Rewind back to our week in Dallas. After a big (immediate) family celebration, we continued the celebration the next day with even more family. In addition to the previous day's crowd, we added my Aunt Gwen, Uncle Larry and cousin Allen along with his family.
We spent the afternoon playing bunko. Apparently, I'm really terrible at rolling dice because I lost a miserable amount of times. Thanks to my cousin Moriah, I wasn't the absolute worst because she took home the "prize" for most losses at the awards ceremony. Good company while playing but I'm not left yearning to play again too soon. Maybe after I pick up a good luck charm or two. Games were followed by dinner which completed another whirlwind day of family holiday celebrations.
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| The Whole Gang Top - Mike, Reece, Marcy, Larry, Pam, Jody with Ryker, Me with Dylan, Moriah (boyfriend Scott barely visible), Nola, Allen and my Mom Bottom - Gwen, Blanche, Dad and Presley The next day was Christmas Eve and our day to travel back home. My brother, Jody, and his family were also heading out that day to head to see my sister-in-law's family. So, other than a lot of packing, we didn't have tons of time to do much other than some casual hanging out and some sad goodbyes.
Now, my brother Jamie and his family were unable to spend the week with us. However, they made a huge effort to make it to Dallas to see us. They drove overnight just to spend about 45 minutes with us before we left to the airport. They arrived as Jody's family was piling up in the car to leave and as we were finished our last minute packing. We haven't seen them or their sweet daughter Payton since April, so it was awesome to see them, even if it was for a very small amount of time. Dylan and Payton exchanged gifts and watched each other playing.
After our quick visit with Jamie's family, my parents drove us to the airport. As usual, it was emotional to say goodbye to them (especially since we haven't planned our next visit yet). With that emotion still fresh as we were waiting to board the plane, we heard cheering. Running along the terminal was a raised glass walkway that went right over our gate. On it were troops arriving home and as they passed, all the travelers waved, clapped and cheered. We, of course, joined in with the welcome home. It must have felt amazing to them to be arriving home on Christmas Eve....it was certainly awesome to welcome them on such a special day. A pretty cool ending to our Dallas Christmas! Our Christmas was not over yet. Up next, the Boston portion of our holiday. |
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