Christmas 2010

Friday, December 24

I woke up relatively early and got dressed.  I wanted to visit my friend Stephanie at her place of work (Ann Taylor LOFT).  However, it was raining outside and I was unsure if the Buick could handle the weather.  So I asked my sister if I could take her car.  She replied yes but was busy making 5,000 cookies.  She made homemade chocolate chip and M&M cookies.  I gained 20 pounds while I was at home.

I made my way to the LOFT off of Mockingbird but traffic was a mess.  It took me a while to find parking. I made my way into the LOFT to find it surprisingly not busy for Christmas Eve.  Well better for me because they were having a sale!  So I bought my sister a sweater and treated myself to a few items.  I went to the dressing room where I tried on various garments and loved everything I tried on.  I then tried to exit the dressing room but got stuck.  Couldn't get out.  No one else is in the dressing room.  Should I scream for Stephanie?  No, that's inappropriate.  So I stood there for a while in panic mode.  After a bit, I just flung myself into the door and it opened.  I casually walked it off.

I left the LOFT for my sister's.  My dad should be there by now!  I could NOT be more excited to see my best friend.  When I had a meltdown Monday, he was the first person I called.  I can tell him everything and he kindly listens and gives me advice.  I am so thankful for him.  Even though he is an IRS mess.

I get home to find my dad riffling through the refrigerator.  I said "Hey hoe" and gave him a big bear hug.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out.  I wrapped presents as I filled my dad in on my crazy past week.  He goes, "You've been busy".  

After a couple hours, we got ready to head over to Fort Worth to meet my aunt and uncle at Caro's.  My uncle Jerry is my dad's brother and his beautiful wife Joan is an amazing woman.  They are so supportive and constantly say how proud of me they are.  It really makes a person feel good to hear that.

We made it to Caro's early.  If you live in DFW area and have never been to Caro's, GO.  It is old school Mexican food which means heavy on the grease and cheese.  But I love it.  It's off Bluebonnet Circle near the TCU campus.  When you go, give a shoutout to John for me!  We got our table and proceeded to chow down on tostados.   Yum.  Oh, how I've missed you tostados.  We set up Cate's station which consisted of my sisters computer that plays videos on it.  Gotta keep this wild child occupied.  I decided it was a good time to take glamour shots.

Me and the Dad.  Crazy Bastard.

If you have never met my dad and are curious to know why I am the way that I am.

Take a minute to chat with this guy.  Then you'll understand.

John took this photo of the family.  Notice how Cate is trying to get away.

I called her a 'dildo' most of the time that I was at home.

Lynn wasn't a fan of it.

Two women and a Baby.

Not too long after this, my aunt and uncle arrived.  My Aunt Joan has a lot of medical problems but as always, she looked stunning.  Joan gave Cate her gift and Cate quickly demolished it.  Joan also still buys Lynn & I presents which is so sweet but completely unnecessary!  She got us a silver bracelet with the Lord's Prayer on it.  I need some prayer in my life these days.

We ordered food and all had our alcoholic drinks ready.  I caught them up on my life in Philadelphia.  They were excited for me.  My Aunt Joan asked me, like she does every time she sees me, if I was dating anyone.  My dad proceeded to look at me with this funny face and laugh loudly.  Thanks dad. 

During this whole conversation, Cate was loose out in the restaurant.  John is so nice to let her do that.  She was in the kitchen hanging out.  Literally.

She looked like a Where's Waldo Santa Elf on crack. Oh, the Holidays.

It was an amazing dinner as we said our goodbyes.  We headed back to Dallas.  Warner (my brother-in-law) and his mother had been out shopping all day.  Oh, boy.  We arrived at the house to find them wrapping tons of stuff.  Looked like they did some damage.  I finished wrapping my few gifts and tried to get situated on the couch.  

However, with Cate staying up until early in the morning and Warner's mother acting as Santa - they were up until 4 or 5 am in the morning.  Making lots of noise.  So I twisted and turned on the couch in agony.  I couldn't sleep with my dad because he is a loud snorer.  So I slept miserably.  Then around 5:30am, my sister decided to go into the kitchen and throw pots and pans around.  I wanted to put the Buick in neutral and lay in front of it.

Saturday, December 25

Christmas morning finally came.  Lynn woke up Cate to get her up to notice that Santa had come.  However, being 2 years old, she really doesn't understand Santa and Christmas quite yet.  So she just looked around in a daze.  We ate our Christmas meal.  It was our usual Thanksgiving meal but I insisted that my sister make it since I missed out on Texas Thanksgiving this year.  So I got to have my turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, and homemade bread.  BOMB.  

We decided to open presents.  Of course Cate was the main attraction.  I'm no longer the baby anymore. WAHHHHHHHHHH

These are Cate's toys before Christmas:

So she should never be bored.

Out of all the presents she got, she was most excited about getting candy.

She received lots of books.  She knows all the facial features, some of the alphabet and most colors.  She is one smart 2 year old.  Notice Warner in the background holding 1 out of 2 babies she received for Christmas.  Yes, she has a mini-stroller.  The whole thing is bizarre.

