Stephens' Stories: Christmas in Houston

Here is our Christmas post...better late than never! Being our first Christmas in 4 years not to travel to see family, it was nice just to stay here. Plus we moved into our new house on 12/28, so we enjoyed our last few nights staying with mom/Stacy for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, the three of us went to the 3pm kids service at MDUMC (the church we were involved with in high school). The church we have started going to here in Houston (Bayou City Fellowship) did not have an actual Christmas eve service because they had it on the Sunday before. We decided to go to the kids service so that Austin could go with us and it would be accepted for kids to make noise and not pay attention. He enjoyed taking the crayons in and out of the box during most of the service. After that, we met David's family (mom/dad, sister and fam) for an early dinner at La Hacienda, David's favorite, to say the least, Mexican restaurant. After that, we headed home to put Austin to sleep. My family went to a later church service and a late dinner (read: not kid-friendly). On Christmas morning, we had breakfast and opened gifts from mom/Stacy and Santa. Annabelle, Allison and David came over too. It was fun seeing Annabelle and Austin open gifts and play together with their new Cozy Coupes. We had yummy cheese grits (tradition in my family), cinnamon rolls, fruit, and egg casserole. Around 11:30 we headed the 5 minutes away to David's mom/dad's for Christmas with them and his sister's family. His family opens 1 gift at a time so it is quite the activity. Since Austin had an early morning nap, he was able to enjoy opening some gifts (i.e. playing with boxes and wrapping paper) before napping. Austin got a new arm chair - he loves it since it has a very soft fabric cover! He also got a tub of legos - loves these! He got a backpack with a lion and his name on it, amongst many other gifts. He loved watching his older cousins open and play with their new toys. Summer is especially sweet to Austin. It's cute! Later that afternoon/evening, we headed back to my mom's house for Christmas with the Cumbie clan (my mom's side). Ricki made spaghetti casserole for dinner and we did a gift exchange. Austin went to bed during the festivities, but did get to play some with his cousins and great-aunts/uncles. The following night (the 26th) we had a Christmas dinner with the Hendrix family (Carrie, Ellen and families) that live in Houston. Austin enjoyed the "plastic" cabinet at Carrie's house (tupperware, plastic cups, and even plastic ice cubes). Here are a bunch of pictures from the couple of days. We are thankful for family and for being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I hope that Austin can come to know "baby Jesus" and always remember why we have this special holiday.