We had a wonderful first Christmas with Baby. Due in no small part to the wonderful people I'm preveliged to call family.
Christmas Eve
While aiming to be ready to leave Austin for Houston by 10am, we were hoping we would be on the road by 12N. We didn't actually get to leave until 3pm. The late departure was stressful, but not nearly as distressing as the baby that was crying in the backseat. We stopped for a diaper check and feeding about 30 minutes after we left the house. Magda really doesn't like to take long car rides. She was fussy for a majority of the trip and only went to sleep during the last 30-45 minutes of the ride. My current hope is that she'll be better once she outgrows her current car seat and we get a new one for her in about 3-6 months.
Festivities on Christmas Eve are usually held at Aunt Kathleen's house and once again she and Uncle John did a superb job. The house was beautiful due to recent remodeling (new floors, new paint, new furniture) and there were lights and garland strung in the doorways and stair rails. Thinking back on it now, it actually looked professionally decorated though I know that Kathleen and John did most of it themselves. Dinner this year included twice baked potatoes, ham, green bean almadine, carrots, and the traditional cherries jubilee. All was yummy, yummy, yummy!
One of the highlights for any Christmas Eve celebration is the White Elephant gift exchange. The hot gift this year was stemware (the Lennox store was going out of business in a nearby mall). Meredith ended up with the lazy susan I brought from the Texas Stone Mosaic Co. She stole it from Felicia who was extremely disappointed to have lost it. Felicia ended up with the grill tools that Stepan brought which delighted Tim. I would have really like to get the scarf and hand bag brought and made by Elise Vratl - it was beautiful, but looked so good on Melissa Ferguson that noone had the heart to steal it from her. Margaret brought a gift certificate for a massage which she stole from me - good and bad since Margaret says this woman gives a fantastic massage, but I would have had to travel to Houston to claim it. Stepan ended up with a Kinky Freedman gift set which included a cd, book, salsa, bumper stickers, hat, and poster.
Christmas Day
Thanks to Courtney's desire to play the trumpet at mass, most of us went to church on Christmas Day. I really wanted to go, but I don't think I could have pushed myself to get ready if I was the only one really interested in going. (I'm forever at the mercy of my own inertia.) The priest has a great speaking voice and had a wonderful message in his sermon. It was mainly in response to the current issues of discussing God and religion in schools. The point I came away with was that Christ is (or should be) inside our children (part of who they are). If this is truly the case, then God will be in our schools and public buildings and no government intervention is needed. Or something like that - I was nursing Magda during most of the sermon.
Afterward we just bummed around the house until it was time to gorge ourselved on another wonderful meal (beaf tenderloin, potatoes au gratic, green beans, and rolls) at Tim and Felicia's house. I can't say enough about the tenderloin - it was fantastic! For dessert, we had A Little Bit of Heaven made by Grandma and a heavenly chocolate fondont made by Aunt Margaret (Margaret, please, please, please post that recipe on Karlhub!). After dinner, we utilized the poker chips Danny got from me and Meredith to have a rousing gave of Texas Hold'em. Of course it was a phenominal effort to get the game rolling, but Danny and Matt did a great job of sorting the tables, making sure everybody got the appropriate amount of chips, collecting the buy-in ($10), and establishing the rules. Some of the games were slow going due to most of our's inexperience, but I think everybody overall had a good time. I know Margaret (first place - $80), Matt (second place - $50), and Joanna (third place - $30) probably did..
Well, I was also going to talk about the wonderful presents I got this year, but Magda just woke up and probably wouldn't do it justice. Hopefully later today, I'll be able to get back on...
Posted by jfer at December 29, 2004 8:44 AM