Christmas in Big D

After our celebrations in Shreveport, we headed to Dallas on Christmas Day to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. We didn't waste any time getting right down to the business of presents.

Of course, the best way to test out new presents is by tasting them.

B looks good in bows.

We were also surprised by a white Christmas! After the crazy temps of the previous days (in the 70s), it kind of came out of nowhere. It also didn't help that it wasn't in the forecast when we were packing, so even though it stayed in the 30s and 40s the rest of our trip, we didn't have anything weather-appropriate to wear.

We split our time in Dallas between my mom's house and my sister's house. Grandmozzie had a blast hanging out with B while we did important Dallas errands like heading to Ikea and going to see Les Mis. :)

 

At Auntie V and Uncle Rip's house, it was all about the toys and climbing on and off the hearth, oh, and eating amazing doughnuts and chicken biscuits from Hypnotic Donuts.

 

This is the face of a baby who knows he's doing something he shouldn't (in this case, fleeing from his changing pad mid-diaper change and then grabbing the marker board pens off the wall). But how could you get mad at that face?

My sister and brother-in-law are total foodies, like us, so we also took advantage of the free babysitting to go out to several great meals, including dinner at Dish and fondue at Scardello. Then, the whole family celebrated my little sister's birthday with brunch at Smoke. It was amazing.

I got the Smoked Ham Steak & Farm Egg Fritter and then ordered the Blueberry and Ricotta Cheese Pancakes for the table to share because, well, why not? I do not regret my decision.

While in Dallas, we also got to meet up for lunch with some of my oldest friends, Rachel (who I've known since 2nd grade) and Kelly (who I've known since 8th). Rachel has a precious new baby girl, who I hadn't gotten to meet yet, and it was so wonderful to see them and their hubbies.

 

We celebrated New Year's at home with the family by eating huge steaks and watching The Big Lebowski. It was my second viewing, and I gotta say, I definitely enjoyed it more than the first time around. I really have a wonderful family, and we are so amazingly blessed.