Christmas Is Over For 2008

Christmas is over for 2008. We drove early on December 24 to spend the day with my husband Daniel's family in Benton, Louisiana. For those of you who don't know, Benton is north of Shreveport, Louisiana. My husband and I were both born Red Necks rather than being Cajuns from south Louisiana. I was in high school when someone told me that I was a Red Neck rather than Cajun. The only French that I know is the little bit that I remember from high school French class.

About 10 years ago, my sister-in-law and I got together and decided that we would take the pressure off of Daniel's mother of having to cook for all of the family gathering such as Thanksgiving and Christmas at her house. My mother-in-law is a very healthy 86 years young and we want to keep her that way as long as we can. We all love her so much. She is a wonderful matriarch for our family. We don't want her stressed out over holidays. So most years we have Thanksgiving at our house in Hot Springs, Arkansas and Christmas Eve at my sister-in-laws house. We spend Christmas Eve night at my mother-in-law's in Springhill, Louisiana. All three of us cook a portion of the meal and transport it to either my house or Janet's (my sister-in-law).

Christmas Day we get up early and drive to Mt. Pleasant, TX to spend the day with my family which consists of my family, my brother, my sister, my sister's two daughters and their families. My sister and her two daughters decide which of their houses we will meet at, usually at my youngest neice's house but not every year. This year we were at my oldest neice's house an hour closer to Dallas between Sulphur Springs and Yantis, TX.

Christmas Eve day we spend a total of 4 hours on the road. On Christmas Day, we drive 2 hours to Mt. Pleasant and then at the end of the day 3-4 hours on the road back home depending upon the number of stops we make between Mt. Pleasant and Hot Springs. We got home about 9:00 Thursday night. It usually takes 3-4 days to recover from our trips to Louisiana and Texas.

We only do this once a year, Thank God. I love my family and Daniel's but neither of us likes the road time to visit everyone. Christmas is usually the only time of the year that I see my brother. This year he has his own car so no one had to go and pick him up. He lives about two hours away near Vivian, Louisiana, north of Shreveport.

Christmas this year came with above average warm temperatures. I wasn't able to wear any of my Christmas sweaters because it was in the 60's and 70's and too warm. Today we are under a Tornado Watch and a Lake Wind Advisory Warning most of the day and evening. This storm system spreads from Houston, TX to parts of northern Louisiana, most of the state of Arkansas, parts of Missouri, and north into parts of Illinois and a few other states.

Here is a wish that all of you had a Merry Christmas and that you will have a wonderful Happy New Year and a glorious 2009
Patricia