B had to work on the 23rd but we left after work and arrived in Hattiesburg around midnight. We put the kids to bed and then quickly fell asleep ourselves. The morning of the 24th was pretty chill with breakfast at the house and just playing. B and I went for a run around the neighborhood and AC came over to visit as well. My mom's only rule for Christmas Eve was absolutely no Wal-mart trips. We had to have all our shopping and stuff done before Christmas Eve. We ate lunch at BWW per the kids request and that was a nice time. A funny thing happened with our waitress after our food was brought to us and B announced it was time to pray, she asked if she could pray with us. We were like "sure, of course" and B asked if there was anything he could pray for her and she said "unspoken". That's never happened to me before and I think we'll start asking our servers if we can pray for them when we go out to eat from now on. After lunch, we went to Jeannie's house for a bit. She had gifts for the kids and wanted to see them, so this was the easiest thing to do. Jeannie not only had gifts for the kids, she had gifts for all of us including my mom, chuck, and AC. She's very thoughtful and has been really good to my family. Donna was there and had her UNO cards. It didn't take long for my kids to see those cards and we all sat down for a game of UNO. Donna won and I believe W was a close second (or maybe I was, I can't remember). That was probably my favorite thing from Christmas Eve, was playing UNO with Donna. She kept playing out of turn and my kids understood why and were very patient with her. Before we went to Christmas Eve Mass, we went home for a quick rest and to change into our church clothes. We went to St. Fabian to celebrate mass with Fr. Tommy and about a thousand other people. The kids were excellent during the service so when we got home, they got to open their Christmas Eve gift from Granddad-new jammies! The girls got matching Minnie Mouse jammies, and the boys got matching Star Wars jammies. Of course they were very excited about this and wanted to wear them immediately. But first we had Bonnie's Christmas Eve party so we headed to Bonnie's house around 6 pm. Bonnie Hrdlica has a Christmas Eve party every year, and this was our first time going. She has a ton of food and usually the adults just sit around and talk. The kids played in the back in the playroom and I think maybe watched a show on Netflix. Since Bonnie has 2 granddaughters, she had some toys and kids things in one of her spare bedrooms. The food was delicious and we had a good time and left around 8. The kids quickly got into their jammies and B read them the book The Donkey That Didn't Carry Anyone that Jeannie gave us for Christmas.
Christmas morning came quickly and I got up early to help my mom make breakfast. Together, we made Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole. It's very yummy and everyone loved it. AC came over for breakfast and then after breakfast, we opened gifts. The kids had (in my opinion) too many gifts but what could I do? I began to feel like we had lost the meaning of Christmas and so we tried to refocus every now and again, but realized that at their ages, this gift opening part is very exciting so I just tired to be happy for them. I don't remember how long it lasted, but after we were done, we let the kids play with some of their new things and I helped my mom cook Christmas food. My mom had prepped most things a head of time before we arrived, which made cooking Christmas dinner a little quicker and easier. We had a ham, sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, asparagus, and rolls. We all ate until we were stuffed and then the kids played with their new things again. We made the kids take a little rest while watching a movie, and B & I walked around the neighborhood for a bit. While the thoughts were fresh on our mind, we brainstormed about how not to get out of control with gifts in the coming years. We both felt the same way, but realized that it was too late for us to do anything about it this year. We would have to plan better for 2016. At 4:00 pm we left for Hub Lanes for a little family bowling. My mom and AC are both on bowling leagues and have had a lot of fun bowling together for a few years now. We had a blast bowling together and even E got to bowl once or twice on her own. A, being good with numbers, was quick to follow the scores and kept us updated on who was winning throughout the games. Bowling was a high light for all of us and tired us all out too. After bowling a couple of games, we went back home, ate some dinner, and then went to bed.
The morning of the 26th, we ate cereal for breakfast and then traveled to Pass Christian to spend time with my dad and Ella. We arrived at their house around 11:00 am and visited with them and exchanged gifts. They got the kids magnatiles for Christmas and it was a huge hit. Originally they said that the tiles would stay at Nana and Tata's house so the kids could play with them when they came back to visit, but the kids had so much fun building, that Nana changed her mind and sent us home with the tiles. They have gotten a lot of use, trust me. We drove over to visit Grandmalupe for about an hour, talking with her. She gave the kids sprite and oreos to snack on, so of course they had a great time. We had grilled cheese for lunch back at Dad's house, then walked to the park down the street near the beach. The kids have gone to this park a lot with Nana and Tata and its a fun park. B taught A how to flip out of a swing and even E had a blast playing around. It was nice weather too-didn't feel like Christmas. Since the kids got all dirty at the playground, we decided to give baths before heading to dinner. B requested Daddy Z's for dinner because they have great seafood. I don't really good seafood, so we get it out to eat when we can. We've eaten at Dadddy Z's a couple of times, and they have yet to disappoint. Dinner was followed by a movie and bed time.
Sunday was the day I had been waiting for since Halloween! This was the day we were going to take R/A to their first New Orleans Saints game. The morning started early with W going to church at 6:45 with Tata. E left at 8:00 with Nana for her church services. We left with R & A around 8:30 and drove to NO. The game was flexed from 12 to 3 pm, which gave us more time to spend hanging out in New Orleans. We parked and walked around NO for a while and waited in a long line to eat at Cafe Du Monde. The weather was warm with some clouds, but didn't rain on us. We walked around Jackson Square and looked at the different art work displayed. It was a really nice time with R & A even though it was a lot of walking. We headed to the stadium and made our way to our seats before the game started. I wanted to watch the introductions so we quickly got our food and went back just in time to see our Defensive Starters being called out one by one. The Saints beat Jacksonville and it was a great game for the kids to see. We are so grateful for Uncle Charles for giving us his tickets. We stayed for the entire game, even though a lot of people started leaving in the fourth quarter since the Saints were up and there was no way for Jacksonville to come back. We collected 4 towels for our kids from people who left them behind and we got some new Souvenir Cups. We drove back home and had the kids in bed by 9:00. W and E had a good day with Nana and Tata but I look forward to the day when all 6 of us can attend a game together.
In the middle of the night, we started hearing thunder and woke up early to our phone alarms of Tornado Warnings in Gulfport. Since we were awake, we decided to get up and packed up our things and cuddle with our kids. We waited for the rain to let up a little, and left at 7:30. We made it back to Houston at 2:45, which gave us plenty of time to brush our teeth before our dentist appointment at 3:00 pm at Amazing Smiles. All 6 of us go to the dentist on the same day and while 1 adult is seen, 2 kids go back and then vice versa. I'd much rather spent 3 hours at the dentist one day, then go back 4 or 5 different times for each person. I think for dinner we stopped at Chickfila and then finally made it home. All 6 of us were tired from the long day of driving, but only B did all the actual driving. We pick up Cooper the next day from Ms. Mary's house, and the kids were excited to see him. Our family was back together!
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