Christmas!

I am back in Texas after two weeks in Nebraska! Here are some of the highlights of my Christmas.

~ My family waited to decorate our Christmas tree until I arrived back on Sunday afternoon (the 20th). My aunt and uncle give my siblings and I an ornament each year until we turn 18. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to pull out each ornament and turn an ordinary pine tree into a piece of art.

~ The Christmas blizzard of 2009. The snow started on Wednesday and on Christmas day the wind made it a full-blown blizzard. In all of my 23 years my family has gone either to my dad’s side or my mom’s, but this year we were stuck at home. Even though the wind was howling outside and the visibility was limited, we were cozy inside and we enjoyed a leisurely Christmas day. We took our time opening presents, then played games, watched movies and just hung out the rest of the day.

~ After the storm was over my siblings and I braved the cold and went outside to explore the drifts! There were some pretty amazing ones and although we didn’t last too long, we enjoyed climbing the tall ones and blasting through the small ones.

~ Tuesday night (the 29th) my sisters and I had a girls’ night in our room. We munched on pizza bites, chips, and M & M’s, sipped sparkling grape juice and watched “Julie and Julia” on Beth’s laptop. We laughed and enjoyed some special sister time. Meanwhile, the brothers watched “Star Wars” in their room and Mom and Dad watched “Cheaper by the Dozen” in the living room.

~ Wednesday I road-tripped to Iowa to visit two of my college friends. I had so much fun catching up with these lovely ladies, and we got to enjoy some good pizza. I am thankful for good friendships from my college days that have continued even though we have gone in different directions.

~ Friday my family took me back to the airport. My siblings and I had fun playing “Would You Rather…”, and my family enjoyed Valentino’s buffet before I got dropped off. It’s hard to say goodbye, but it was a special time at home. Even though I missed out on celebrating with both sides of our extended family because of the snow, it was still good to be with my immediate family.