I’m back from my annual December Dallas trip to see Gina, Steve, and Luca! This is my fifth year in a row visiting mi otra familia during the second weekend of December!

Our goal: do all the Christmasy things!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

FRIDAY!

I arrived during Friday evening rush hour (oops), during a rainstorm (oops). We had dinner at my favorite Thai place there, and stopped to see a cool holiday lights display in their neighborhood on the way home. The display had the lights set up to music you could tune in to on an FM station, and the light show was themed for whatever the song was. When we got there it was playing “God Bless the U.S.A.” and the artificial cone shaped trees had soldiers, planes, and the American flag (among other things). It was neat! Those shows astound me because I have no idea how they work.

We stayed for a few songs then headed home to hang out. We had lots of late nights of chatting and catching up!

I gave Ginger her holiday Hazlemutt Latte right away!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday, we took Luca to see Santa. Their HOA puts this event on and I’m always impressed by how well done it is. They have food, crafts, story time and a sing-along with Mrs. Claus, and of course, time with the big man himself, Santa!

This year, they added contests – ugly sweater, gingerbread house, etc. – and also had drawings for prizes (they won one!), and caricatures. What a fun morning!

In the afternoon we went to “ICE! Featuring Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” at the Gaylord Texan Hotel (compound?!) in Grapevine. Every year this hotel does an exhibit featuring ice sculptures.

The exhibit had the entire Rudolph story told in several rooms. I hadn’t seen the movie since I was a kid, and didn’t remember much of it. I was quite confused when we got to the room with all the teeth (we watched the movie that night and I understand now, ha).

The exhibit is kept at 9°F (hence the matching coats they give us to keep us warm), has two million pounds of ice sculptures hand-carved by 35 artisans from Harbin, China, and has a room with six ice slides!

I couldn’t believe the accuracy in the style of the sculptures! When we walked in, I kept talking about how neat the trees were, then when we watched the movie, I saw they were done in ice exactly as they were in the movie! Impressive!

SUNDAY!

On Sunday we ran with Bob. Bob is one of their closest friends there, and I consider him a great friend, too (remember when he helped me finish Grandma’s?!). I ask for a run with Bob each time I visit, and enjoy our conversation so much.

We went to MOD Pizza for lunch (their first time! Also, I found out they just started a reward program, FYI!), and did a video chat with Steven after so he could see Luca open his gifts.

I was pretty excited to video chat our cats, I won’t lie. The cats seemed really confused about where my voice was coming from though. Poor things. Ha.

One of Luca’s gifts was Overcooked 2, and we had fun playing that together.

In the evening we went to “The 12 Days of Christmas” at the Dallas Arboretum. There were twelve Victorian style gazebos placed throughout the arboretum, each featuring an animatronic version of the twelve gifts from the “The Twelve Days of Christmas” song.

Two turtle doves

Five golden rings

The gazebos were stunning! And made me realize that while I’ve known the words and sung the song for a long time, I haven’t thought TOO much about what the gifts actually were (and I didn’t even know when the twelve days of Christmas start – apparently, on December 25th).

We enjoyed walking through the gardens and singing the day of the gazebo we were at. We all agreed that we’d like to go back in the daylight. The arboretum is right by White Rock Lake and appears to have some gorgeous vistas.

We went to Sprial Diner, a vegan (!!!) restaurant and bakery, since we were nearby. The nachos that we got as an appetizer stole the show for me!

I’m sure I wrote this the last time we went there, but it was SO overwhelming to have an entire menu to choose from. I didn’t know what to get. I went with a skillet and it was so so. The peanut butter cookie milkshake I got was fab though!

MONDAY!

On Monday Luca went to school and we went on a run, did a bit of shopping, and got lunch at Freebird World Burrito so I could try their Beyond Meat burrito. Then did a bit more shopping.

We hung out after Luca got home from school (okay, I napped for a bit on the couch), had dinner at home, then went out to see holiday lights! One neighborhood we visited was Disney themed and a lot of the houses had cut outs of the characters. Hardly anyone has holiday lights on the street I live in, and I love seeing them, so this was a lot of fun for me!

TUESDAY!

We dropped Luca off for school Tuesday morning then it was off to the airport for me, womp womp.

I’m glad I was able to have three full days there, and do fun activities, but also relax. I was really looking forward to a little escape from reality (no work, no teaching, no chores, no errands), and I got it! Gah, it’s so nice to have that every once in a while. Gina, Steve, and Luca are such great hosts, and I appreciate the effort it takes to plan all the activities and have meal ideas (at home and dining out). And to put up with a vegan, ha.

It was so nice to catch up in person and make new goofy memories to laugh at later. I wish we could see each other more often, but we do a decent job – this was the fifth time I saw Gina this year, and the fourth time I saw Gina, Steve, and Luca! And I think I always end this post saying this, but now it’s time to plan next year’s get togethers!