Last Notes on December: Family Fun!

Four days after I landed in Nashville, Tennessee from Singapore, I found myself in Dallas, Texas.

Dad, Dede, and I were spending time with Kerry and Nic, my nephews, and my mother. We even got to visit with my cousin George and his wife, Beth. And I was so excited to finally get a chance to spend some time with Charlotte!!

Our five day trip started off with a bang! Liam was in a big dance recital which I thought was incredible! The theme of their recital was the end of the world. It was titled 12 - 21 - 12 A Musical Parody and was performed by The Plano Dance Theatre. It included dances about zombies and aliens, and hilarious songs that the audience got to participate in like, The 12 Days of The Apocalypse. My sister and I marveled at how great it was to have a themed performance: none of our dance recitals were ever themed back in the day. Liam had a dressing room with his name on it and people that dressed him: such a little superstar!

Liam is remarkably talented in performance. He has been dancing pretty much since the day he learned to walk and he memorizes lines from movies, performing them at the drop of a hat. During this particular dance recital, he was an alien. He wore the most hilarious silver body suit that covered his feet and his head, and on his face he wore giant green sunglasses shaped like bug eyes. He wasn't a bit nervous before he went on stage and he was so excited when the show was over! He jumped up and down and was hugging everyone left and right. We brought him treats, which sent him through the roof!

On Christmas day, the boys woke up excited to see that Santa had visited leaving a trail of glitter.

We started off opening our stockings. Stockings are a big tradition in our family so every time we are together on Christmas, we try to make a big deal out of it. My stocking included a bottle of wine. I think Santa was trying to tell me something.

 

Oliver and Liam got little handmade blank books in their stockings. (When I say they were handmade, what I mean is that they were pieces of paper stapled together.) This proved to be the best-present-ever for Oliver. He spent all morning writing and illustrating a book about a dinosaur that didn't have any friends. The dinosaur ended up pulling out all of his teeth so that the other dinosaurs knew that he wasn't scary and they could be friends with him. He did a reading of the finished book for us and it was splendid. Oliver is going to be a famous author and illustrator, I just know it.

Following our stockings, we began opening gifts. The boys are always first and foremost in this category. I have only experienced Christmas morning with my nephews once and it was when Oliver was about 6 months old and Liam was nonexistent. This year's Christmas was an exciting and overwhelming experience!

While we hope and say each year that we are going to do without gifts or only exchange one, it never happens. Somehow Santa spoils us all anyway. I posted about several of my gifts on Facebook. But here is a partial rundown: earrings, books (my Young House Love book was signed!!), a ring, bracelets, a tiny Andy Warhol statue (hilarious), a hand drawn dragon book by Oliver and Liam, pajamas (a yearly occurrence), a quilt square made by Liam for a school fundraiser, and a suitcase.

 

I brought everyone something from Singapore. Everyone got a t-shirt and a little something else. I bought the boys the most beautiful outfits in Little India. They also both received stick horses made by one of my friends and co-workers at The Turnip Truck. The stick horses were a great idea in theory. However, they quickly turned into weapons of mass destruction and usually Kerry or I was the target.

 

The real crowd pleaser on Christmas day was the dance game. Nic and I went neck-to-neck on a Daft Punk song and nearly died. I won that battle, for the record. Everyone took a turn . . . Even my dad.

(Again: almost every time I won. Just saying.)

It also snowed really hard on Christmas day . . . In Dallas . . . Which is almost unheard of . . . But it was a Christmas miracle that we all enjoyed while sharing drinks and Christmas cookies indoors. Kerry and the dogs ventured out once, but turned right back around because it was so cold. I snapped a picture of her that looks like she was caught on a surveillance camera, trudging through the snow like Bigfoot.

When it was time to leave, the snow proved to be less of a miracle and more of a hinderance.  

We made it back to Nashville in about 16 hours time. It was hard to say goodbye, but I'll see everyone over the summer. And that's always the best: filled with lots of birthdays and water fun!