Weekly Wrapup

 We had a good weekend...lots of rainy weather, but some special family traditions in the mix too.  It seems like this December has flown by, and we just realized Grace will be going back to college in exactly one month.  We are enjoying this extended Christmas break with her at home.  Everything is just more fun with all four of us here!

We watched a few of the holiday movies on our bucket list.  Can you name this one?

I got together with the London Ladies for our monthly lunch.

This time we also celebrated Celeste's 50th birthday.  We always have a gift for the milestone birthdays.  This will be the last for a few years. There are two friends still in their 40's, so their big 5-0 won't come for 4 and 8 years from now!

Our house, like many here in Texas, was just not built for cold weather.  High ceilings and open spaces make it hard to keep warm!  So on chilly nights, we're often cuddled up under blankets.  I climbed in too while we watched a tv show.  As usual, Albie makes himself at home.

In big news this weekend, we bought a new car!  Ever since we bought the Tundra after Hurricane Harvey, we've felt like it was just too big for what we needed.  At the time, we were making about 1,000 decisions a day as we coordinated housing, remediation, and reconstruction.  The Tundra wouldn't fit in the garage, and we were constantly shuffling cars in our short driveway.

Anyway, after years of regretting that purchase, we decided to test drive the Tacoma.  This is the truck Michael had before the flood, and he fell in love with it again.  It was almost an even trade, and I know he will enjoy this smaller truck.  And it fits in the garage!

We took the brand new truck out for our Jammy Coacoa tradition.  This year we didn't wear pajamas, and we stopped at Whataburger for a shake.  

We drank it in-store so we wouldn't risk spilling it in the new truck!  

The kids decorated a gingerbread house.  The house screamed 2020! because the white icing was too liquid to hold the decorations.  They kept sliding off.  This is the same Costco house I always buy, but I guess something happened to it.  Oh well, they had a few laughs!

Jack finished up his fall semester, and I think he is relieved to be out of school for a few weeks.  We are thankful he can go to in-person classes, but I still think all the mask-wearing and zoom sessions during classtime is stressful.  (The teachers are teaching their virtual students at the same time as the in-person class.)  We're glad he has a little break!

And of course, we're so thankful to spend such a long break with Grace.  It makes me happy to have everyone at home!