Christmas 2019

The absolute best part of the holidays is getting to spend time with friends and family.  2019’s Christmas month was incredibly busy but that did not stop us from celebrating with our loved ones.  I always try to prepare early enough so that I can relax and enjoy the season but it never happens.  Inevitably there is a need to go to the store for something, then go to another store for a last minute item, and then go back to the first store for the items I forgot the first time.

The magnitude of people who show up to shop in Longview in December is completely remarkable!!  A simple trip to grab some hamburger buns turns into something akin to The Hunger Games.  I stare in amazement at the amount of people in the stores and on the road. Nevertheless, I rejoice in the holidays and everything that comes with it.

We celebrated at numerous places with many important people.

Christmas with dad and Joyce

We kicked off our 2019 Christmas celebration at my house with dad, Joyce, Traci, Caiden, and Kynlee coming over to spend a few hours together.  We cooked a roast that didn’t turn out great.  Our attempt to make sure we had plenty of meat failed because we tried to cook a roast in the dutch oven type pot that dad and Joyce bought us a couple of years ago.  The meat did not come out soft and delicious like it normally does in our roaster pan.  Luckily we put the 2nd roast in the roasting pan so it cooked correctly, but we struggled with the gravy to vegetable ratio in our attempt to prepare enough veggies for everyone.  We had some red beans and made a copycat Outback bread, which was probably the star of the meal.  I also made a Guadalupe Pie because it has been one of my favorite desserts since I was a child.  Next year is Christmas at Traci’s house so instead of Guadalupe Pie, we may have Traci’s delicious bread pudding!! YUM!!

 

Kynlee’s Christmas Program

Kynlee’s Christmas Program was on December 17th at 6:00pm.  It was the most adorable program titled “Where Is Baby Jesus???”.  Young children are not always cooperative at events like this but that creates the best memories.  It was completely packed and we sat in the balcony so I was not able to get any pictures that would be good to share on here.  I am not sad about that because being unable to get good pictures let me live in the moment and just enjoy the songs and hard work of the kids instead of taking pictures.  After the program, all the kids were taken back to their classrooms for cookies and juice until the parents could come get them.  I took this time to take pictures of Caiden and some artwork done by Kynlee for the season.  And yes, I think this is the best way to eat a cookie!!!

I didn’t get to spend an enormous amount of time with everyone during the program, but it was a brief moment to collect memories that I will never forget.  Halfway through the program, Kynlee finally spotted us in the balcony as we waved at her.  Immediately she started waving and saying “Hi mommy!”.  Isn’t it weird that you can hear their voice when you see their mouth moving?  We were so far away that there was no chance of hearing her but as I watched her mouth move, I could hear her sweet voice in my head saying “Hi mommy!!”  After that, she was able to quickly find us and wave each time she came out on stage.  Those tiny little waves and the light that popped into her eyes when she saw us waving will forever be ingrained in my memory.

 

Christmas at Aunt Tredy’s

Every year on Christmas Eve, there is a potluck and White Elephant party at Kym’s aunt’s house.  It’s a fun-filled get together with lots of laughter and food.  Over 40 people were at the party this year and that was only about half of the family.  The kids ran and played, as usual, shooting each other with Nerf guns.  It progressed to the kids shooting the adults with the Nerf guns and then went a step further when the adults took the Nerf guns and started chasing each other around.  It ended with the agreement that next year all adults will bring Nerf guns so we can all play.

I have no ability to list all the food that was brought.  Some of the food we had included grilled fajitas, chicken tortilla soup, chicken enchilladas, beef enchilladas, tacos, beans, chips, salsa, green sauce, sopapilla cheesecake, cookies, various pies, and fudge.  I can’t imagine how long the list would be if I was able to list all the food.  All of the food was delicious and the time spent with family was wonderful.  Hearing the kids laughing, running, and playing was amazing.  Hearing the adults laughing, running, and playing was soul soothing!

 

Christmas at Mom’s

Scheduling time with everyone is a difficult task and resulted in a need to have 2 get-togethers in one day.  It is exhausting and we don’t truly get to enjoy as much time as we would like, but a little time is better than none!! After spending the day at Aunt Tredy’s, we came home to get ready for going to mom’s.  We unloaded the truck and reloaded it with all the presents and food for the next party.

We like having a snacking Christmas instead of dealing with a large amount of food to cook.  Chips, dips, cheeses, meats, Traci’s bread pudding (which is the best bread pudding ever), mom’s sweet bread, chicken tortilla soup, and potato soup was on the menu this year.

