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Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas 2013

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! It's always such a special thing to celebrate Jesus' birth surrounded by family and good food and gift-giving and carols and all sorts of fun.

We drove to Dallas early on Christmas Eve this year, and we made it in time to have lunch with my grandparents (dad's side). Then we went to Christmas Eve Mass at the church we went to when I was in elementary school, which was pretty special. I hadn't been back there in about ten years!

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With my parents and sisters after Mass

We went to see my other grandparents (mom's side) for Christmas Eve dinner (we always do a delicious seafood boil with crab, shrimp, mussels, potatoes, and corn), and we got to see all my aunts/uncles/cousins on that side of the family.

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With my mom, sister, and Gran-mom

The big Christmas tradition on that side of the family is a Christmas carol party on Christmas Eve, complete with songbooks and guitar music and lots of loud voices. So fun!

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My mom buys our family matching pajamas every year, so we woke up on Christmas morning in our snazzy matching jammies and opened gifts and stockings at my grandparents' house.

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Matching! 

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Stockings!

My aunt/uncle/cousins on that side of the family came over later in the morning and we opened more gifts and had a lovely lunch.

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Our fourth married Christmas!

After lunch, Jeff and I got in the car and drove back to Houston. It's always a bit weird to spend four hours in the car on Christmas Day, but it allows us to be with all the people we love most, so we can't seem to stop doing it! We made it to Houston with time to spare before dinner, and we got to celebrate with Jeff's parents, brothers, and grandparents (who travel to Houston for the holidays).

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Dinner, complete with Christmas cracker hats!

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We spent the night at Jeff's parents' house and had a nice leisurely morning and lunch yesterday. It's back to work for me today, but Jeff has a few more days off, which he plans to spend installing crown molding in our bedroom (!!!).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Glory to the newborn King!

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