit and make a u-turn.  As he more excitedly kept pointing out that I needed to “catch that exit… you’re going to pass that exit… Babe!! You needed to take that exit!!  What are you doing??!!,” I could not stop my laughter and kept telling him to open the gift!  FINALLY, he opened it to reveal the tickets and he was very excited, and no longer yelling at me to exit.  I then handed him another gift from my Mom, which was a J.J. Watt t-shirt for him to wear to the game to which we were now headed.  I was very pleased with myself for pulling off the surprise!  I have such a hard time keeping secrets like that and I had been anticipating that moment for months.  Unfortunately, the Texans went on to a disappointing loss that day, but we very much enjoyed being among fellow fans.  There’s just something about the atmosphere at a game.  The smells, sounds, and company of the other fans all make the experience worthwhile.  Despite the loss, we had a great time!

After the game, we made the drive to Louisiana for the family festivities.  This year the annual Christmas Eve party with my family in DeRidder was held at my Meme’s (my grandma).  We had spent the past several years at my aunt’s because my Meme wasn’t feeling up to entertaining, gave up on decorating, and the house is a “smoking” household (put nicely.)  This year we were back at Meme’s.  As an added bonus, my cousin that lives in San Francisco was visiting this year so I was looking forward to spending some time with her and her husband for the first time in over a year and a half.  She and I spent nearly every summer together growing up, so for a long time she was the closest thing I had to a sister (until, of course, I became a step-sister) and it’s safe to say that her presence at the Christmas party was the highlight of the holiday for me!

On Christmas Eve, I got up early to go to the grocery store as soon as it opened.  I DESPISE grocery shopping, especially before big holidays, so I wanted to get a jump on it before the crowds.  Luckily, there were no crowds at all and I got my shopping and cooking done early.  I had a nap when my cooking was done because I didn’t want to be the lame pregnant girl that passed out after dinner, and afterwards headed out to my Meme’s to help with the decorating.  Misti was already there so she and I put on our Santa hats and decorated the small tree my Mom had brought for the party and put up a few extra lights and trinkets around the house to make it more festive.  After decorating, we walked up the road to interview Maw-maw (my great-grandma) and complete one of the items on my 30 Before 30 list.  My maw-maw is 87 years old.  She lives alone, still gets along great, and is still very sharp!  She is quieter than I imagine she was in her youth, but she still doesn’t miss a thing.  She was very forth-coming with our questions and I really enjoyed the short time we got to interview her before heading to the party.  I’ll have a separate post about the interview and completing that item on my list.  After the interview, we walked back down to Meme’s and family started arriving.  We spent the rest of the evening eating, visiting, exchanging gifts, and playing board games.  My cousins, Tyler, and I all started out playing Risk and then we played Quelf until 2am.  I love, love LOVE family time and had a blast.  When we finally went back to my aunt’s house to retire for the night, around 2:30am, the baby started kicking more than ever before as soon as I laid down!  The little stinker now seems to have gotten in the habit of being very active between 1-3am.  We have a night-owl of a child growing here!

Christmas morning, like a little kid, I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to open presents!  I woke up Tyler and started texting my Mom to get herself and everyone else up.  We drove to Meme’s and opened presents with my Mom, her boyfriend, and my step-sister.  One of my favorite gifts I gave this year was a personalized glass frame for my Mom.  It has “Gigi’s Baby” etched on it and I put a picture of the ultrasound in the frame for now.  This will be her first grand-child and to say she is excited is the understatement of the century.  Our child will be spoiled rotten, and much of it will be her doing.  I’m trying to accept this as fact now so that I’ll be less combative about it later.  After presents, a huge storm rolled in and knocked down trees in the area and the power went out as a result.  It was not a white Christmas, but it was a WET one!  When the storm had past, we went back to my aunts and spent the rest of the day being lazy, followed by more board games.

The day after Christmas we drove home to Nederland, played with some of our new “toys,” unpacked, and then went to do Christmas dinner and presents with Tyler’s family.  After eating a delicious dinner and opening tons of presents, we put together a gingerbread house with our nieces and then played our new board games (Quelf and Cranium.) We were so spoiled this year!!  We got just about everything we could have wanted and more and had so much fun with family.  This unborn and already spoiled child of ours even got a few gifts.  Baby already has it’s first Texans gear, first bath toy, and first booties!

So, again, I’d like to reiterate that this was one of the best Christmases I’ve had in a while, not because of the gifts received (though, those were awesome too), but because of the quality time spent with family and the many laughs that were had.  I’m so very thankful for the family that we have in our lives.  In all the areas of my life that I have been blessed, they are the most cherished blessing of all.

Tyler and I at a Christmas party for our business networking group.

The perfect gift from my husband.  My very first piece of “mommy” jewelry!

Our view of the field at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

The two of us VERY EXCITED for the game to begin…

Misti and I posing in our Santa hats after decorating the little tree.  She does not like babies and wouldn’t touch the belly.  Haha…

Misti contemplating world domination during our game of Risk.

My Meme and Papa at the Christmas Eve party.

The 5th generation is on the way!  I LOVE this picture & Meme holding the belly!

Our niece, Ceriah, helping assemble the gingerbread house.