I got Cate two DVDs.  I wanted to get her disney movies but they are so expensive.  I found Sleeping Beauty for a reasonable price so I got her that and Homeward Bound.  But this was her opening the gift I got for her from FAO Schwatz.  It's a Poley of her very own!

Poley #1

And Poley #2.  She LOVED him!  YAY!

Dad got her those funny shoes.  She walked around in them most of the day. Notice how she is only fixated on the candy.  She could give two shits about anything else.

Candy Crack Coma

ANOTHER baby she got.  This one says stuff and you can feed it a 'bottle'.  

If it pee's or poops, I'm out.

Now it was time for the main event.  Warner had got her 150 small different colored balls and he was going to dump it on her.  

She is throwing out the tissue paper.

She got ball dumped on and was initially slightly confused.

But then she became extremely excited.

Great, now she has a 150 balls to strategically place around the house.

Nice one dad.

And that is why I'm the Aunt.

Father and Daughter in their respective onesies.  Yes, my brother-in-law got a onesie for Christmas years ago.  He would wear it 24/7 if he could.  He's 37.

Now it was pie time.  Each of us had some of my sisters amazing Chocolate Mouse pie.  Every year, my sister and dad make the joke about how to not take the pie to the guest bedroom by myself.  It all stemmed from years ago, when I was in elementary school and we were having Thanksgiving at my grandmother's apartment.  I decided it would be a good idea to take the pie back into my grandmother's bedroom so I could have some alone time with it.  Well alone time turned into me demolishing the whole pie by myself.  So no one else got a piece that year.  You do something ONE TIME and people never let you forget about it.  I LIKE CHOCOLATE PIE, BACK OFF OF ME.

We spent the rest of the day watching movies.  We watched two of the DVDs that my sister had got me for Christmas.  We watched Salt first then The Town which I had already seen.  Mainly because I love Ben Affleck (anyone remember my Middle School obsession??) and Boston accents.  I was in heaven.  Then we watched Pecker because I had never seen it.  It is a John Waters film (think Cry Baby or Serial Mom).  Then we closed out the day with Avatar because my dad had never seen it.  My sister and her husband compared it to Dances with Wolves.  Interesting.

I told anyone that touched the rest of the pie was immediately a dead man.

DESTROYED.

After this, the conversation turned into something random.  All I remember is that my sister called my dad "the biggest whore she knows".  This was his reaction:

He's shocked.  Yet not surprised.  Cause he is a whore.

That's my dad.

After everyone had gone to sleep, I spent the rest of the evening watching television.  God I miss cable.

Sunday, December 26

Today was Stepp Family Christmas 2010!  I could not of been more excited!  Dad and I headed over to Colleyville to Shelley & Mark's mansion around noon.  We all said our hello's as I headed to the tree to put my crappy gift under it.  Apparently someone (Susan) had gone a little shop happy for her first grandchild because there were gifts EVERYWHERE.

After visiting, it was lunch time.  We all gathered around the table when I was magically seated at the head of the table.  How the hell did that happen?  James said it was because I was supposed to be the conversation starter.  So I simply said why I usually say in clutch situations, "How 'bout them Cowboys?"

The dinner was amazing and I quickly got full.  Shayla & I helped with cleanup duty.  After we had dessert, it was Christmas gift time.

I got some really cool stuff like books about President Ford & Adams to have when I start my reading of biographies of every U.S. president (if anyone has any recommendations - let me know).  I also got a book about Martin Luther King, Jr. that I'm excited to read.  Shawnna gave us our calendar for the year which I am always super pumped about.  It was a really great Stepp Family Christmas.  However, towards the end I received a text from Katy to check my flight because hers was canceled.  I realized while I was having a blast in Texas, that there was a blizzard happening in the Northeast.  Whoops.

I checked my flights.  My flight from DFW to Atlanta was on time but my flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia was canceled.  Katy told me they would not let her fly until Wednesday.  I tried calling Delta but there automated system simply said "Due to weather difficulties, we are having problems.  Call back later".  Um ok, that's a lot of help.

Dad and I said our goodbyes and hit the road.  I drove to south Fort Worth to visit my grandmother while dad drove back to Dallas to my sisters.  By the time I got to the rehab facility, my mother had already left.  It was a quick visit with my grandmother because she basically told me to leave.  

Ok Grand, Merry Christmas.

One of my Chili's friends Lauren wanted to meet up for drinks because that was the only time she could do it when I was in town.  So we headed back to our home base, Chili's Fossil Creek, for drinks.  When I got there, old regulars Mark and Josie were there.  I sat with them as we caught up about life.  Lauren finally arrived as Mark bought us shots.  This could be a long night...

After Chili's, Lauren & I headed to Dublin's (her favorite place) with Yajaera and Aaron.  It was great sitting with old friends and catching up.  Yajaera and Aaron left for a house party and left Lauren & I to close Dublin's down.  So we did.

There are bits and pieces that I remember about that night.  I remember these dudes at another table hitting on us.  I told one of them to go away in more or less words.  At around 2, we called it a night.  I headed back to my mothers thinking the whole time that my flight was canceled.  I wasn't going to get on a plane to Atlanta to just get stuck there.  So I went to bed worry free.  Or so I thought...

"Buzz!  Your girlfriend!  WOOF!"

-Kevin McCallister played by Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone