Christmas is here! Merry Christmas everyone!!! What a crazy night we had last night! Around 1 am or 2 am, it started to storm. It was raining really hard and the thunder and lightning was incredible. For an hour or so we laid there awake listening to the storm. The lightning flashed for longer than I've seen lightning flash before and the thunder boomed really loud. When we woke up this morning, the rain was still pouring down. Poor Santa must have gotten soaked last night! Shortly after we woke up, the thunder and lightning started up again. Michael and Scott went to a family member's house near Dallas and dropped Anthony off at their Aunt Julie's house (where Papa Mike was) down the street from where we were. After a hot shower and some breakfast (which for me was chocolate cake- what better!?!) Joey and I headed upstairs to the game room and played a little Foosball. It worked out pretty well because then the kids could have their Christmas in the morning. After about a half hour or so of playing, Papa Mike, Anthony, and Raven came over in the car to see if we wanted a ride over to Julie's since it was pouring rain and cold out. Normally we would have walked, but on a day like today, we would have been soaked for the entire day if we did. We were very glad they came to get us! The Christmas parade on TV was just finishing when we got there. Along with the three that came to get us, there was Julie, of course, her husband Dale, Grandma Pat and her husband, and Michael's Mom, Lisa there. It was a very good group to get to spend the holiday with. Shortly after arriving, we had a chance to talk with some family back home and even Skype with Joey's family and brother Andy, who is in China for a year teaching English. For the rest of the day, we just relaxed. Unfortunately there weren't any good Christmas movies or shows on, but that's ok. Joey had fun playing a few video games with Raven and Anthony for a while. Raven let me borrow her colored pencils and a piece of paper, so I had fun drawing and coloring. We had a very yummy dinner of ham, potato salad, baked bean casserole, and strawberry jello stuff. It was nice because it was an eat when you're hungry set up, so we all ate at different times. Later on, the rain turned to sleet and then eventually to snow. The crazy thing was that the rain never let up today, and the snow was coming down just as hard. Before we knew it, there was an inch, then two, three and so on. It truly was a white Christmas!! Now that is something we definitely did not expect here in Texas! It was actually kind of nice because it made us feel almost like we were home, even though it wasn't the same because our family wasn't there, it did help a little. Joey and I each had a cup of nice warm hot cocoa made with milk, the perfect thing for a cold snowy day! Later on it was time for pie! There was pumpkin, apple and pecan, and whipped cream to top it off. It was so nice to get to spend the holiday with friends; I am really glad that we ended up staying!!! Later on that night, we headed back over to Scott's house and hung out with him and Anthony for a while (and the little doggie, Angel...oh how I love her, she is so cute and cuddly. She will be missed VERY much when it's time to leave!). When we got there, Michael had already gone to bed because he wasn't feeling very well. The walk was quite treacherous as the roads and sidewalks were totally covered in ice and snow. It almost never snows here, so there are no snow plows- we may just end up being stuck here tomorrow (even though we planned on getting back on the road), if the roads don't get better by morning. Guess we will see what the morning beings. So, we survived our first Christmas away from home, it still didn't seem 100% like it really was Christmas though just because I didn't get to do all the fun Christmas things like decorating, making cookies, listening to Christmas music 24/7, wrapping presents, etc. That really gets you in the Christmas mood. I think that made it a little easier, though. Even still, I can't wait til next Christmas so I get to do all of those things and be with the family, only 364 more days!
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