WARNING: This is going to be a very long post...
Okay, I lied. Two weeks and one day. It all started with my step-brothers graduation. I'm so proud of David! He graduated with his MBA from the University of Houston in mid-December. Chad and I drove down to Houston that day and met up with the rest of the family at Hofheinz Pavilion. It's a little poetic because that's where everyone in my family (except me) had their graduation ceremonies from KHS. Of course the year I graduated, they moved it to Reliant Stadium. After the ceremony we went to the Flying Saucer where Maegan and I discovered the most amazing raspberry champagne-like drink. Oh my gosh - YUM!
Of course this made me wonder if I want to continue my education past May ...and I still have no idea. I think either way, I'm going to take at least a year to get some "real world" experience. We'll see after that...
I didn't get any pictures I would consider "excellent," so this will have to do. Also, I have to give a shout out to my best friend from high school who also graduated that same day. Congratulations, Char! She graduated with her Bachelor's from Texas State (and had a baby about 3 days later)!
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| Congratulations, David! |
Since we were already in Houston, I decided to schedule Christmas for my mom's family that Saturday. I didn't get a chance to see any of my side of the family over Thanksgiving so I was NOT going to let Christmas go by without seeing everyone. We had a delicious dinner of dear steak, beans, homemade yeast rolls and a load of other stuff.
Traditionally, we do fireworks at the Hon Christmas. We usually stop on the way and buy a ton of them. However, the lovely state of Texas has now made it illegal to sell fireworks before a certain date and our Christmas celebration fell before that date. Enter Uncle C.D. My brilliant uncle thought to get some extra during the 4th of July! It wasn't a ton, but the four or five he brought were absolutely spectacular!
That night, after we got home, we exchanged gifts between Mom, Glenn, Chad and I.
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| Our Bonfire - with a hint of purple :) |
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| Me and Maw Maw |
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| My favorite! |
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| This is probably really dangerous to do, but we threw the used shells into the fire - just look at the color! |
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| Chad and me before opening presents! |
As I mentioned earlier, we didn't see my family at all over Thanksgiving. Chad and I try to flip-flop holidays as best we can so this year was Christmas with my family. I'm not really sure what we'll do next year since "Christmas in Alaska" is in the plans... Anyways, we had already decided my family would have "dibs" on Christmas plans this year.
My brother-in-law's family has several pilots (including my brother-in-law) so we don't normally celebrate holidays on the actual day (since they have a 50/50 chance of flying) except this year. Chad and I had already planned to go to the Brackin Christmas on Christmas Day, but I still wanted to at least do something small with Chad's family since we couldn't be there for their big celebration (they do things with both sides of the family at the same time). Chad and I drove over to Chris and Earl's (my in-laws) house on Christmas Eve so we could do something early in the morning.
Every Christmas, Chis makes this wonderful sausage cornbread on Christmas morning and I knew my husband's Christmas would not be complete without it. I look forward to it myself! Cheryl, Paul, and the kids came over and we quickly opened presents and then went to see Chad's grandpa before heading to Houston. (Sorry...no pictures)
Chad and I drove straight to my Aunt Sharon's house (Baytown-ish area) for the Brackin Family Christmas. My Aunt (with the help of my cousins and probably my uncle as well) made all of Grandmother's traditional dishes. Cornbread Dressing, Poppy Seed Dressing, Deviled Eggs, and the most delicious turkey I have ever had in my life. YUM! And yes, all of those things are proper nouns in my book and warrant capitalization.
In the last few years, we have been blessed to have some of the extended family join us. I LOVE this because my Uncle Billy plays the piano really well and he plays while the rest of us try to sing. Another new tradition we have is donating our time/money to help someone less fortunate have a better life/Christmas rather than exchanging gifts. This started after we lost Grandmother in April 2005. We all sit in a circle and share who/what we gave to. Unfortunately we didn't get around to the board games this year, but there is always next year! (again, no pictures...sorry).
After that Brackin Christmas, we all met up (sans Maegan and Travis) at Dad and Julie's apartment for our family Christmas. I got a lovely scarf from Meredith (it's purple and white - perfect!), Groupons from Courtney (she won the award for most creative), and a Saint Arnold's apron from David (it's purple, too). From Dad and Julie (and to each other), Chad and I bought a new T.V. We went from a 32" Westinghouse that was more than a few years old and starting to spaz to a 47" LED Vizio. Chad is in love. I am, too - but I think he's a little more excited over it all - ha!
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| Before. |
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| After. |
The day after Christmas we all went to my Aunt Penne's house for the Weidig Christmas. I love this Christmas because every year we do a white elephant gift exchange.
Okay then. So Chad wanted to find an Obama Chi Pet for the exchange. Turns out those are not easy to find in Texas. However, while we were at Walgreen's, he spotted Booty Pop. These ended up being one of the funnier items of the night - especially when my very fashion-conscious Aunt Penne put them on over her jeans! We didn't say too long afterwards because Chad had to be at work at 9:00 the next morning - so back to Fort Worth we went (again, no pictures....again, sorry).
So all the while, my brother's wedding is fast approaching. With school and everything, I did not have time to go dress shopping. I found a dress before Christmas, but I had to go back to Northpark to have it altered. After leaving the mall, I called Chris to let her know I was on my way to pick up Little Miss Emma (they had been keeping her while we went to Houston for Christmas). With sadness in her voice, Chris responded, "Oh, alright." After discussing it briefly, we decided that Emma would just stay there for the week (we would be dropping her off on Wednesday for the wedding weekend anyways).
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| A "just because" picture |
On Thursday morning (the 30th if you're keeping track), Chad and I woke up early to drive down to Houston for the Bachelor Party. I dropped Chad off at the gun range with the other guys and then I went to spend the day/night with the Marty's. The Marty girls were the flower girls at our wedding, if you'll remember. They are moving to AUSTRALIA in mid-January! The girls are so excited about the move, which I'm glad about. We spent the afternoon going through all the stuff Debbie has stocked up on and going to Chuy's (my favorite) for dinner. We stayed up way too late, but I wouldn't trade one second for anything. Debbie and I cried our eyes out over pancakes the next morning before I went to pick up Chad and head to Tyler.
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| Love these girls! |
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| Love this family! |
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| Chad and me before heading to the rehearsal. |
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| Fun with hats... |
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| This one pretty much sums up the night. |
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| Happy New Year! |
The following day was the wedding (obviously). It was a beautiful ceremony and a fabulous reception! I wish I had more time to spend with Maegan - she was absolutely beautiful!
There are very few people I would miss the rose bowl for. They were two.
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| Congratulations, Mr & Mrs. Brackin! |
All in all, within two weeks, we made 3 trips to Houston, 1 trip to Tyler, 2 trips to Frisco, and 3 trips to Dallas and back. I. Am. Done. Driving. However, I wouldn't trade anything. ...okay...maybe a few things, but I'm glad I got to see everyone and spend quality time! Love you all!
Oh yeah...
GO FROGS!
Love,
Shell
