Day 1
We packed the car at 8:30 in the morning and headed to my OB appointment for the Ultrasound that was from my previous post. Sam's brother Jess had flown in the night before so we had 3 adults, one child, suitcases and Christmas presents crammed into Sam's little Chevy Cavalier. Let's just say, a van will be necessary before next Christmas! We arrived in Sulphur around 2:30, checked into our hotel, then met up with the rest of the Broussards for bowling and pizza.
Day 2
Christmas Eve. We woke up at the crack of dawn to make it to the Broussard house for 7:45 and Christmas present time! Because of scheduling conflicts, the usual post-Christmas Eve Mass present-opening had to be pushed as early as possible. So at 8:00am the chaos began (13 people all ripping into gifts all at the same time shouting Thank Yous across the tiny living room)!
It got so hot in there that Daniel had to be stripped down to his diaper and out of his festive pjs.
After the mess was cleaned up we began the lunch preparations. Wendy (Sam's sister and also culinary student at Nichols) and Sam's mom made a delicious dinner which was gobbled up much too quickly. Mass began at 4:00 and even though a few of the Broussards went early, there were still no seats in any pews. We had to sit in the back aisle which gave Daniel a little too much freedom during mass. He decided he would dance as much as possible and try to get as far away from us as he could any chance he could get. (It also didn't help that he had just woken up from an unusually long 3 1/2 hour nap!)
Day 3
Christmas Day. We packed our car and headed out of Sulphur by 7:15am to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to BR. The only good thing about driving on Christmas morning is that there are no cars and no cops on the road.
We made it to my parent's house just in time for breakfast. Daniel fell asleep the second we pulled in the neighborhood, so gift giving had to wait for him to wake up. He had lots of fun with his new Cozy Coupe car and wouldn't get out of it the entire time we opened gifts.
At least one thing really made him happy, because he really could care less about everything else he got that day. But it was a lovely time with my mom's parents and newlyweds, Angela and Josh, and my brother, Alex, in attendance.
At 1:30 my dad's extended family starting showing up for lunch. We had a delicious Lebanese/American dinner followed by Christmas Carols. (Imagine 20 Lebanese people sitting around singing carols, with only one page of words among them. Hilarious!)
We hung out late into the evening. Sam's sister Ruth stopped by for a visit, the only Broussard not able to make it to Sulphur, so we enjoyed seeing her.
Day 4.
Repacked the suitcases with all our clean clothes, packed the car and headed to Abbeville, south of Lafayette, for noon. We were slightly late so dinner was started without us. We had some good cajun food with all the trimmings and many more relatives to visit with (this time it was Sam's Dad's family). After dinner we let Daniel have fun outside. The property used to by a farm so there are still some pretty neat things to see.
Then we opened more presents and played an interesting game of White Elephant with Aunt Claire's castoffs! (She likes to use us to get rid of things in her house she no longer wants...this is ok if you like her taste and are a girl. Poor boys ended up with body wash and wind chimes). We spent the night at Aunt Claire's house where poor Sam had to sleep on the floor for the second night in a row, this time due to a space heater on the floor that we didn't want Daniel to get to.
Day 5
Packed the car and headed to Grand Coteau, north of Lafayette for 10:30 mass with Sam's Mom's family. We were celebrating his Grandmother's 80th birthday so all of his aunts and uncles who don't usually come to LA for the holidays were there. Mass was nice other than a cranky toddler (and this was after the cantor reminded everyone that children were more than welcome to go to the cry room...we were not in the cry room.). Then we had a 30 minute drive to a seafood restaurant East of Lafayette. Originally, I insisted that we leave to head back to NO by 4:00, but alas, we were at the restaurant until 3:30 and still had to go back to Grandma's to exchange gifts! So much for getting home early!
So another 30 minute drive back to Grand Coteau with lots of family and lots of gifts to exchange. We headed out by 5:30 to make the 2 1/2 hour drive back to our house (did i mention the car was stuffed again and we had Sam's brother with us).
Day 6
Unpacked the car!!! Woke up early and had our family's Christmas. Daniel was not in a good mood (every hard-working mother's nightmare on Christmas morning). After he was settled and calmed, we had a lovely morning opening gifts and afternoon hanging out with Jess.
Around 5:00pm we brought Jess back to the airport and collapsed!
All in all it was a wonderful Christmas with many wonderful memories. I can't promise how many more years I will agree to this type of arrangement, but at least we have lots of family who love us and want us to spend Christmas with them. Merry Christmas!!
Gosh, I am exhausted just reading that! I love Daniel's slide. Can't wait to come see it!
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