Celebrating Christmas in the Hill Country

I'm catching up on my blogging...slowly but surely.  I've finally made it to Christmas - and before February!

We arrived in Boerne on the Wednesday before Christmas.  Every time I arrive at Mom and Dad's house, I remember how much I like it.  The Hill Country views are stunning, the house is beautiful, but I especially love how welcoming it feels.  While it was never my home, it certainly feels like home

 (the view)

 (Welcome home!)

When we arrived on Wednesday night, the house was already bustling.  Katy, Ian, Evan and Ben had arrived the day before.  Jack was so excited to have more cousins to play with!

 

The next morning, before the rest of the company arrived, we had a fun outing for the boys - Santa and Chick Fil A!  We arrived first at Bass Pro Shops, only to find a rather long wait to see the big guy.  We took a number to reserve our place in line and headed to Chick Fil A to grab some lunch.  We got Jack a kids meal and he really enjoyed it, and drank out of a straw for the first time ever!

After waiting in line back at Bass Pro Shops, Ben was very nonchalant about seeing Santa.  Evan was tentative, but excited to tell Santa what he really wanted for Christmas (a candy cane!).  Jack, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with poor Saint Nick:

(this was Jack's second visit with Santa.  The first, at daycare, didn't go much better, although we were able to distract him with a toy fire engine long enough to get a decent picture - one that I just remembered I forgot to post):

Late on Thursday night, our wearly travelers from Kansas arrived after a LONG day in the car.  Now, we had a full house!  It was so nice to have everyone together for the holiday!  We spent Christmas Eve visiting, cooking and eating, and of course, wrapping presents:

 

Great Grandma Dot brought a gingerbread house for the boys to construct.  Evan was very interested:

 Jack, on the other hand, was more interested in eating the candy decorations:

 

After baths, it was time to get ready for Santa.  The boys donned their matching PJs and settled down with Grandma to read The Night Before Christmas: 

 

What a beautiful Christmas tree!

I've never seen so many presents on a Christmas morning! We are all very lucky - not because we had so many gifts, but because we have so many people who love each other and love to make each other happy. Thanks everyone!

 Evan loved his new big-boy bike:

 And Jack was excited about his rocking horse:

 Ben wasn't all that interested in presents, but he sure looked cute:

 I'm not exactly sure how Grandma Dot always looks so good on Christmas morning!

 Blaise and his pile of presents:

 Courtney's present is bigger than she is!

We had an amazing Christmas feast, starring Dad's prime rib:

 Our Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without our British Christmas tradition, Christmas crackers.  Yes, we all put on our silly hats and took pictures!

The day after Christmas, we met John, Jennifer, Bud and Marianne Davis for lunch at Chili's.  Unfortunately, Jack decided that lunch time was his nap time, so Tommy and I took our food to go and headed home :(  We were so glad the Davises were able to come by and visit for a little while after lunch and meet Jack.  Unfortunately, we somehow didn't get any pictures.

Sunday afternoon, the boys took a trip outside to try out Evan's new bike and Jack's new tractor:

We headed back to Frisco on Monday morning after a wonderful visit.  Stay tuned for our last Christmas celebration, at our very own house!!