- My first morning back started with Ryder's Karate Belt ceremony. It was awesome to get to see him perform.
They started out with a bit of stretching
and some warming-up
They listened carefully to their instructors
And then did some moves with a partner.
Dallas folks...the man in the back? None
other than Freddy Poole himself. He's the
owner of the Karate studio, but you probably
know him best as the ex of Kelly Raspberry, of
Kidd Kraddick in the morning ;)
Then it was Ryder's turn to test. He had to do a very
long series of moves all by himself and from memory.
I think Beth and I both held our breathe the entire
time and then burst into applause once he had
completed the entire routine. It was impressive!!
- I went with my parent's to their church my first Sunday morning back. I was not overly impressed. They love their church and especially the teaching of their pastor, Chuck Swindoll. I know Chuck is big-time and many are a fan, but I actually prefer my lesser-known NYC pastor!
- We took the boyz to run through the tubes at Neiman Marcus...so fun! Beth's cleaning lady was over that day and we were able to leave Shep napping with her. And, in turn, we took her son Jose with us to lunch at Chick-Fil-A and then to check out the tubes.
Jose climbing through a tube
Ryder & Beau making their way through
Jose!
Ryder!
Beau!
Inside the dancing machine
Jose making his grand exit
Followed by Ryder & Beau
- Beth and I ran the Jingle Bell 5k and had a BLAST! We cannot wait for next year and plan to take the whole fam.
Beth found us some Christmas socks to run in
She also insisted that we wear big plaid Christmasy bows in our hair.
I tied mine to look like a gift :)
The crowd at the start of the race with the Dallas Ball in the background
- My family likes to work a puzzle at Christmas. I found an awesome one of Manhattan and we all loved it! My mom felt like it was so educational because we all learned new streets in the city.
- Of course, I spent some time wrapping all my gifts. I found some super cute lollipops at Dylan's Candy Bar that I used as gift toppers this year.
- The night before Christmas Eve, I spent hanging out with my parents. My mom made us a pasta dinner and while eating, dad suggested we go check out the Christmas lights. We had planned to do this on Christmas Eve, but he thought maybe there would be less crowds. We decided to go see the awesome electronic lights/music display on the Frisco town square. It is so incredible! We also drove through Highland Park for a while, but didn't see anything too terribly impressive there...hard to follow-up Frisco!
- The morning of Christmas Eve was spent doing our annual tradition of handing out gifts to kids in West Dallas. It is such a fun morning and always so great to see the smiles on these kid's faces. Our family was in charge of the gifts for 0-2 year-olds. They streamed in and out of our room for the full two hours we were there. We gave them each a wrapped book, a wrapped toy, and two stuffed animals that they got to choose themselves. Besides visiting the rooms designated for their age range, each kid was treated to all kinds of other fun surprises...candy canes, Christmas ornaments, Bibles, and lunch!
- We spent Christmas morning at the Mac house. We had breakfast followed by gift opening. We don't transport gifts on Christmas day. We opened all the gifts under the Mc's tree and saved the ones under my parent's tree for later in the day.
The boyz got old school tiddly-winks.
Ryder loved the remote control truck that Beau
picked out for him when I took him shopping.
Ryder modeling his new guitar PJs, new guitar,
and his awesome new cowboy boots!
When dad was in NYC at Thanksgiving, we discovered that
he has a weird infatuation with gnomes. Beth found
him an Aggie gnome. Can you tell he loved it?!
Shep got a xylophone. Ryder had a really hard
time letting Shep play with it first.
Ryder really struggling not to take over!
I think Shep likes it!
The boyz got a real piano! Ryder has been asking for lessons.
Beau wants to play, too!
Look at the curls on the little one!
- Later in the afternoon on Christmas, all the Mc's came over to my parent's house where we continued gift opening and had a delicious dinner courtesy of mom and I's cooking!
I gave Ryder & Beau their own digital cameras!
They were a big hit - even though the photo quality
is less than stellar.
Ryder enjoyed his lollipop, too.
Mom asked for some of these city glasses. I gave her several-
all from places we have visited together!
The boyz liked their NYC blocks (thanks, Kate for the idea!)
Brian also liked them and I think there's a good chance
they are sitting in his office now.
Ryder & Brian had fun playing with KayKay's glasses at dinner.
- The night of Christmas, we piled in the car to go see Christmas lights! Last year, I read about a retired man who goes all out with his decor and even has a train in his yard that you can ride. Awesome!
Entering the man's backyard
The train track with more decor in the middle and all around
Beau, ready to ride!
We all rode it and had a blast!!
Ryder loved it!
They even had SuperHero decor..perfect for the boyz!
- As usual, mom Beth and I went shopping the day after Christmas. My favorite day!!
Some of my loot : napkins, some that don't have to be Christmasy,
Holiday wall decor, ornaments to use next year as gift
toppers or for gift exchanges!
An awesome pie plate, some tea, some bakers twine, and
some appetizer plates. None of these have to be saved
for Christmas only...love those kinds of bargains!
A votive holder and an owl for my apartment.
And some silver ribbon for gifts!
- Of course, we did lots of other shopping during my time in Dallas. I made more than one trip to DSW and Macy's and I spent some quality time shopping the aisles of Target. Shopping in Dallas is so much easier, efficient, and enjoyable than doing it in NYC! Mom and I also hit up some smaller specialty stores we like as well as a couple of new ones she recommended. And one day, Beth, mom, and I, along with the 3 littles went all the way up to McKinney to shop. I had read about a store I wanted to check out and Beth had another one she wanted to visit. I would love to spend a whole afternoon on the McKinney square shopping, eating lunch on one of the patios of one of the cute cafes, and wine tasting at the wine shop!
- Brian made us a yummy venison chilli dinner one evening. Afterwards, the whole family played a game of "Minute to Win It", homemade by one of my mom's friends. It was actually really fun and hilarious!
It was a great, great Christmas. I had so much more family time and so much more relaxation time with the additional 5 days. It was so nice!! Can't wait for Christmas 2011!
