When I left off yesterday, we were traveling to Austin on Christmas Eve. This was a first for us--traveling on Christmas Eve. We needed to be in Austin in time for the 7pm service at church and wanted to have time to take a shower. Luckily, we ran into very little traffic, and our drive was relatively uneventful, despite some very heated debates!
Two years ago, we went to the 5pm service on Christmas Eve. It was a first for me and is the one that Nicholas' family normally attends. I was surprised that there weren't as many people at the 7pm service. I guess everyone likes the 5pm service so they can have dinner afterwards. Bo was pleased that we didn't have to sing the carols more than once during the candle lighting. We went back home for appetizers and Christmas with Laura. Thanks to Laura, we had yummy sweet breads for breakfast Christmas morning!
Christmas morning was nice. Nicholas' family takes their time opening presents. Everyone takes a turn while everyone else watches. This is a tremendous difference from the mass chaos at my family's house. In the past we have had around 13 people celebrating Christmas (aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, grandparents). Things have changed over the past few years as my siblings and I have started getting married and having kids. Pretty soon we will be back to 13 with just siblings, spouses, and grand kids! I digress...
After leisurely opening presents on Christmas morning, we got ready to go over to Mom J.'s cousin's house in Cedar Park around 3pm for Christmas dinner. I feel blessed that Nicholas and I have been able to spend so much time with all our families the past 2 years even while living 2000 miles away!
We spent our time in Austin hanging out with family and friends, going to movies, and eating Mexican food (mmm...Trudy's, Tres Amigos, and Serrano's). It was nice to spend time with people I used to work with and people from church. One day, Nicholas and Jeremy went out to the land to help Bo build a shed. Mom J. and I perused some after Christmas sales while the boys got their sweat on.
We spent New Year's Eve downtown, but that is for another post. It took us just about a whole day to pack up our stuff. I would say we are pros. We managed to get everything in our luggage with 2 bags right at 50lbs, one bag at 45lbs, and a duffel bag stuffed with clothes. God Bless Southwest and 2 free checked bags! We only had to ship one box weighing in at 17lbs! Of course, we also had our 2 laptops and 2 backpacks packed with stuff. Fortunately, our friend that picked us up from the airport has a mini van!
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