Oh well.
This year it was my mom's turn to get us for Christmas so it was Vincent's first Christmas in Abilene. We beat a snow storm on the drive down. Well, stayed on the outskirts of it. We still drove through snow. At some points we had to drive down the highway slow due to black ice. Nonetheless we made it to Abilene in one piece. The next day was Christmas eve and my mom had some family friends over along with my friend Jenna and we made zombie gingerbread cookies. Only in my family do we have zombie cookies for Christmas, haha. Vincent was having loads of fun with my mom's dogs. A good Christmas eve was had by all. =D
Zombie cookies being brought to life.
Okay, only half the cookies were zombies. One of them was Billie Joe from Green Day and the others were basically weirdos. We would have made them better but we had limited decorating supplies and colors to use.
Anyway, Christmas Day was another story. Woke up around eight. Vincent was sick with a sudden cough and cold-like symptoms and a fever. Yay, that made way for one cranky kid. Thomas and I milled about in the living room, medicating Vincent the best we could. Finally around 9:30 or so my step dad came out of the bedroom and said my mom was up all night with a really bad stomach virus. Double yay. At least we gave my step dad his gift, which was Texas Turtle Pecan coffee from World Market so he made that for everyone. After that we basically sat around until around almost noon until my step dad came back out of the bedroom and said to just open presents without my mom. She was down for the count. That meant no Christmas dinner either.. not on Christmas day anyway. In the middle of opening presents my step brother comes in from Kansas with his new wife that none of us had met yet so that was a real treat. His wife Katie is newly pregnant so we didn't want them to stay long due to my mom's sickness. It was really good to see Jamie and Katie is a riot. I really liked her a lot!
Helping Vincent open his presents.
Got Glenn Beck's new book. That man is my hero. <3
Really cool thing is that it was a white Christmas! In my lifetime this is the first one I've ever experienced. <3
After that we headed out to my Aunt Mariette and Uncle Donnie's house downtown. Thomas ended up having to leave and put Vincent to bed after about ten minutes because he was still really sick and not up for socializing at all. Poor guy. Thomas came back after Vincent was down for the night (my stepdad was there to watch him) and we chatted with my cousins and family friends and watched movies until around 12. Next day my mom was awake but still felt bad. Not much happened.
Next day we headed down to Georgetown, Texas to visit my grandparents and other sets of aunts and uncles and cousins. That was SUPER fun. They had never met Vincent before and we hadn't seen them since I was pregnant so it was a huge treat. We stayed there five days. The first three days Vincent wasn't great at all due to having a hard time getting over his sickness. Sick kids and "insert ANYTHING here" do not mix at all. Nonetheless we played video games, chatted, went shopping, exchanged gifts and just all around had a blast. I miss that part of my family so freaking much. Midst the randomness and fun I got a call from my mother in law and I found out that my bird JD had died from unknown causes. I cried my eyes out. I'm really going to miss him. Now Turk is all by himself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. =(
The only bad thing is that at least one person there was sick with exactly what my mom had. A bad stomach virus. As soon as one person got better another got sick and was down and out for the count for the day. Thomas, Vincent and I escaped it when my mom had it and then escaped it when we were in Georgetown. Yay healthy immune systems!It was a tearful goodbye when we had to leave but my mom wanted to have Christmas dinner with us before we had to head back to Amarillo since she was sick for the actual holiday.
On our way to Georgetown.
Clockwise from left - My cousin Jeromey, Thomas, my cousin Christopher and my cousin Ryan playing Modern Warfare.
There's a small bathroom near the garage that my uncle had decorated with Nascar stuff. Thought it looked cool so yep.. the ever so typical bathroom picture was taken.
My cousins' idea for decorating the tree. My aunt Carleen said no one was opening presents until it was decorated so this was the result.
We headed out to the lake property down in Burnet in the 'Shaggin' Wagon' van. From left we have my cousin Megan, me, and my cousin Christopher.
Out at the lake property. Due to the severe drought the past few years that's all that's left of the water. The end of the pier you see in the bottom right of the picture where I'm standing on to take the picture is where we used to jump off into the water. Jeromey and Christopher are walking along the lake bed. My grandparents said it's been like that before several years back so hopefully it'll fill back up soon.
Then we drove out to the lake cabin about ten minutes away from the lake property. So many of my childhood memories reside here. I love this place. It holds so much magic for me. I was very happy to share it for the first time with Thomas and Vincent.
Inside the cabin. My cousin Megan's sitting there.
When Vincent was finally feeling better he ran around the house with a broom along with helping my aunt put dishes in the dishwasher and helped my grandmother with the laundry. Hopefully his love for cleaning lasts for a long time.
My cousins, Thomas and I had a fun trip to the Lakeline Mall.
ZOMG The Highlander sword from the Macleod Clan! XDDD I'm such a geek. I want that sword SO freaking bad.
Then my cousins, Thomas and I went to Walmart and had much fun with fake mustaches out of the coin machines. That would be hilarious if we ended up on Peopleofwalmart.com or something, haha.
When we headed back to Abilene we had a belated Christmas dinner with family and friends. A good time was had by all. I had no pictures of this, sadly. Along with no pictures of us waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, but we all kissed our sweeties when it turned midnight. It was awesome. We all had sparkling grape juice too. Mmmm.. so nummy.
Then.. the night before we left.. I woke up at three in the morning.. and ended up getting the stomach bug that everyone else got afterall. ARGH. I thought I had escaped it! It carried on into the morning hours.. I was so sick and miserable that Thomas left for Amarillo without me and took Vincent because he had to go back to work. After a day of recuperation and my mom helping me get back to firing on all pistons again I went home the day after. Ma and David drove me to Slayton Texas to meet Thomas half way to hand me over.
So.. besides illness striking random people and poor JD dying.. it was a really great Christmas/New Year. I had so much fun and we all made out like bandits gift-wise!
My Christmas presents are as follows -
Tons of different crazy colored knee high socks. I'm a huge sock fan. <3
Glenn Beck's book Arguing With Idiots
A Salad Spinner
A Hand Mixer
A really awesome photography calendar from Deviantart.com
Lots of clothing
A big Mario figurine from Nintendo that now resides on my desk.
A Wolfwood figurine from Trigun that resides on my desk now as well.
Lots of authentic jewelry ranging from the 50's-70's era.
A big fat cute bird statue made out of wood that sits next to my bird Turk's cage.
A big decorative plate that sits on a stand.
A calendar you can decorate with photos.
A stapler that looks like shrimp sushi. OMG It's SO adorable!
Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown CD
Cool wool slipper things.
The Zombie Survival Handbook by Max Brooks FTW
A really nice bird feeder
Curve Perfume
.. That's all I can think of but I'm probably forgetting something, haha. Either way.. I banked it this Christmas. I feel so utterly and totally loved. I love my family so much.
Good bye JD, my friend. You will be sorely missed.
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