Tennessee Christmas

We decided to spend Christmas in Tennessee this year, much to my mother's chagrin... But I'm sure she's over it by now =).
Either way, we made the 13 hour drive on Thursday with surprising ease considering the energy levels of the toddler we tend to carry around with us. Whoever created the portable DVD player MUST have been a parent, but regardless he or she is a genius. Thanks to several rounds of Little Einsteins, Monsters Inc, and PraiseBaby we had a nearly tear-less, fuss-less drive!! Of course I have to say, no matter how thankful I am for the entertainment provided, there is something a little off-putting about seeing your toddler's glazed eyes and hanging jaw in the blue light of the TV screen!

We finally got to TN around 4:30 am and my little girl, despite being completely exhausted could not shake herself from the crazy blinking tree and crazy barking puppies. She was literally shaking from the combination of excitement, delirium and exhaustion. So I stayed up with her until about 9am till we were both passing out... Niles parents weren't going to be in town until the next day, so Grayson, Niles and I went to the mall (God forbid!) where they promptly decided to lose Reese as I was shopping! They were "watching" her while she played in one of those big foam-type play centers and next thing I know, as I'm walking back to get all of them, this strange woman walks up to me, angrily I might add, holding my daughter! In a shrill voice, with darts coming out of her eyes and steam blowing out her ears - wearing a shirt that said Jesus is the Reason for the Season (i'm exaggerating) - she asks me, "Is THIS YOUR CHILD?!?!". Quickly I grab my "rescued" daughter, close my phone whilst hanging up on my brother, and start yelling "Niles. Niles. Niles." - trying to act like I can't feel the judgment oozing out of Psycho Soccer Mom's pores. Niles and Grayson said they had been watching her closely, but she has the speed of a panther and dashed away before their very (dim) eyes.
Here is Reese, pre-panther-speed-display...
(with clearly no idea she is about to enter the scary jungle of the joyous Christmas shopping experience alone)


We ate at Abuelo's afterwards, drinking away our memories of nearly losing our daughter/niece in a couple rounds of Blue Moon beer. Later that night, Gray's friend Mark came over. We love him. He simultaneously drank a beer, talked about Mac computers with Niles, watched the Mavs game, and carried on a conversation about Lauren Conrad and The Hills with me. My kind of man!!! =) (P.S. Jackie, the Mavericks won on Friday. Just thought you would want to know!)

Saturday, waiting for Niles' parents to get in town, we went a played some tennis at the nearby park and took turns taking Reese out to the playground. Tennis is so much fun!!! It was ten times better working out by taking your aggression out on a bouncing ball than trying to run on a treadmill. With the exception of a few balls I hit out of the court and onto the street, I didn't play too poorly either, which was greatly satisfying to my highly competitive, lowly athletic personality. Reese had fun too, scraping a ball along the court with her racket.

Pure professional form here





The folks came in Saturday and we went, of course, to Cracker Barrel. Haven came in Sunday afternoon and we went again to Abuelos, where the Worst Service Ever competition must have been taking place... and our server WON!!! It was by far the worst service ever given to one group of people in the history of bad service. Not only did she forget to put our order in until about 30 minutes after we placed it, she never put my order in, and she never even regarded the fact that she had made a mistake. NOTE TO SERVERS OUT THERE EVERYWHERE: never, never, never, never pretend that you have no idea why our food would be taking so long and damn, that kitchen is so slow. NEVER. It's a bad, bad, tired act and makes you look irresponsible and just plain rude! Anyways, we had gotten to the restaurant at 1:30, and got home at 4. Need I say more?!?!

Since I forgot to blog about MY family's annual trip to the Galleria, here are a couple videos from that night, and then the video of Reese at the playground in TN.





Merry Christmas!!!!!