James and I traveled to Midland for Christmas this year. We stayed at his parent’s house and had a really nice holiday.
We arrived too late on Christmas Eve to go to church with James’ parents so we went to “midnight” mass with my parents. Christmas Day, we had a nice lunch with just my parents and us, followed by a visit to the nursing home to chat with my Grandma and have some cake my Mom had baked and brought. It was not one of my grandmother’s good days. Alzheimer’s is such a sad disease.
Grandma and Dad
On Friday, we had dinner with Randy, James’ good friend since they were little bitty and who served as James’ best man at our wedding. Afterward, we went to the movies, which is quite expensive compared to Austin. Since Midland only has only one movie theater, I guess they can charge whatever they want. We saw The Spirit and I don’t recommend anyone go see it. It is based on a comic by Will Eisner and was one of the weirdest, and not in a good way, movies I have ever seen.
On Saturday, we had Christmas dinner with James’ family and opened gifts afterward. There were nine of us: James and I, his parents, his Granny and Pawpaw, his sister and her boyfriend and our nephew Dawson, who spent the first half of his Christmas vacation with his father’s side of the family and did not get home until Friday. Next year, Tami, James’ sister, will get to have Dawson at home the first half of Christmas vacation. James’ grandparents were really surprised by the digital picture frame we all pitched in together and got them. I had pre-loaded it with a bunch of pictures. The pictures ranged from when Dawson was a small tyke of two in 2002 when I first got a digital camera to a couple of pictures of James and the two of us on our November trip to French Polynesia (of which a post is forthcoming).
Dawson Opening his Wii
James and Dad
Granny and Pawpaw
James, Tami and Mom
We left Sunday after meeting the whole gang for lunch at McAlister’s Deli.