Christmas Day 2021......Fort Worth to Dallas!

 I was up early on Christmas Day - hours before Louis Dean woke up!

I fixed the coffee, spent some quiet time reflecting on all the wonder of this Christmas Season.

I prepared the things to take to Fort Worth and wrappd the Christmas Truck painting for the Chinese Christmas Tree....then I sat sipping my coffee in my air conditioned house (it's been unseasonably warm in Texas!) until Louis Dean came shuffling into the kitchen.

If HE is up earlier, and hears me in the kitchen, he always calls out, "Do I hear a little mouse?"

That's not as cute as it used to be given my recent experiences with all things MICE!

But when I hear HIM in the kitchen, I call out, "Do I hear the shuffling of some big feet?"

His foot measures exactly 12 inches!

We did our reading and finished waking up fully before we dressed and headed to Nita and Mike's house in Fort Worth. They gift the family by hosting most family gatherings and it IS a gift and a HUGE one!

The invitation said 'Eleven-ish' since Leah and Patrick had just returned home late Christmas Eve from a wonderful cruise. We used to meet earlier - back in the day it was 8:00- as in the MORNING!

That slowly morphed into 10:00 and we really love 11:00! Of course we were late, arriving at 11:40 but we were not the last ones!

I came in and went right out to the back yard where Cousin Pam and Nick, Sabrina and Deanie were hanging out. They are all so punctual!

Here's Rayne and you can see Ricky behind her. They had such a good time playing with remote control cars and, then there's Winston, Trish and Andie's dog, and Rayne is such a dog lover!

Here we are in the kitchen......all ladies now since Andie is so grown up.

She will be off to college next year and has been excepted by four of the eight colleges she's applied and is waiting to see about the other four! She is an amazing young lady and has overcome so many obstacles! She wrote a beautiful essay and I will ask permission to share it here. She is so impressive and we are ALL so proud of her!

Two beauties!!

Leah loves make up and credits her Aunt Deanie for introducing her to that whole scene.

Deanie worked for Neiman Marcus and Origins and knows her way around cosmetics.

She did my make up the day I married Louis Dean in 2005 and taught me some things I still use today.

So here we four are!

Lonnie is doing well although he has lost the sight in his right eye but he has such a great attitude!

Not sure what we're doing here but I'm sure we are having fun!

I enjoyed Leah's cruise and traveled with her and Patrick by way of Facebook.

It was so good of her to share their experiences with all of us.

Mother and Daughter!

Michele is Lonnie's 'Lovely Bride!'

That's what he calls her.

The best host and hostess!!

No telling how many hours they put into these gatherings!

My pictures are a little out of order but I have Leah to thank for some of them - and this is one.

Every year I bring a Santa Painting for the Chinese Christmas Tree and Nita usually ends up with it.

Charlie and Lonnie at the table - which is the center of our visiting.

Leah and Patrick freshh off the ship just 24 hours earlier!

We love our Christmas Mornings together in Fort Worth.

There's our Trish there on the lower right - Deanie's daughter and she is so much fun!!

Nita and Mike opted to not do a tree in the living room this year so this one is in their back room - which is not a good way to describe it!

When they bought this house, they ripped the flooring down to the concrete and painted it.

Right before Thanksgiving Mike put in wood flooring and it is beautiful!

They have THE most interesting house!

Love the tree......

Love everything about their home!

Nita's elegant living room......

But THIS is the heart of their home!

That's Benjamin at the right end of the table!

Summer, Sabrina and Rayne were in another room.....so two of my four children were at Christmas Morning in Fort Worth.

This is a gift Deanie designed and made for Pam using pieces of jewelry inherited from Charlie's family and tiny perfumes from her own collection.

Deanie is a true artist and a great decorator.

We finished brunch and it was time to do the 'Tree.'

Anticipation!!!

We all draw mumbers and go in turn.....

I had #1.....not the best.....so Charlie offered to trade with me!

He did, indeed, go first - but then I took HIS number and went second!!

It was a fun time!

You go in turn according to your number....and when it's your turn you can take a gift from someone else or choose a new one. after two 'steals' - the gift is 'frozen' and that person keeps it!

Guess who won the Christmas Truck??

Rayne!

We had a wonderful time together and it was well into the afternoon when we left for home.

I don't know what all the others did, but I came home and went to bed!

The holidays were catching up with me.

I woke up a couple of hours later and we drove over to Dallas to have Christmas Dinner with the Bells.

Her home is all decked out and she's loving it!

On March 10th, they had a serious water break that destroyed their flooring and eventually caused all sorts of damage in the walls as they had to redo the water lines.

This all happened just over a year of when they had a water leak and had all their floors replaced downstairs. Now they had to deal with all this and so much more AGAIN!

It took from March to early December before all the repairs were done......thanks to the Arctic Freeze of 2021....where all the plumbers in the state as well as the insurance adjusters were booked up for so many months and with numerous setbacks - you don't even want to know - before Amber finally had her home back!!

No one could have handled this any better than she did but it was not easy!!

Still, she managed to keep her home as cozy and homey in the midst of the chaos as it was possible for anyone to do!

We came in and Louis Dean went into the living room to visit with Lynn (Amber's mother-in-law) and I played Exploding Kittens with the kids and Mike while Amber and Jim manned the kitchen.

Trystan showed me her new hover board.

It was wonderful to be with them on Christmas night and share some time together!

Dinner for 10!

It was delicious - I just didn't get any photos of it other than the table.

All Spode place settings complete with stemware.

Amber and Mike bought a new dining room table this year that would seat 10 and then Amber found the great small scale but perfect black chairs.

We all lingered long at the table and then there was a traditional Christmas movie to follow.....

but Louis Dean and I decided to go on home.

We are the oldest of all and the 'Tired' had come upon us.

We sat for a few minutes in the den talking about our wonderful Christmas......and all the special moments we've had together.

Then, as I was looking around the den at the 'beautiful mess' of all the Christmas wrappings....

I found a wrapped gift left unopened.....and it was for me!

Truly, the best Christmas ever!