Christmas in New Braunfels
by Rebecca on 2007-12-30
Iʼm a bit behind, but I still wanted to write about some of the fun things that we did for Christmas in New Braunfels. Here are some highlights.
Christmas Eve, William and I drove down to San Antonio to meet the rest of my family to do family pictures at JC Penney. There have been several additions to our family since the last picture, so we figured that it was time for an update. The pictures all went well enough, with a minimum of hair pulling and tears. (If I can figure out a way to post them here, I will.) William and I would like to do an annual family picture, except maybe not on Christmas Eve with all of the other families that seize upon that brief time of family togetherness to do their own pictures.
We had our annual Christmas Eve dinner of tamales and chili. I donʼt know why we started doing it, since we donʼt have any Mexican ancestry, but Iʼm OK with the tradition because the tamales were yummy.
Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to go to the Christmas Eve service at the First United Methodist Church in New Braunfels with my grandmother. I mostly didnʼt like the idea of her having to attend a Christmas Eve service alone and in the dark, so I went and had an amazing time. So, if I am in New Braunfels on Christmas Eve, I go with Grandmother to the Methodist Church, sing all the cool Christmas carols that Mormons donʼt sing in church (O Holy Night, We Three Kings, and the other verses of some familiar carols), light a candle while singing “Silent Night” with hundreds of other people, and just enjoy sharing Christmas Eve with Christians everywhere. This year, William went with me, and it was even more amazing.
Christmas Day was fun. John and Jacob, my two nephews, were so well behaved! I thought that weʼd be up by 6 a.m. opening presents, but the boys managed to hold it together until about 9:30. I think it helped that Mark and Monica plied them with stockings first to tide them over. We all got an abundance of gifts, the most amazing of which (for me) were a digital camera from William and a pink shirt from Eddie Bauer that does not wrinkle. Yay — amazing pictures AND no ironing!
Here are two pictures that I think are really, really funny. John got a bike for Christmas, but he wasnʼt the only one who had fun with it.
Merry Christmas!