Christmas in Texas

Christmas in Texas

We finally bit the bullet and hit the road driving a huge black extended van to Texas to see Grandma and Papa for Christmas! Not too far right?

We were so excited to finally get to Lockhart.  Grace had a chair just her size waiting for her made by Papa's friend Cramer.  We had a super yummy Christmas Eve dinner made by Grandma and me and spent some nice time that evening together. 

The bean bags were very popular and someone was always sitting- or laying- on them.  They were perfect for all our movie watching and game playing.

The kids opened their pajamas from Nana as is tradition before we head to bad.  Justin then gave me his pj top because he never wants to wear them.  Which I like cuz then I get something new to wear :) Then Papa read the Christmas story to an attentive audience.

Christmas morning we lined up and walked is as we always do.  Youngest to oldest is starting to look funny because the oldest are no longer the tallest!  We loved all the presents, ebelskievers for breakfast and Christmas bacon!- a new addition to our traditions!!

We had two fun extended field trips- one to San Antonio with the Empeys and Nana and Granddad joining us.  We had tons of fun seeing the Alamo and having dinner on a boat at the Riverwalk.  San Antonio is a cool place. I would like to spend more time there.

We also spent a day in Austin driving all over.  I lost my phone at Chick fil-a which we luckily recovered.  We saw the area we had once planned to move to, took some Christmas presents to exchange and finally headed into downtown Austin and went a huge Texas museum.  It was a neat place with movies and displays about the history of Texas.  I learned a lot! It made us all want to be Texans.  My cousins Daniel Christofferson and his wife joined us for the fun.

As you can see it was cold! I always think of Texas as being hot, but we spent almost everyday in jackets and scarves cold!  There was less playing and exploring outside because the weather was so cold and we had not really planned on that.  Grace got this awesome hat at Walmart and loved playing with it.

After some questionable BBQ in Lockhart, trips to San Marcos for bowling, shopping and seeing "Les Miserables" the movie, a day long hunting trip for the boys- they didn't see any wild pigs- Amber and I singing in church, and playing at Grandma and Papa's for a few days we headed to Dallas to visit the Empey family.

We had a great movie night, got the watch the Cowboys lose (but at least I could cheer for them with other fans) and the kids played inspector.  We saw lots of Frisco and ate awesome BBQ at Babes and Reggie Whites.  It was tons of fun to be together.  We celebrated New Year's together and had to drive back home!

After 10 hours in the car together they are still smiling! It is a miracle!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!