Thanksgiving this year was bittersweet. The boys and I were actually home this year (last year, we had Thanksgiving in Huntington), but Joey wasn't able to make the trip home. :( Though he was invited to his friend, Todd's house to share Thanksgiving with him and his family. I was very grateful for him not to be alone. Plus, my man loves food, so he told me countless times about how great the food tasted. AND, Todd's mom sent him back to his apartment with enough food to feed an army, so he was able to stuff himself as full as a tick for days!
December was quite a busy month for us! We kicked off December with a visit to Nahunta's annual Christmas Festival. It was freezing cold and raining, so pretty miserable. . . but traditions are traditions, right?! The following Tuesday I had my three hour glucose test (remember, I failed the first one miserably). The only thing this time was that once I downed the sugary concoction, I had to go and lie on my back for an hour for the sonogram. We got some awesome pictures!
However, after lying on my back for an hour, plus having had nothing to eat since midnight the night before, I was feeling. . . .GROSS! I told the sonographer that I just needed to run down to the bathroom really quickly and on the way down the hall, I thought to myself, "I'll just put a cold cloth on my neck and I'll be fine." Well, I had barely even gotten the door to the restroom opened when. . . . .. .well, let's just say that orange glucola is just as bad coming up as going down! Yuck!
Later that week, on Saturday, was my in-laws annual christmas party. None of us had been able to be there the previous year, so the boys and I were excited to get to see everyone.
On December 20th, the boys had their Christmas play at church. Brek was a donkey in the manger scene, and then he was Santa Claus (to illustrate that Christmas was not about Santa!) He was so excited and he did a great job!
Bae's class put on a Western themed Christmas play. He got to play his guitar for one of the songs. I was so proud! And relieved to see that those lessons really are paying off!
We had a little Christmas Miracle this year, as Joey was able to be home for Christmas (more about that later).
On Christmas Eve, we started our yearly "running around like crazy people, trying to fit everyone in, gift giving, food eating marathon". We started out at my mom's this year. There, we exchange gifts with my dad and mom (Gigi and Pops), Granny Lois, Uncle Mitchel and Aunt Penny, my brother, Brandon (B) and his wife, Ashley, their two girls, Calli and Ava, and my little sister Caitlyn. My dad built little barns for the kids "big gift" this year and they were all so excited. We also took our annual Christmas family photo. This was exciting for me because this is the first time in three years that Joey has actually been able to be in the photo because of his job.
From there, we head over to my other Grandparents house. My Granny Louise and Pa Hendrix both have been gone from us for quite a while, but we all still meet up there every year just like always. Let's recap the family we see while we're there. There's Nanny & Uncle Wain, Shebby, Uncle Don & Aunt Dale, Kellye & Bradley, Chuck, Sheron, Ashlyn, Matt & Stacy, Darrell & Sandra, Danette, and Wesley. We had already gotten together with my cousin, Kristie and her two kids, April and Shane earlier in the week. Her husband, Jamie, couldn't make it this year.
Aunt Nancy got Bae & Brek the Elf on the Shelf book this year. They were so excited! I actually was a little excited too! Now I'll just have to remember to include him in our traditions every year.
After we recovered from gift giving (and I ate way too many shrimp), we headed down to Florida to participate in what I have dubbed the "Harris, Allen, Kassab, Heavener Christmas gift Massacre". Down at Joey's parents, it is truly a sprint. There are nine grandchildren all together (ten next year!), all but one under the age of 11. Crazy!!! We've got Ganny & Papa, of course, Aunt Stacy & Roger, Uncle Chad, Aunt Kim, Uncle David & Aunt Alysha, Christin, Zachary, Jack, Dawson, London, Taygen and Gannon. Add our family of four (soon to be five) in the mix and it's truly a free for all.
By the time we're done there, all the kids are exhausted. We loaded up and headed for the house. The kids fell asleep perfectly on the way home and it was a good thing, 'cause "Santa" still had quite a bit of work to do.
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