Christmas Holiday Variety

We had a wonderful visit with family for the holidays. We drove up on Friday, which was Christmas Eve, and spent the day with Donna's family. Her little niece, Olivia was the main attraction. Last year she wanted nothing to do with us, but this year she warmed up nicely and provided plenty of photo opps that ooze with cuteness. 

Donna's mom and dad chose to do prime rib instead of the traditional turkey and dressing and it was delectable! 

Saturday was spent at my mom's with my sister Holane and her family. My brother Philip and his family arrived late Saturday afternoon and we all exchanged gifts and then dug into my mom's incredible pork tenderloin dinner she had prepared. (She and my mother-in-law had similar ideas about ditching the traditional turkey and dressing. Fortunately they both served it up earlier this year at Thanksgiving. The holidays is the only time I typically eat turkey and dressing and it's always a treat!) 

Saturday night we carried out the annual tradition of taking all the cousins to the movies. This year we took in "True Grit." The Coen Brothers remake of the old John Wayne classic is something I've been looking forward to for months and I was not disappointed! It was a great movie! In fact, I know the purists will hate me for this but I actually enjoyed it more than the original. 

Sunday morning Chase and I got up early and sat in one of the coldest deer blinds I've ever been in. We didn't see anything and Chase wasn't really impressed with the whole hunting experience. Later that morning we attended morning worship with my mom at her church. Worship services at a traditional, rural church is so different than what we're used to and we all decided we've never appreciated Pastor Coy Watson (our music director at Crossroads) more! After service we enjoyed some awesome Taco Soup and afternoon football until it was time to head toward the deer blind again. I was able to convince Chase to come along, but once again saw nothing. My nephew Jordy however, killed a big doe. Chase and I got to watch it field dressed and quartered by one of my cousins and it was a real interesting experience for Chase. 

Dinner with both families, photo opps with Olivia, "True Grit" with the cousins, church with mom and deer hunting with Chase - A lot of Christmas holiday variety and a lot of fun!