Christmas Part Deux

More Christmas presents to open at Mom and Dad Layburn's house! This time there was the added benefit of having a 2 year old around to tear through wrapping paper which is always fun to watch.


It was so great to have the whole family together. My parents' new house is gorgeous and we enjoyed spending the days with the girls shopping and the boys golfing and then the nights eating delicious food and, of course, sipping on fabulous margaritas!

Opening presents is fun! ...

But eventually we all get tired! ;)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

This year has been a bit of a whirlwind so Christmas has snuck up on Brad and I a bit. We didn’t have a chance to decorate the new house or even get all of our Christmas shopping done until the (very) last minute. But none of that mattered once Christmas came around.

We spent nearly a week outside of Austin, TX with Brad’s family. As always, there was a ton of food and a ton of fun. Myself, Brad, his parents, brother Todd, Uncle Tom and grandmother Patsy all celebrated together. We had a great time and the week seemed to just fly by.

The house was beautifully decorated and we feasted on Le Anne’s fantastic cooking for our Christmas feast (including my special request of cranberry sauce “with the lines still on” – in other words, straight from the can! My mom is still abhorred that when my mother-in-law asked what special Christmas tradition/food did I want, that cranberry sauce from the can was my request, but its just SO good! ;)

I know that Christmas is about spending time with the ones that you love and we certainly did that. But the piles of Christmas gifts sure were fun to open!

I also think it’s funny to note that we played card games one night and while playing a particularly heated game, Brad ended up making a play that caused Patsy to lose the hand. So his 82 year old, sweet-as-can-be grandmother, turned to him and called him “satchel-ass”. We’re still not sure what that means but it was hysterical and Brad will forever be called Satchel. Get used to it buddy, it ain’t going away!

Airports are fascinating

I love people watching. I used to think the mall was the best place for it but now I'm leaning towards airports. In the last week, I have spent quality time in the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Tampa, Washington-Dulles and Atlanta airports and have to say that people are just flat out ridiculous.

Makes me thank my lucky stars that my parents and Brad's parents raised us to be polite (most of the time, we try!) human beings. I can't say the same about everyone else out there.

And - most likely to both of our parents' dismay - airports are also a great form of birth control. The child that is currently screaming bloody murder, flailing on the floor and (oh!) being smacked (hard!) by his mom right in front of me is making sure of that ;)