Our daughter, Carrie started a new job this summer after graduating from Baylor University. She is Community Affairs Officer for the Methodist Children's Home of Waco, TX. One of the realities she was told in her job interview is that employees don't take vacations during November, December and January because they are major fund-raising times for the Home.
Knowing that reality, Mom and I agreed to come to Waco for Christmas. To be honest I had never spent Christmas in a warm climate area before so I was pretty excited. Because Evie had to teach the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas, we decided to drive our SUV to Texas instead of flying like we normally do.
We got out of Sioux Falls on Tuesday afternoon and in Concordia, KS hit snow. I called my brother Tim and he checked Accuweather and indicated that there was some snow coming down (very good Tim since we were already experiencing snow!) but that it shouldn't last wrong. He was right! But the weather went from snow to freezing rain and our windshield had all it could do to fight the ice and mess as we traveled down US Highway 81 towards Salina, KS. So for about 40-50 miles (over an hour) we followed a snow plow that was putting down sand and a chemical on the road. Just past Salina the plow pulled over. I said to Evie who was driving, "That isn't a good sign when the sander pulls over!" But he actually pulled over because the temperature was starting to move above freezing and the deicer wasn't needed. We then traveled to Wichita through rain and winds. I-35 towards Oklahoma City was much better until we hit a patch of bad weather there. And then all the way through Dallas and in to Waco (almost 1,000 miles) was smooth even though we were dead dog tired. We got to Carrie and Marc's home around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. They had just gotten up and were getting ready to go to work. After Evie and I took showers, we both crashed in bed until around 12:30 p.m. when Carrie came home. We eventually met Marc at a restaurant around 2:30 p.m. for a late lunch.
That evening we enjoyed going to Dayspring Church where Carrie and Marc attend for their Christmas Eve services. When we got home, Carrie convinced her mother to fix her infamous parmesan chicken. After dinner we enjoyed giving each other our stockings. We all agreed that we probably enjoyed the stockings as much as the gift opening on Christmas day. Marc forgot he had purchased an harmonica for me so he gave that to me around 11:00 at night. I proceeded to share with my family some of the great songs I remembered like, Gobs of Grimme Gopher Gutts and Old Black Joe! It was a fun night as I serenaded my family to sleep!
Christmas morning we opened gifts (always takes about 3 hours) as Carrie insisted we do it the "Patterson" method where one has to wait their turn and open only one gift at a time so we all could see the reactions to people getting our gifts.
Later in the day we had a fantastic dinner that Marc prepared of ham (one we brought from Sioux Falls), scalloped potatoes, green beans, etc.
Saturday was a fun day as we ventured to IKEA near Austin. We promised the kids we would buy them a topper for their futon bed and the storage unit that goes under the bed. Marc and Carrie bought a very attractive storage unit for their dining area. We enjoyed a noon lunch at Rudy's Barbecue where we sat outside in the 70+ degree weather!
The weekend was great as we did a bunch of fun activities including going over to one of Carrie and Marc's friend Aaron's house where we used his outdoor fireplace to roast hot dogs and make s'mores! It was super fun!
Monday both Marc and Carrie had to go to work. We went over after Marc got off work to the place where Carrie works. We brought Sonic drinks with us and got to meet the wonderful people in her office. Carrie gave us a tour of the beautiful facility.
Monday night, we celebrated my birthday by taking everyone out for dinner at Olive Garden (one of our favorite places to eat). We went home and watched a DVD and packed to leave the next morning.
We left Waco the same time Carrie and Marc both left for work. It is always an emotional time saying goodbye because we always know it will be weeks and months until we see each other again.
Evie and I traveled back to Concordia, KS where we spent Tuesday night. We drove through Nebraska and had lunch with Evie's sister and our brother-in-law. We headed up to near Sioux City where we spent New Year's eve with the Youtzy family (they had just lost their wife and mother, Lori to cancer).
We had a fantastic time. Carrie and Marc are very gracious hosts. We hope to see them again in April. The only negative I would say about our trip was the fact that there wasn't any snow over Christmas. While it was a nice reprieve from bad weather being in Texas, it just didn't fully seem like Christmas because of the lack of snow! Spending time with family is always special. I suspect we will return next Christmas so we can spend some quality time with our kids in Texas!
Marko
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