by Rebecca on 2007-12-27
William and I were lucky in that we got to celebrate Christmas twice this year — once in Waco, and once in New Braunfels. Each is worthy of a separate blog entry, I think.
On Saturday morning, William and I left Austin for Waco, arriving around lunch time. The Jacksons had already opened all of their Christmas presents, probably to satisfy Mark and Matthewʼs impatience. (The Jacksons were driving to Utah on Christmas day, so they decided to celebrate Christmas a few days before the rest of the Christian world. Very smart!) Because they had already opened their presents, they were more than eager to watch us open ours, Matthew especially. We got a lot of nice gifts, including Clue, a box of homemade peanut brittle and fudge, and a crocheted “Jackson” that weʼll hang up in our living room. I even had my own stocking, complete with an orange (just like William had promised) and chocolate candy.
As a family, we went to see a matinee showing of National Treasure 2. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I will warn those of you who havenʼt seen it that you should not try to think too hard about the movieʼs plot. (I looked for my friend Janae, who was an extra in the movie, but I didnʼt see her or the weird Russian spy that she met on the set.) When we came out of the theater, we discovered that a cold front had blown in, and the temperature had dropped at least 20 degrees.
That sets the stage for our cold night. When we went upstairs to our room to get ready for bed, we noticed that the room felt really, really cold. William said that it was probably cold air seeping in through the thin curtains on the window. We piled on the blankets and just went to bed, thinking that the Jacksons had enough to worry about without us complaining about our accommodations. The next day, I mentioned to Ellen that we had been freezing in our room the night before. She came into the room to check out the window, the vents, and any other sources of cold air. Then she checked the thermostat. I heard her shout down the hall, “Itʼs set on COOL! And itʼs 64!” Turns out that Matthew had gotten hot the day before and decided that the most logical thing to do in that situation was to adjust the temperature in the house via thermostat. Kids these days…
What else? We went to church in Waco and heard the Waco ward Christmas program. The music and talk was nice and Christmas-y, but my favorite part was when the old bishop admitted in his talk that he sometimes cusses. We had a great Christmas lunch, courtesy of Ellen and company. My humble contribution was a buttermilk pie, but it was hardly a match for Ellenʼs famous Christmas bread. Now I understand why Williamʼs face lights up when he talks about Christmas at home!
I feel like an honest to goodness Jackson!