Christmas 2010

had started a week early,

with the ladies from Bible Class, at Nancy's house. She made yummy quiche and hash brown casserole and other goodies, and every one brought a little something as well.

On Christmas Eve, Cindy treated the family to dinner at Golden Corral. ( I always want to spell Corral with 2 Ls, for some reason ).

After which, we adjourned to Cindy's house for coffee/tea, Scrabble and Farkle!

Christmas lunch at Grandad's was festive as always, with good food, great company and presents! ( As well as a reindeer sighting or two )

Merry Christmas one and all, and have a truly Blessed Year Ahead!

Breakfast for Dinner

Shana had her birthday

a little over a week ago,

and we were over at Stephanie's to celebrate and have yummy breakfast for dinner :)

The cousins had a chance to run and romp, and Max was really sweet to share his toys.

Christmas Time in Abilene

We're in the middle of a drought in Abilene,

while some other parts of the country are getting pummeled with snow. We haven't had any precipitation in quite a while, and while I know that snow comes with its own set of problems, I can't help thinking about last year when we had a White Christmas.

ANYWAY, as part of the season's activities, we bundled up the little boy, and went to the Christmas Parade downtown.

I spent most of the time keepin' the stroller a'goin', because little boy wanted to keep a'movin' movin' movin, so I didn't really stop to take many photos

After the parade, the crowd usually piles into the Civic Center for the Lighting of the City Christmas Tree and to listen to the orchestra play.

After a couple of minutes, though, we had to duck into the next room, a huge multi-purpose hall, because the little boy was trying to tell us loudly that he had had enough of being strapped in and carried about. He was ready to romp!

Well, as was with every year, there was a performance by cheerleaders in there, and a small crowd had gathered to watch them do their flips and tumbles etc.

AND there was ample room for Jaxon to run to his heart's content.

We went by the Civic Center again last week, as the annual HEB Feast of Sharing was hosted there. This year, apparently, 7500 people were served food provided by HEB.

After filling our bellies with yummy food, we joined in the fun in the Children's Area, a part of the shindig that we never knew existed before - but then we didn't have Jaxon before this either.

Christmas Cactus

I had one several years ago,

but managed to kill it, poor thing.

This year, the hubs was very sweet to get me one that had so many blooms on them, and I have really enjoyed having it on my desk.

The little boy points at it and goes, "Fah Woo" :)

Breakfast with Santa

T'is the season again,

and today we were off to Hillcrest for pancakes and sausages, bright and early.

By the time we got there, the whole place was already bustling and a-buzzin', with people enjoying their food and kids running around or working intently at one of the various craft stations.

Cindy helped Jaxon with a door hanger while mummy and daddy got a bite to eat.

We did get in line to take a picture with Santa, and I was already wondering if this year would be any different from last year's. Alas, it wasn't. No sooner had I made any signs of placing Jaxon on Santa's lap, did he start screaming in panic mode.

It was great fun and yummy food - I wondered by next year, if Jaxon would be able to appreciate it more and want to do the artsy crafty stuff. But for now, he is having a whale of a time just running around ( pancake in hand ) and soaking up the festive vibes.