Rudy had work in Houston, Texas. So, I went along and got to catch up with some of our friends. We dined at Six Vines with our friends Steve and Beth Lehew. It’s a great place if you like wine flights. We stayed down in Hughes Landing area, which has beautiful views and scenery. I swung by for coffee with my ole buddies Jim and Shirley. Made it just in time for my imposition of ashes for Ash Wednesday at the noon service at The Woodlands Methodist Church.

I hung out a couple of times with my friend Shannon. We always try to squeeze in as much time together as possible. We chat each week when we are apart. So it’s always so good to catch up face to face. While in The Woodlands, they were having some Monster Truck group meet up, so we saw all sorts of fancy trucks. And we got to go out to dinner with our ole neighborhood crew, Donna, Steve, Amy, Kim and Chuck (image below). We always have the best time with them. On the way home Rudy and I stopped at this statue that is called Footprints, after the famous Footprints poem about Jesus carrying you through the hard times.

We had a great time celebrating my littlest sister’s “29th” birthday! We went to her home for cake and presents. Then it was off to Strawn’s Eat Shop for lunch. It’s this dinner that has been there forever, located near Centenary College. Burgers and pie is what’s for lunch! And if you don’t have room for both, go straight for the pie, the strawberry pie. It is huge and to die for delicious!

Afterwards we went over to the Mardi Gras parade. The last one of the season. I cannot remember the name of the parade. However, my sister said she loves this one the most, as after having already ridden in previous parades, many floats will take a “last spin” for the season in this parade. It is big, family friendly, and they are out to have a good time. And so were we!

We had just the BEST Christmas this year at home.

I really didn’t think that we would get to have both of our children home, so we were so excited that they both got to come home for Christmas and then were so very happy and excited that Dean brought his girlfriend Dakota home for Christmas, too! She is precious and fit right into our family. We had the BEST time!!! I could not have asked for a better Christmas. It was so very good!

Some people have Turkey. Some people have ham. We have fondue.

Santa was good to us! Thanks, Santa!

In addition to presents and dinner, we also had some rousing games of pool, Mexican train (although there was some major competition happening!) and Mario Kart! Oh yeah!

Life is a roller coaster, full of ups and downs and cork screws and loop de loops.

Listen- get yourself someone who gets you. Someone who will ride the ride and stick it out with you. Get yourself someone like I did. Someone who loves you for you, all your craziness and faults and everything. I’m so very thankful for this guy!

We had a very Merry Christmas at Mamaw’s. We missed having Dean and Dakota with us, but they were working and we were so thankful for the time we got to spend with them. When we arrived we were happy to get to see our “little brother” Denny and his wife Angel and Cousin Tim and his son Grayson. It was so good to get to see Cindy, Corey, Wyatt, Summer & Waylon and Michelle & Saint. I love them all so very much. We had a great time. It was also good seeing my cousin Randall, cousin Sam, Uncle Randy, Aunt Clarinda, and mom’s neighbors who are like family Tanner, Beaux, and little Andi. We would have loved to have seen more, but time doesn’t always permit.

This lady right here is a Matriarch of the family and is ALWAYS on the go! I watched her wake up one morning this week and she literally woke up, stood up and started working picking up things around the room. It was amazing. She is amazing. But everyone already knows that.

On the coldest night possible, we went to the Stewart Family Christmas Light Display. They have grown to over 5 Million lights, and the guy was out buying more according to the lady in the ticket booth. It was really neat! We had fun. I think my favorite photo is the one of the guy who offered to take our photo, but accidentally took his own photo instead. 🙂

Although we were missing Rudy’s beloved mom and our group was small as everyone has jobs and work and such, we made the most of it and had a really nice Christmas Eve lunch and present exchange. I think Rudy’s dad had a nice time which was very important to all of us, especially this year. We are thankful for the moments we have.

So, did we introduce you to Agnes Sundae Bright? She’s the newest addition to our family and is fitting in perfectly. She has no teeth up top and no fingernails on the front and is a little cross eyed and can’t see real well and is skiddish and you probably will never see her when you visit, but she LOVES Rudy and wants to sleep with him every night. I do, too 🙂 And she was soo very sweet when he got the shingles all over one side of his face and kept him good company every day and night and they became very good friends. She’s chill and sweet and LOUD at night until you let her in the room to cozy up to Rudy. We are so glad she became a part of the family.

And this Christmas season included a lot of just chilling and relaxing at home, when we were not working hard with work or under the weather. Rudy out did himself with the outdoor decorations this year, which I’m so very thankful. It was so nice to come home late and see the lovely decorations. I love them and I love him. He made the most out of it, especially with all that has transpired these past couple of months. I’m so thankful for him. Rudy makes like so much better for all of us.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all the fun we had with friends this Christmas and beyond. First, I’d like to give a shout out to my neighborhood – The Shady Side! We love our neighbors! We got together one night for a progressive Christmas party. We missed a few, but had fun with those who could make it. We scored the lottery with our neighborhood friends! We are so thankful.

In addition to our neighborhood friends, we popped by and are popping by other friends and family throughout the season. Yes, we are still popping by…we believe in celebrating as long as we can! We love each of you!

Rudy and I also had the good fortune to celebrate with our companies for Christmas! Nexans AmerCable had a fun night at the MAD First Financial Music Hall. They had dinner, dancing, games and door prizes. I did not win, I’m looking at you Johnny and Patty Hemperley! They won. They always do. I called them on Christmas day to see what they won this time; it was a Keurig coffee machine. I mean if I can’t win, I guess I’m happy they did 😉 There also was a 360 photo machine. That was fun. Rudy and I did it. The photo turned out funny! I’m not sure if i was made for 360 degree photos, much less 2-D photos. But it was fun to try.

I had a great time at my company PJ party! Murphy Pitard Jewelry is a sweet family of friends! Thanks to Lauren Smart to hosting and to all the ladies for bringing such good food! These ladies are not only beautiful, sweet and caring, but each of them can cook and bake like nobody’s business! It was delicious! And Amanda was so great to provide a $50 gift card to various local businesses, so that everyone took home a prize! I won a gift card to Sports Alley!!! And then we traded our Secret Santa gifts! I’ve worn my cozy socks out! I love them! I also got a gift card to the Olde Towne Store! I love that place and get lunch there often, especially the avocado and cheese sandwich. Yum!

We also had a great time at the Christmas Eve party at our friends Mary Pat and Aubra’s house. The food was delicious and it was so fun seeing so many of our friends. A great evening to a good month.

Daisy, Rudy and I traveled to Savannah, GA to visit SCAD, Savannah College of Art & Design the first weekend of December. Daisy is considering going to graduate school there. She loved what she saw of the campus and the town. I unfortunately got ill on the trip and missed a lot, thus the sparse number of photos, however Rudy and Daisy had a great time and saw lots of fun stuff that Savannah has to offer. I did get full use of the bed at the place we stayed, which is a fantastic place: The Eliza Thompson House.

Eliza Thompson House

SCAD

Well, this Thanksgiving was so very difficult as we lost Rudy’s beloved mother Betty. He loved her so very much and she loved him greatly. She had been struggling with her Diabetes Type 1 all year with many episodes and trips to the hospital and doctor. After a horrible night and a life flight to Little Rock and a week in ICU, she passed away. We appreciate the folks at Young’s Funeral Home, Morgan Florist, her beloved church First Baptist Church of Smackover whom she spoke of daily, and Reverend Carley for performing the funeral. We also appreciate all her family and friends, all of which she loved so dearly. Thank you. She is missed greatly and will continue to be missed.