Christmas in Houston

One thing about living away from family... traveling at the holidays.  On the one hand, it makes the holidays extra special because we get to see all of the family.  On the other hand, it makes the holidays really busy because we go to see all of the family.

This year, we also spent some time at Moody Gardens.  Jeremy had found a really great deal on livingsocial.com for two nights and two days at Moody Gardens and so we drove there Wednesday immediately after work.

We arrived just in time to see the Festival of Lights.

I wasn't sure what to expect.  It turned out to be more or less exactly like Nature in Lights, only you walk around Moody Gardens instead of driving around BLORA.

The next day, we took in the Rainforest Pyramid, fully renovated from the Hurricane Ike damage.

I didn't realize that they had added river otters to the Rainforest Pyramid.  I love otters!

We also went back to the Aquarium Pyramid, but only Sydney and Jeremy got to really see it as John was ready for his nap pretty much as soon as we arrived.  So John and I left to go see an IMAX to unwind and then to the hotel to nap while Jeremy and Sydney scoured the Aquarium with the passport book looking for stamp stations.  Sydney found all but one and was very proud of herself.

After the Aquarium, Jeremy and Sydney went on the Colonel, the paddleboat at Moody Gardens.

I was not sorry to miss the trip out to sea, but I was sorry that John didn't get to go.  Maybe next time.

That pretty much wrapped up our day at Moody Gardens.  We left from there to go grab some seafood... Jeremy's main reason for coming to the island.

Then we went to my mom's house for Christmas with her side of the family.

The kids got many, many wonderful gifts.  Sydney's favorite, though, was her new Barbie and boy Barbie.

After her birthday (when she was actively conning kids into getting her Barbies and having fellow preschoolers quizzing us on our position on Barbie), I decided that our official stance was that we are not buying Barbie but she can have them if she can get other people to buy them.  My mom is "other people."  (It turned out that Aunt Gerri is also "other people" and she laughed and laughed when Sydney told her the rule as she opened her gift.)

It was nice to have time over at my mom's.  I enjoyed seeing all of the family and I know the kids enjoyed all of the time with their cousins.

The following day, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel with Gram and then we went to the Lone Star Flight Museum.

We then had about half an hour to fill before lunch, so we went back over to the Moody Gardens grounds to the playground.

Gram and Sydney played and then Jeremy, Sydney and John had a slide race.

Daddy won.

Then we went to The Spot on the seawall and had lunch with Aunt Dani, Uncle Mark, Myles and Aunt Kathi.

Dani and I had worked out a painting exchange, and I knew that Aunt Kathi wanted a "Rebecca original" so we all got art work for Christmas.

Sydney got some hand bells from the Gonzelez's and a special Raggey Ann from Aunt Kathi.

From the Spot, we went over to Nana's where Jeremy and Gram cooked a delicious Christmas dinner of meatballs and tomato sauce (there was pasta, too, but I didn't bother with anything that might take precious space away from the meatballs) and then Aunt Gerri came over with baked ziti and lemon pie.

The kids got many more wonderful gifts from the Roberts side of the family.  Sydney's big gift (aside from the Barbie from Aunt Gerri) was a castle from Gram and Nana.

It was a really nice evening of just hanging out, watching the kids open presents (opening some presents ourselves) and just visiting.

I know we packed a lot into three days (well, really, one evening and then two days) but it was so worth it to get to see all of the extended family and then be home in time to have Christmas Eve in Georgetown.