Christmas in Texas

After spending three prior years of holidays in Europe, we were grateful to spend this Christmas & New Year's in Texas with family and friends.

Friday, December 20th: Nathan and I both worked, then Tristin dropped us off at the Sacramento airport. Our flight out was delayed due to bad weather in other parts of the country, then we were delayed again when we reached Vegas, making our arrival into San Antonio 2am instead of 11pm. As if that wasn't enough, our plane was flagged as having a bomb threat, so we sat on the tarmac until after 4am. Our view out the plane window looked like a scene from a movie: a line of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances, all with flashing lights. Matt and Dad had been waiting in the San Antonio airport for hours. All four of us were exhausted by the time we finally got home at 5am. We ended up getting vouchers for our "inconvenience."

Saturday, December 21st: Mom, Allison and I got our nails done while Nathan met up with Sean for lunch. That evening, before ordering pizza for dinner, I gave Nathan one of his Christmas presents early: Star Wars Battlefront for XBox. Since we don't have a game system, I figured Nathan could play the game on Matt's while we were in San Antonio for a week. He and Matt started playing immediately.

Sunday, December 22nd: We went to church, then to Chester's for lunch before seeing Grandma for a while. After we got home, we watched The Hobbit, ate lasagna for dinner, and then went to the theater to see The Hobbit 2.

Monday, December 23rd: We hung out around the house in the morning, then Matt, Allison, Nathan and I went to the mall before meeting Mom and Dad at Pappasito's.

Tuesday, December 24th: We hung out and wrapped presents, then went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church. I cooked dinner: porkchops, roasted broccoli, cottage fries, and rolls. Then, we opened presents and watched Elf while drinking Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Wednesday, December 25th: We opened stockings in the morning, then watched Lord of the Rings 1 & 2. Dad picked up Grandma and brought her over to eat Christmas Dinner with us. Allison and I attempted to make an apple pie and it did not turn out well. Next year! We played Mexican Train, and then Dad took Grandma back to her place. We ended the night by watching Lord of the Rings 3.

(Apparently, everyone had a different idea about the "order" the stockings should be hung. Allison's preference for the blue ones to be broken up is what stuck in the end.)

Thursday, December 26th: Nathan recorded a podcast for PortuGOAL.net with Tom, and then he and I met up with Alyssa and Moe at Starbucks. It's always so good to see her because we aren't very good at keeping up with each other between visits. After that, we went with the fam out to Fredericksburg because I read online that they would be celebrating Zweite Weihnachten. Turned out "they" were just a small club of old folks in a meeting hall. It felt like we were crashing a family reunion, so we enjoyed a few cookies and a cup of gluhwein and headed to Main Street to window shop, intending to end up at the ice skating rink. We stopped in at a kitchen store that had Polish pottery at prices that made our jaws drop. Dad bought some fudge for Mom at a chocolate shop. The ice skating rink was also a total letdown. It was tiny, the ice was torn up, and there was mostly small children on it. We decided to skip it in favor of heading to a dinner of authentic Italian pizza at Dough Pizzeria on the northeast side of San Antonio. We all gobbled down flatbread and olives, pizza, and two bottles of delicious Moscato. Afterwards, we stopped at HEB for ice cream to eat at home.

Friday, December 27th: We packed up and Dad drove us to the McDonald's in Brady, where Randy, Tacie and Zanetta picked us up. We hung out and ate dinner at home with everyone, including Grandma Motz, who had been visiting since earlier in the month.

Saturday, December 28th: Nathan ran some errands with his dad while I went to Abi Haus with Sarah for lunch. She and I visited Chad, Tressie and the kids for a little while before we went to Starbucks. Nathan and I had dinner at home that night and played Mexican Train after because Randy and Tacie had just learned how to play it. Jansen and his girlfriend Samantha stopped by to stay the night on their way from Southern California to Paris, Texas.

Sunday, December 29th: We went to church, then had tacos at Memaw and Pepaw's. Nathan and I took a nap that afternoon before we celebrated a late Christmas with Randy, Tacie, Shannon and Haleigh. We watched The Family after dinner.

Monday, December 30th: Sean came out to visit, and he and Nathan went out for lunch, while I went to Jason's Deli with Shannon, Haleigh and Grandma Motz. Leslie and Austin arrived that night after driving in from Florida. Nathan and Sean went out that evening, while I went to the mall with Tacie, Haleigh and Grandma Motz.

Tuesday, December 31st: Sean, Haleigh, Randy, Tacie, Nathan and I went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitte at the theater. While Randy and Tacie went to the grocery store, the four of us shopped a little at the mall. That evening, we had barbecue sandwiches at home. The guys went over to Memaw and Pepaw's to watch the A&M game and the girls watched The King's Speech, ate chips and dip, and played a modified version of Catch Phrase. We then watched the ball drop on TV, and after the game was over, we all watched Life Is Beautiful. At midnight, Nathan and I shared a New Year's kiss and we all went outside to bang pots and pans.

Wednesday, January 1st: We slept late and then watched a little bit of the Rose Bowl Parade. Sean drove back to Dallas, and Nathan went to Chili's for dinner with his friend Brandon. Grandma Motz made her famous spaghetti for the rest of us.

Thursday, January 2nd: Nathan went to Starbucks with his parents before I was even up, we had lunch and hung out at home, then he and I went to Lytle for dinner. Tradition. We watched March of the Penguins and then the Sugar Bowl with everyone, then packed before going to to bed.

Friday, January 3rd: Randy, Tacie, Shannon, Nathan and I left in the morning for Dallas. We ate lunch at Chickfila and Shannon was picked up by her friend Brad and his sister. We were dropped off at Love Field, where our plane was delayed for over an hour. We both had a glass of Riesling at a wine bar near our gate. We made it to Oklahoma City, where we had to deboard the plane for an hour, even though we were supposed to just drop off/pick up some passengers and not have to leave our seat. We made it to Phoenix, thinking we were going to miss our flight (the last one of the night) to Sacramento, but that flight was also delayed, so we just made it as they were boarding the plane. After we arrived in Sacramento, Jared picked us up and took us home.