A Family Christmas

I'm back!  I've been able to somewhat keep up with my blog reading over the last few weeks, but posting just hasn't happened!  Now I'm so overwhelmed because I have so much to post.  Does anyone else ever find it difficult to keep up with reading all your favorite blogs and be able to post on your own?  Usually by the time I catch up with reading, I don't have time to write because another task is calling my name!  Anyway, hopefully it will get better now that the busyness of the holidays is over.  

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandparent's house.  My favorite part is just getting to hang out with my cousins and my aunt and uncle, my mom and her husband, my sister, and my grandparents all day!  We had a great dinner, courtesy of my Grandpa and Grandma.  After cleaning up we all gathered in the living room to read the story of Christ's birth.  I love this time every year because our whole family is together, reflecting on Christ as the reason why we are together celebrating.  

After the story was read my Grandma brought in the "birthday cake" and we did our yearly tradition of all the cousins singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out the candles.  This might seem childish, but I still love it every year.  Even though Dec. 25th might not be the exact day that Christ was born, I love recognizing, in such a human way, the fact that He was born as a man and walked on the earth just like we do.

After that we opened gifts, which is always great fun of course. My grandparents got me new running tights and a matching long-sleeved running shirt from Target and a calendar with Yorkies on it.  I was so excited!  

Me (no makeup, crazy hair and all!), Olive and J (and the creep Santa) Christmas morning

On Christmas morning we woke up at my mom's house.  "Santa" had left a karoake machine out for my sister, J and I!  Finally our very own, so we can use it more than just on Christmas day when my little cousin brings hers.  We spent the morning opening presents, eating breakfast, and just hanging out.  I cherish these times with my family so much.  Spending last year in Thailand, away from our family really made me realize how much I used to take for granted getting to spend time with them.   So, this year I was able to focus so much more on just enjoying every moment....good and bad:) The rest of Christmas day we spent at my dad's side of the family and at home playing rock band.  My sister got rock band for her birthday and we played it so much while we were home.  I love playing the guitar.  Pair that with the karaoke machine and things get downright crazy!  haha!

The morning after Christmas, J, Olive and I loaded all our stuff and headed off for South Texas.  J's extended family lives down near the Beaumont area, and we decided to drive instead of fly this year because gas prices are so low.  It seemed like a good decision.  And it was....for the most part.  We drove all day on the 26th (10 hours to be exact) and arrived that night.  When we got there we had Christmas with my mother-in-law's side of the family.  We had the traditional fried shrimp dinner, and then opened gifts.  

This year was a bit different as far as gifts go, and it was so fun and special.  J's Grammy used to live in a beach cabin on Crystal Beach (near Galviston). When Hurricane Ike hit almost everything was destroyed.  Her entire cabin is gone, along with everything in it.  So, my MIL had the idea for us to all buy gifts for Grammy, since she is the one who really needs things.  Of course Grammy would never go for this idea, so we kind of tricked her.  We told her that everyone was going to draw names this year.  But, instead of everyone buying for the person they drew, we all bought for her.  By the time the second gift was given to her, she totally knew what was going on.  She started crying of course, but after pulling herself back together she was such a good sport.  She received lots of clothes, some shoes, a TV and many other things to help her out.  It felt sonice to be giving to someone who really needs things instead of getting tons of stuff that I don't need.  J and I (with a lot of help from my MIL) collected lots of photos and made an album for her.   I know that would be something I would miss the most if we lost all of our possessions, and I think Grammy really liked it too!

Grammy and her photo album

J and I talked a lot about this over the holidays - how it's so crazy the way Christmas works in the U.S.  People spend loads of money giving gifts to each other, when most of us aren't really in need, and there are still millions of people out there who need things so desperately.  I think next year we're going to try to do something different.  We aren't trying to have bad attitudes about Christmas or anything, but this just really bothered us this year.  Maybe because of our experience in Thailand.

Anyway.  Day 2 in Texas we went on a little extra road trip (about an hour and a half) to Crystal Beach.  We knew it would probably be our last time to go down and see what was left of Grammy's little town.  It was really sad, especially for J and his brother I think.  They grew up going down there every summer so it was really special to them.  It was really hard to see so much destruction.  I kind of felt like I was back in Thailand, when I went to do tsunami relief.

The rest of our time there was spent mainly with my FIL's side of the family.  It was good to see all of them after a year and half of being away.  J's Grandma is so sweet and giving....and so funny!  She says the funniest things.  She gave J and I a blender for Christmas, along with several other things.  A couple of years ago she gave us a Magic Bullet for Christmas (she loves to buy things off TV:) so we've been using it as a blender and food processor since then.  It's so nice to have an actual blender now...and it has a food processor attachment.  

After two full days of family fun in Texas, we loaded up the car once again for the long trip back home.  I was glad we drove because we saved a lot of money, but everything seemed so rushed since we drove almost as long as we were there!  Maybe next year we'll either stay longer or bite the bullet and fly like most sane people:)

So, that's my Christmas recap finally!  I have several things I'm anxious to blog about in the next few days - New Years, plans for "09, my vegan experience etc.  But, for now I hope everyone is enjoying being back on a schedule and back to work! :)

 (I had several more pictures I wanted to post, but for some reason they aren't loading.  I'll try again tomorrow!)