White Christmas

 

I lamented last year around Christmastime that Texas isn’t exactly the most “idyllic” of settings for Winter positioned holidays.   Now, you all know I’ve never really been one to let a silly thing like scorching hot temperatures keep me from expressing my holiday cheer and have oft been found with enough saltwater seeping from my pores to float a mid-sized barge but, damnit, it’s December and you can pry that soggy paisley scarf from around my neck only AFTER I’ve passed out from severe dehydration (and even then there might be some lingering synapses, so perhaps the “cold, dead hands” metaphor is a bit more apropos) [long sentence much?].  I’m also pretty sure my good friend, Television, agrees with me:

Modern Family’s Cam and Jay (my favorite plutonic May/December relationship) from the 2011 Christmas episode

 

 

from The New Adventures of Old Christine

This year there really wasn’t much to complain about because it was quite chilly (proportionally) and there was a fire in full blaze when I got to uncle Sid’s house in Lufkin. My fraternal grandparents had driven down from Midland and mom and dad had come over from Crockett for the festivities. I kinda took the day off from taking any pictures so Sid was kind enough to send me a couple of family shots!

 

 

Pheobe, Sid, Catherine, Liz, Hannah

 

 

Grandmother, Granddad, Mom, Dad and I

 

The cousins!!

 

Artist: Barbra Streisand / Album: A Christmas Album

Family Man

 

After our 12 hour bus ride from Germany to Paris and the 9 hour plane ride to Chicago I still had one more flight to catch until I was truly back in the homeland—Texas, that is.  My brother, Matt, picked me up at the airport in Dallas and I spent the night at his house.

BENJAMIN!!!! (Making his blog debut)

The next morning all of us headed off to Kilgore for my granddaddy Dan’s 85th birthday partay!! My mom and aunt Brynda had been spending mucho tiempo getting all of the guest list, food, decorations etc. together and with over 150 guests it was no small task!  Bonus: It was held at Bodacious Bar-B-Q and I was able to get my first bbq fix for quite a while!

DE-LECKER!!!

 

One of the most amazing things about the party was that there were soooo many pictures of the birthday boy and his family and friends scattered about. Additionally, many of the tables had facts about the different decades in which Dan has lived.

Ah the ‘70’s… I remember them well!

 

A view of about 1/3 of the room.  (Also, I’m pretty sure the collective age of the group as a whole would overwhelm even the most advanced of computer processors!)

 

But what’s a birthday party without a cake, am I right?  Nancy and Brynda didn’t disappoint either with this three-tiered hunk of chocolate deliciousness.

Can we also notice how well the candy flowers on top match the ones on the tables.  Classy touch, Ballenger gals!

 

Mom and Brynda doin’ some cake cuttin’! (Two days back in Texas and I’m already abbreviatin’ my endings)

 

In addition to our two national flags—Texas and U.S.—there were also oil derricks (Kilgore was a huge oil town back in the day) and all of the colleges that Dan helped support over the years.  Naturally I cherry picked the Baylor and University of Michigan ones.  You know what that makes me?… … …

A BUM!!  An educated bum, but a bum nonetheless.

 

I’m not quite sure how he got a hold of it but Luke decided to change his allegiance from Texas A & M to the old maize and blue. 

 

One certain pair of pictures was displayed prominently on the “family” board:  The top one was taken at an airport when we were all younger and then the bottom was an attempt to re-create the first when we all went to London/Paris to celebrate Joyce and Dan’s 50th wedding anniversary!

 

The next morning at brunch we couldn’t help but take another group shot seeing as it has been well over 10 years since the last one! (With Joanie and the great grandkids thrown in for good measure!)

 

Before leaving the party everyone was asked to sign one of two pictures of Dan as a child… here they are!

 

HAPPY 85th GRANDDADDY DAN!

 

Artist: James Taylor  /Album: In the Pocket

PS: While we’re celebrating numerical milestones… this week I passed 20,000 views.  THANKS EVERYONE!!

Sam, You Made the Pants Too Long

As every good Texan knows, there are a handful of historic figures every seventh grader learns about in Texas History: Davy Crockett (a shout out to my home town), Steven F. Austin (the “F” is important.  Someone in Michigan once said to me—oh, there is a Stephen Austin university in Texas—and I had nooooo idea who the hell they were talking about), and James Bowie (of the knife fame).  However, one towers high above them all… at least physically. 

Located on Interstate 45 right outside of Huntsville, TX is a giiiiinormous statue of the first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston.  I have passed that statue innumerous times and to my recollection have never actually stopped and gone over to see it.  It’s one of those “oh, I’ll do it some day” type situations, and the other day I passed it and figured that I had a couple of minutes to spare and it would be that day.

A very well kept path to the statue

For any of you who think I have a big head… exhibit A

These are probably poisonous? I probably should have paid more attention to Professor Sprouts Herbology lessons in the Harry Potter books movies.

Get it little Texas hero!

In cast you nerds out there wanted a little historical information

I remember a couple of years ago there was a big “to do” in Crockett because the sculptor who made the Sam Houston statue was rumored to possibly be doing it outside of our little town.  However, I think he ended up doing it in Crockett County, which happens to be in the middle of now where (as opposed to the slightly left of no where where I grew up).

And for a little bit of furniture trivia... we have a sofa in our house in Crockett that belonged to Sam Houston's granddaughter.  Basically what I am saying is that we have a piece of Texas royalty, probably on par with a Louis the XIVV chaise or something.