2011 Christmas Season

Okay, the Holiday season is officially over. I have to be honest, in November I started marking the calender with all the activities and events we had coming up and I cringed with apprehension just a little. This was the busiest Holiday season I’ve ever experienced! It seemed a bit overwhelming, but I figured just take it one day at a time and I’d survive. Sure enough, I survived and had some fun along the way.

Here’s lots of pictures taken in the month of December:

First up, we tried to get the dogs into the Christmas spirit, but I don’t think they appreciated it too much. Also, we had a little elf keep showing up in the house each day and report all behaviors back to the North Pole. Little tattletale!

On December 11th, we participated in the YMCA’s Jingle Bell Run. The weather was perfect and lots of people showed up for the race. Holly and Ivy participated as well! Okay, she, Ivy, and Arturo walked the whole way, but they completed the entire 5k!

Holly’s employer put on their 2nd annual Christmas party. This time it was at the upscale (and expensive) Vic & Anthony’s Steak House in downtown Houston. Even their website is fancy! Check it out: Vic & Anthony’s Steak House. The place looks and feels like Big Texas Oil Money. We enjoyed classy treatment from start to finish with valet parking, free mixed drinks at the bar, and string orchestra (sextet) playing a variety of music, and a four-course meal (steak, of course).

On December 23rd we celebrated Arturo’s birthday with a Circus tent cake and some clown cake-pops. Jane, Amber, Ivy, Holly, 2 dogs, and myself were in attendance of the event. Happy Birthday, Arturo!!

Then we left Arturo to babysit Ivy (thanks Arturo!) while the rest of us headed to the Toyota Center for a show…

Holly treated us to a night of hard rocking Christmas music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I’ve heard about this show for many years but never had seen them in concert. It turned out to be just as elaborate as I heard! For 2 1/2 hours we were treated to a dazzling display of lasers, smoke, pyrotechnics, video backdrops, elevated stages, and tons of ever-changing lights. The music, of course, was all Christmas tunes ground out on electric guitars and thundering drums. An orchestra and choir were in accompaniment. The performers looked like something out an 80’s hair band with spandex, high heels, and constant hair flipping… and that was just the guys! Overall, the show was a bit too long, but we enjoyed it thoroughly. This was the best heavy-metal hair flipping Christmas rock opera I’ve ever seen!

The next morning we trotted off to the airport to head to Northwest Arkansas. We encountered a problem right from the start … ALL parking lots were completely full! Have you ever heard of an airport running out of parking spaces?? Even the Park & Ride places had no room for us! We scrambled to figure out what to do, then finally found a hotel that was renting out their parking spots for $10 a day. We grabbed that deal and made our way to terminal. It was a close! By the time we checked in our bags, passed through security, and scurried down to our gate they were already boarding the plane. The flight was full, but we still managed to get 3 seats together. So off we headed to Tulsa, OK (southwest doesn’t fly to Fayetteville, so we would drive from Tulsa). This was Ivy’s 10th time flying (or thereabouts), so she is really racking up the mileage!

We managed to cram a lot of things into a short time, including a trip to the new Crystal Bridges Museum – a collection of art accumulated by Alice Walton (daughter of WalMart founder Sam Walton). Very impressive!! You wouldn’t think you’d find a world-class art museum in the Ozarks, but there it is. They even have several trails around the property that you can explore and find sculptures tucked away among the foliage. We didn’t see everything mainly because we were pressed for time, plus we had a child that wanted to touch everything. Preschoolers and Fine Art do not mix very well. So we will just have to see the rest of the museum on our next visit.

We made a jaunt up to Jim Gooing’s house on the Missouri state line and enjoyed some muchies and horse riding. He has 1 horse, 2 ponies and 2 miniature horses. Ivy and I and I all take a spin in a little sled pulled by one of the miniatures. What a hoot! Ivy loved it. Later, I hopped up on the full-sized horse and went for a little solo ride down the dirt road. That was fun, but a lot of work! What a head-strong horse! He only wanted to go where he wanted to go which was mainly off to the side of the road to eat plants.

Later that night was our official family Christmas get-together at my sister’s house in Fayetteville. This was the first time we’ve ever had our annual Christmas gathering in Fayetteville. Usually… no make that always… we gathered in Harrison which is about 1 1/2 hours farther east. But since several family members have moved to northwest Arkansas and it is much easier to fly in and out of XNA we decided to have our get-together in Fayetteville. Good choice! Everyone was happy with the decision. We enjoyed a nice dinner, chatted and caught up on all the latest gossip, then tore into all the presents. My sister Glenda and her husband Lloyd hosted the event at their new home (thanks guys!), and there were probably 25 or so folks in attendance. Full, merry, and fun. Ivy got to play with all her cousins which she seem to really enjoy.

On Sunday (Christmas Day), we checked out of the hotel (after jamming all the gifts received into our luggage), and had breakfast with Glenda and Lloyd and Joey’s Mom, before going to a candlelight service at Christian Life Cathedral. Afterwards, we went to a movie (We Bought a Zoo) while Shirley took care of Ivy back at the house. Joey and I drove around Fayetteville a little bit, checking out some old sights, and seeing what was new in town. The place has grown out a bit, but still feels very much the same as when I moved away in 1995. The house that Joey and I rented, right behind a sorority a couple blocks from campus was gone. That was a little sad to see, but those girls always really wanted more parking space, so eh.

Later in the afternoon we headed back to Tulsa for our return flight to Houston. Traveling on Christmas Day has become somewhat of a tradition. That wasn’t planned, but several times now I’ve taken flights on Christmas Day and it turns out that is an excellent time to fly. The airports are not crowded and, let’s face it, there’s really not much else to do on Christmas Day. Everything is closed! So catching a movie and catching a plane are two excellent things to do on a lazy Christmas afternoon. Our flight was quick and uneventful. We got home around 9:30pm, tired, but feeling like it was a good trip.

The next day we opened presents from ourselves, friends, and from Holly’s family, although we didn’t see Jane or Todd or Ivy’s cousins (members of Holly’s family that live here in Houston). The same was true on Thanksgiving. This year during the holiday season no contact at all from Todd – no gift, no card, no call, nada.

On December 30th, Holly and I dropped Ivy off at our friend Amie’s house for some great playtime with her buddy Zak, and then we celebrated our 5th Anniversary with a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse. On the 31st we had a little birthday party at the park for Raul who turned half-a-century old. Then, for New Year’s Eve later that night we just relaxed and watched TV. Holly went to bed before midnight, but I was curious about the activities downtown at Discovery Green Park so I went to check it out. Too many people!! I didn’t hang around very long. Instead I went back home and watched the fireworks at Discovery Green on TV. Good enough for me! Off to bed at 12:30 am.

So what comes next? Settle back down into a routine and enjoy the quiet for awhile. There will be plenty of things to fill up my schedule in the months ahead including finding the right pre-school in which to enroll Ivy (that process starts in February or March). Of course, there are taxes to be filed as soon as possible. The possibility of a ski trip in early March is in the works. I’m not sure if that is going to happen or not, but I will be very happy if it does! And round and round it all goes. It will be Christmas again before you know it. Well, that is if the world doesn’t end December 21st like the Mayan calendar predicts. If not, I’ll see y’all next year!