Since we didn't have a lot of time off for the holidays, we decided to stay in the south for the Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2005 when Owen was in basic training, he spent Thanksgiving with a family that takes in soldiers. Every year since then, we call his "Thanksgiving family" on Thanksgiving. We've always talked about how great it would be to actually spend another Thanksgiving with them. Being that we were only about a 7 hour drive and having no idea where we would be the next few years, and that it was the 10th anniversary of Owen's first Thanksgiving with them, we decided to head out to San Antonio to spend Thanksgiving with Rick and Robyn! We wanted to surprise them at first, but ended up calling them a few days before, just to make sure it would all work out. We spent the long holiday weekend with them, had Thanksgiving with their family and four soldiers, went out to their ranch, went to a craft show Robyn's daughter Reagan had a booth at, and saw the lights along the river walk. It was a really great time, thanks again to Rick and Robyn for hosting us! We hope to spend more Thanksgivings with you!
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| Thanksgiving Family - Robyn and Rick |
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| Owen spent Thanksgiving 10 years ago with both these families |
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| This year's soldiers |
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| I hope to have a Thanksgiving table like this some day |
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| It was fun to see him in uniform again |
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| Out at the ranch |
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| The Alamo |
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| River walk lights |
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| Southern "snow" - shavings from the ice rink |
For Christmas, we decided to stay here and have our very first
Christmas just the two of us. Christmas Eve we were invited to the
volunteer clinic coordinator's house to have dinner with her family. It
was a great time, we had a great meal, played games, and I brought the
red velvet cake :) Christmas Day we had a pretty quiet day, we went for
a little bike ride in the 80* weather, got a little sun, brought
cookies to the security guards at Owen's work, made his family's
Christmas dinner, and videoed with family. Leading up to Christmas, we
had some work parties, I baked tons of treats for coworkers and friends,
we went to Natchitoches with Allison and Barron for the lights
festival, and I of course decorated lots. We spent New Years in Saint
Francisville with our friend Meg and her family and neighbors, had a
bonfire and fireworks. While we missed our families, we had a great
holiday season. We will have an extra bedroom for anyone who wants to
visit for the
2016 holiday season!
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| Christmas dinner with my coworkers- love this group! |
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| Homemade ugly Christmas sweater for work party |
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| Woman's Center for Wellness Christmas party |
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| Coworker gift exchange, so sweet - I gave out fuzzy socks and baked treats |
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| Sweetest gift from a client (she's from England) |
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| Christmas in Dixie |
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| Rudolph characters (before the gifts were wrapped and under) |
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| Christmas in the south = airco and faux fireplace |
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| Christmas Day bike ride, in front of the Cajun Christmas yard decorations- alligators pulling Santa's sleig |
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| Steel Magnolia's house in Natchitoches |
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| Crawfish and Alligator lights |
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| New Year's escape to the country |
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| Owen got his first deer in December |
Since we didn't have a lot of time off for the holidays, we decided to stay in the south for the Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2005 when Owen was in basic training, he spent Thanksgiving with a family that takes in soldiers. Every year since then, we call his "Thanksgiving family" on Thanksgiving. We've always talked about how great it would be to actually spend another Thanksgiving with them. Being that we were only about a 7 hour drive and having no idea where we would be the next few years, and that it was the 10th anniversary of Owen's first Thanksgiving with them, we decided to head out to San Antonio to spend Thanksgiving with Rick and Robyn! We wanted to surprise them at first, but ended up calling them a few days before, just to make sure it would all work out. We spent the long holiday weekend with them, had Thanksgiving with their family and four soldiers, went out to their ranch, went to a craft show Robyn's daughter Reagan had a booth at, and saw the lights along the river walk. It was a really great time, thanks again to Rick and Robyn for hosting us! We hope to spend more Thanksgivings with you!
