My week in Dallas has been great! I relly enjoyed spending so much time with family. Here are some of the highlights! You can also see pictures here!!
--Went to the train show at NorthPark. It was really cute and fun! Brian had bought a train car with Beth and Ryder's names on it (money for the cars goes to the Ronald McDonald House). It was fun trying to find his car. Ryder liked the trains, too!
--Managed to go to three church services in less than 24 hours. My family all went to Prestonwood's Christmas Eve EVE service on Saturday night. My mom wanted to go to that one and it's right down the street from their house. It was really good. I especially liked the candlelit part at the end...you know, where we light each other's candles and sing "Silent Night". I've done that a gazillion times, but this time, we were sitting in the part that's elevated a bit on the first floor and we could see all the lights in front of us and it was sooo pretty! I feel like we miss out on seeing that in most churches. Sunday morning, I went to good old PCBC. I tried out their new Sunday morning contemporary service and it was really good and the new building is beautiful! They have a new minister who does the contemporary service and he was good, but I really did miss hearing Dr. Denison preach-- I will have to go to the traditional service next time I'm in town. Amazingly, the preacher quoted Tim Keller twice. Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC...one of the two churches I'm trying to decide between. My third and final church service was to the Christmas Eve service at Watermark, Beth and Brian's church. It was great as always- terrific singing!
--My mom, dad, and I went to see the most amazing Christmas lights ever!!! There are two houses-- one in Plano and one in Frisco that have their houses and yards completely covered in lights. Then, you turn your radio on to the correct station and the lights on the house dance on and off to the tune of the carol over the radio. So fun and cool!
--Spent Christmas Eve at my parent's cousin's house, Suzie. She's actually my mom's second-cousin and my dad's first-cousin. Weird, but true. Don't worry though, my parent's weren't related before they got married, just shared a cousin, not blood. It's actually kind of neat because they know ALL my family and are at ALL family events whether it's my mom's side or my dad's. And when their daughter, Amanda, got married, ALL 4 of my grandparent's and ALL my aunts, uncles and cousins were there. When I was growing up, we would spend every Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family including all his cousins, so it was nice to be with some of them again after several years of not doing it. Amanda's kids, Jake and Bella, are really sweet and had a lot of fun playing with Ryder!
--I went early Christmas morning to Beth and Brian's and got to get Ryder up. He's so sweet and loving in the morning. Beth made us a great breakfast and then Ryder opened up his gifts from his parents.
--We spent the rest of Christmas Day at mom and dad's with the 6 of us, plus Brian's parents. It was nice...Beth and I did most the cooking and it was a great meal. Then, we opened gifts. Brian's mom made delicious peppermint ice cream for dessert and we also had a ton of cookies and a pumpkin pie! I didn't feel so great the next day!! Gift giving and opening was fun, too. I got Uggs, but mom said I could exchange them for an ipod so I did...I thought about keeping the Uggs as well, but wanted a different size and they were out, so I don't know if I'll end up with Uggs or not!
--The day after Christmas is actually one of my very favorite days of the year! I love to shop the sales. My mom and I were at Crate & Barrel before it opened-- got to see my friend, Andi, who took a seasonal job there. I bought several of their Christmas things-- I love Christmas decorations! We went to many stores that day and I bought at least a little something pretty much everywhere we went. I'm normally not a huge shopper like that, but December 26th is an exception! Beth, mom, Ryder, and I did more shopping on the 27th and 28th, but didn't find much else. The time spent together was great, though!
--I had dinner with Julie and Amber at an excellent restuarant called Hibiscus. My mahi mahi was amazing. Getting to catch-up with Amber was good too! Those girls are doing great!
--Had a "mini-reunion" with 4 girls I worked with at Ernst & Young. I got to pick up my good friend Kelli and see her baby, Gil, beforehand. He had changed so much! It was a lot of fun catching up with these EY girls...some funny girls and funny memories!
--Visited my Grammy. I had hesitations about this. It's kind of a pain to get to her in McKinney and she wouldn't know if I didn't come and wouldn't remember it 5 minutes after I left. Plus, sometimes I feel like she's not really my grandma anymore. But, I went and I'm glad I did. She looked terrific. She was always really sweet and was just as sweet as ever and happy to see me. We didn't stay long, but I'm glad I saw her.
--Went to dinner on Thursday with some PCBC girls. Again, great conversation with old friends. I miss all these people dearly!!
--My final outing of the week was to see Jennifer, Vickie, Lisa, and her baby girl, Kylie for breakfast on Friday morning. Great to catch-up with these girls and see how much Kylie had changed!
And the final highlight of the week....
--Ryder knows how to give hugs now and they are the BEST!!
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