Christmas Vacation....

We had so much fun heading home for Christmas. There was never a dull moment....free moment....or moment not full of fun!

We enjoyed a wonderful birthday lunch with Dad at Bistro Byronz.....We were so excited he had his fill of golf before his birthday and could celebrate at lunch with all of us. It was great!

That evening we had a Christmas get together with some friends.....it is always a special night. I love seeing everyone and it's really one of the few nights over Christmas vacation you get to visit with family friends. Thanks mom and dad for always having such a fun shindig!

Christmas Eve day found Orie hanging out with his mom and dad and I went to a girls lunch with my high school girlfriends. It was such a fun outing and I'm glad we all gather to celebrate and catch up....even if sometimes it can only happen once a year. After lunch we got to run by Carie's and see sweet Charlie....I think he was a big hit for the all the ladies!

Christmas Eve we gathered for church at the new children's service. We went with an open mind....Jen had heard great things about it and I was excited that we would all be in church together....even E and C.....well the service was a children's service and that was about it. We hustled through the carols....heard a quick story about baby Jesus being born and that was a wrap! I think we were parked, in, out, back in car in less than an hour. It just didn't feel quite like our regular Christmas Eve church tradition....I think we will have to negotiate this next year!

Christmas Eve night we had a fun celebration of homemade Christmas craft, a wonderful dinner prepared by Mom, and exchanged gifts as a family. The boys made it for a little while and then left their cookies and milk for Santa and were off to dreamland. It was a great evening!

trying to pose for a cute picture in the presents....

playing with Papa....

round 2 of posing....

Rodney and Orie are really concerned about the family picture....

we got one!

Di and Orie....Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Day we all woke up in great anticipation of what Santa left for us in our stockings. The faces were priceless and we had a great morning oohing and ahhing over Santa's great finds! Dad fixed delicious french toast and we ended our Christmas celebration together and went on to our next round of festivities.

Cooper with his slinky....

Cooper with his new fireman rain coat....

Ethan with his Knight castle...

Tess and Papa...Christmas morning

Di and Orie...Christmas morning

Jen and Rod....Christmas morning

Kat and Josh...Christmas morning

We headed over to Orie's parents for our next Christmas celebration. We exchanged gifts as a family and watched basketball by the fire. It was another great day.....we even snuck in an excellent nap! That night we went to Aunt Deborah's for a delicious Christmas dinner. We're always grateful when we can see so much of both families each year. The evening was lovely....thanks for including us!

The next day we were off to Arkansas for one last hoorah....we headed up that morning with Kat and Josh. As soon as we arrived we started a game of Train....I was in the lead...by quite a bit I might add....but we never finished...oh well....I'm sure my bragging rights will come one day! Mom and Mama Tee made a great Christmas lunch and then we had our Christmas game celebration. We won great ornaments and Orie won the bonus prize Christmas Penguin....it was a big hit. We Ho Ho Ho'd waiting for Santa to make an appearance and he did! I won the bonus coin prize....another $5 bill from jolly ole' Saint Nick....this is my second $5 bill to win from him in my lifetime.....if you know our Santa in Arkansas....he does NOT go around giving people money.....I now have $10 off him! After our party we exchanged gifts and sang Christmas carols.....what a fun day!

We drove back to Shreveport that night and Orie had to head back to Dallas...tear....I was kidnapped for the week! It was a fun week of Christmas sale shopping, playing with the boys, celebrating E's 4th birthday and lots of other good times! Thanks Orie for letting me stay and thanks mom and Kat for bringing me home!

Di and Tess have Monjuni's lunch....Ethan joins after his 4th birthday lunch with his mom and dad

Back to Dallas on Thursday meant back to reality......Christmas decorations all over the house that were losing their luster.....Christmas gifts and things from Shreveport piled on both dining tables.....and laundry from the last 10 days of my vacation....yikes!

We worked a little bit on the not so fun stuff but took a break to celebrate the New Year. Orie planned a great dinner at Toulouse....it was a new restaurant for us and was really fun. The food was excellent and I just loved the French Bistro atmosphere. It was a great NYE!

Now we're just regular people on a Sunday. I'm sure we will watch the Saints play and finish putting away that never ending laundry from yesterday!

We hope your day and your 2011 are full of fun! We hope ours is!

Happy New Year!