Rundown of the holidays

December 21st-Nick and I headed to Sugar Land when I got out of school to finish up all the last minute gifts. I was a terrible shopper this year...I went shopping lots of times, but never got much accomplished. We were supposed to go to Shiner today, but that couldn't happen since we got back to Wharton at 11:30pm.

December 22nd-My phone was dead so I had it plugged in while we packed everything up. Jamie called Nick and I answered. She asked if I had gotten her text message because they couldn't get a hold of me. Nope. She proceeded to tell me that Mr. Pfeil had died this morning. It was SHOCKING news. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Pfeil has worked with my Dad for about the past 8 years give or take. He was also the band director at SHS, therefore my teacher from 4th-9th grades. I absolutely despised band! I do not have a musical bone in my body. Therefore there were lots of times that he angered me. He's been a great friend of my Dad's for many many years. We all became very close with him over the past 8+ years that he has worked with my Dad. He was a super person. He would do anything for anyone. It was devastating to hear the news especially because I had already talked to him about singing "In Heaven There Is No Beer" at our wedding with the Hobos. I thought about Jaace right when Jamie told me the news, he was like Jaace's 2nd dad. He'd pick him up from school and take him to Tiger Tote or Maeker's for snacks since Jaace was itty-bitty. He was only 61 years old...no one knows what caused his death. He had been feeling bad, but wouldn't go to the doctor. This definitely put a damper on the holidays for our family.

We always have some sort of get together before the holidays at our house. Heck, we have a get together every weekend. We decided to go ahead with the gathering despite all the sad news. Spann's, Pavelka's, Machacek's, and Schaefer's came over for a feast of fried fish and fixins. Later on we went to Scooter's, the newest hangout in Moulton.

December 23rd-Slept late and hung out at the house until the prayer service. Santa visited our house when we got home! We got all kinds of goodies...
Nick gave me a pair of pearl earrings that I will more than likely wear on our wedding day. I got new tires for my car from Mom and Dad. Jamie gave me a Pampered Chef grill pan. Jill gave me a $100 gift card to Dillards that I bought my Christmas china with.

December 24th-Santa usually comes to our house Christmas Eve morning, but since we had a funeral this morning he had to visit us earlier. The funeral was very moving. The fire department was there since he just retired from being the fire chief. At the graveside, the Hobos were there to play a few songs. Later on we went to Mamaw and Papa's for Christmas. We didn't get to stay very long because we had an hour drive to Nada for Christmas at Nick's Grandpa and Grandma Popp. Let me tell you....that was an exciting evening. We just finished Chinese Christmas and Bonnie, Nick's cousin, scratched the lottery tickets she got. She won $2 the first ticket, $0 the second, and then I heard "HOLY SHIT." I had my camera and immediately started taking pictures because NO ONE curses around Grandpa and Grandma. I knew it was something major. Bonnie and Suzanne started going a little crazy and double checking the ticket several times. Yep, she was the winner of $50,000. It was AMAZING....so cool to be there and see it all happen. Oh, and get this....Nick's dad had the gift first, then Jake stole it from him. Nick was up in the air to steal that from Jake or Bonnie's gift. He finally stole Bonnie's and she took the gift card and lottery tickets from Jake. How crazy! Even though it would have been awesome to win, I was really glad Bonnie got it because her mom actually bought the tickets. Least it was someone in her immediate family to win. Nick, Pop, and I went to midnight mass in Hungerford and it was terrible. Next year we will be going to Holy Family in Wharton so I will be satisfied after the past 2 years of bad midnight masses.

December 25th-Christmas Day! We woke up early and had Christmas with Nick's family in Wharton where I got bunches of goodies again. Then we headed back to Shiner for Christmas lunch at Mamo's. When we done there at 5ish we came back to Wharton for Christmas dinner at the Popp's. Lots of running, but definitely worth it because we got to see everyone.

December 26th-Woke up at 4:30am and left at 4:45am to go to Houston for day after Christmas shopping! It's one of my favorite days of the year. It's just so much fun, just like Black Friday. We've done this for as far back as I can remember, it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't go. When we were little, we all would load up in the burban with Aunt Carolyn, Jenn, and Heather and shopped til we dropped. I really wish we would all do it again someday, but it's hard getting together since we are in all different directions with different schedules. We would pack tons of Barbie's and play on the way to Austin and back. This year I hit the jackpot and got the Christmas china I wanted for 1/2 off! I love it! Since I've gotten soooo many fun Christmas things this year, I've decided that we are going to have Christmas in July/housewarming party at our house. I just can't keep all the cool things packed up for a whole year!