Kym and I planned a small scavenger hunt for Caiden so we had to get to mom’s before Caiden!  Each clue led to another spot and some spots held presents.  We were super excited about it because we spent a large amount of time coming up with riddles that were dispersed around the house that he could follow.  The first clue he had to solve was “He is the reason for the season” and without missing a beat, he said “Jesus” and went directly for the Jesus sign.  After the search, we all piled up in the living room to open our gifts.

I am 100% confident that Kynlee’s reaction to this ball is the best reaction of the season.  Her face!!!  And she loved the punching bag that we bought her. Kym blew it up but we did not put the weight/water in the bottom of it so it was truly an assault toy for many of us.  Picture this……I was sitting directly across from where Kynlee is pictured above, Traci was sitting almost in the exact spot where Kynlee is sitting in the above picture.  We have opened all our presents, Kynlee was playing with her toys, Caiden was playing with his gifts, and we were all enjoying the time together.  Traci was looking for something, sitting Indian-style, looking down at her phone.  I was trying to show Kynlee how to punch this toy so I stood it up in front of me and gave it a good ol’ throat punch.  The dang thing sailed across the room like a missile and slammed into Traci so hard, knocking the phone from her hands, and completely stunning her.  **I am laughing so hard trying to write this that I am crying**  She must have immediately expected that I am the one who assaulted her because her head snapped up and she looked directly at me.  OH!  ooops!!  Sorry!! **still crying**

Kynlee and Traci jumped into the chaise and Kynlee started “reading” her Minnie book that we got her for Christmas.  Rest assured that the attack of the punching bag is not finished.  Once the laughter had died down, we all settled back into the Christmas fun, playing and talking.  Kynlee wanted to lay or sit on the punching bag, so it had been through several rounds of rodeo when she abandoned it for another toy.  Caiden set it up to punch it and, voila, another face shot!  Again the bag hurtled through the air but this time it connected with Kynlee’s face!!  She was almost as stunned as Traci was.  The only difference was that Kynlee was standing up so it made her stumble backwards a few steps and over to the side like a drunk college kid.  It didn’t hurt her but I wouldn’t have been able to see any injuries because of the tears flowing down my face.  She never shed a tear but the look on her face told the whole story – she would store this memory for use at a later time.

Getting pictures of everyone is difficult, right?!?  After 100 pictures, we settled on this as the best one!!

 

Christmas for Us

After leaving mom’s house around 12:30am, we went home to have our Christmas together.  We were completely drained from the day of parties but we knew the next day would be busy, too.  We unloaded the truck and grabbed all of our gifts to do our Christmas at home.  By now I am sure you can imagine what a wreck the house was.  Leftovers crammed into the fridge, gifts on the table, boxes of gifts waiting to be delivered, and containers stacked on every counter in the kitchen.  I am borderline OCD so all the clutter should have pushed me over the edge but I was so incredibly tired that I couldn’t even worry about it.  We exchanged our gifts and finally went to bed around 3:00am.  As always, Christmas was amazing.

 

Christmas Day with the Raibourn Family

On Christmas day, we celebrated with Linda, Darrell, Amanda, Lynn, Carson, Blake, and Makenna.  It was a joyous, relaxing day.  We had tacos, Guadalupe pie, and chocolate pie but before eating, we wanted to get a picture of everyone.  Trying to get a decent picture with everyone’s eyes open, looking at the camera, and smiling was only achieved because Lynn set up his phone to record video that could be edited into pictures while I continuously snapped pics so we ended up with plenty to choose from.

There is no great way to describe the next thing that happened and pictures would not show it.  Linda and Amanda saw something on TV so they were imitating it – they were laughing and twerking without a thought about the fact that Lynn was still recording.  Plus, I continued to snap pictures so I caught several shots of the dancing.  Before we all completely dispersed after the pictures, I was in the bathroom changing into shorts.  I did not want to spend the day cooped up in jeans when I could put on comfy clothes and relax into the joy of the day.

Christmas Day spent at Lynn and Amanda’s was exactly what it should be – enjoying family.  Kym worked to hang up strips of LED lights in each of the kid’s rooms.  Tacos and pie.  Gift exchanging.  Decorating.  Cleaning.  Family.  Laughter and joy.  There really isn’t a better way to describe this wonderful season.

 

Christmas for the Dogs

Even the dogs enjoyed Christmas.  Our dogs get wildly spoiled.  We stuffed their stockings with lots of babies and they scattered them all over the living room, playing with them while we cleaned up our massive Christmas mess.

 

Christmas has always been THE holiday for my family.  It’s not that the other holidays aren’t worth celebrating, it’s just that Christmas holds the greatest reason to celebrate!!  If I say Merry Christmas to you and you don’t celebrate Christmas, please don’t be offended as it is simply my way of spreading my love and cheer!

Merry Christmas!!!