Holiday Highs!

Boo-Hoo! The Holidays are over. Every year I think it goes a little faster. We had a great time with our family and seeing old friends. Grace was so much fun this year because she really got into Santa and "The List". Hopie, well, she was a blast, too! The first time she saw Santa she cried, well, more like screamed and kicked and threw and all out fit because she was scared. We made a track to the mall on Christmas Eve to take "official" pictures with Santa. Hopie was so sweet. She kept saying, "I not cry! I not scared of Santa! Hopie a big girl. Sure enough, she climbed right up and smiled at Santa. It was a moment I will always treasure as a parent.

We started the Holidays the weekend before Christmas with Hunter’s Aunt Anna coming to his Mom's house to have Christmas with the girls. As usual, Aunt Anna gave them the cutest things. She always gets the girls a matching out and I was too cute, yet again! Grace's comment was "I told you it was nothin! It is just clothes!" Then, proceeded to throw the box over her shoulder.

We had Christmas Eve at both his Mom and his Dad's houses. The girls were supper excited and got wonderful things from Granddad and Lilly and Nano and Poppi. Grace was so worried about getting home in time to put out cookies and eggnog. They were so cute about which cookies and how much fudge we had to put out. Then we had to go put out the food for the reindeer. We ripped open packs of instant strawberry oatmeal (no, we had no real oatmeal) to spread on the yard for the reindeer.

Christmas morning was joy. There is no other word for it. Hope got a princess bike and Barbie Diamond Castle baby Muses and Grace got the Tinkerbelle Pixie Hallow and 4 of the fairies. Grace was very excited but could not wait for her stocking. It has always been a big deal in our house and she caught on fast. We has snowman pancakes for breakfast (which did not look much a snowman after I pulled them off the griddle). We spend the afternoon at Nano and Poppi's house with all the family. Grace and Hope truly had a wonderful Christmas. It gets better and better every year!

For New Year's, we headed to my sister's house in Benton, Arkansas. She and her husband just moved into their brand new house they built (16 yeas of marriage to get her first house). It was gorgeous and has a kitchen to die for (in our family that is a big deal)! The whole Broussard clan showed up. So, all 10 adults, 12 kids, and 4 dogs piled in and it was not crowded. I am the youngest of 4 and I am so used to the big family, I think that Hunter gets a little bit overwhelmed but he says it wasn't that bad. It was great to see everyone. We had not all been together in a year and a half when we all went to Destin. My oldest brother Ronnie and his family live in North Carolina, Ricky's family is Mesquite, and Ronda's bunch is in Arkansas. We had a great time telling old stories, laughing about our childhood memories, and watching my parents with their 12 grandkids. So now, it has been decided that we are all going on a cruise in 3 years for Christmas. Yes, all 22 of us (hopefully 23 by that time) on a boat in the Carribiean!

So, the tree and decorations are down. Hunter packed up ALL the Christmas decorations for the yard (our friends from church and Neighbors - The Blake’s) say we are the Griswold’s of the neighborhood). As we told the kids, Santa went on vacation somewhere (probably to the beach). However, be careful because you never know when Santa or Jingle the Elf is going to check in on you for next year's list! Good Times! Holiday Highs!