Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg

Ahh, Christmas in the dirt-filled plains!

Kevin and I left with Shadow in tow last Wednesday (James let me stay home for the day but Kev had to work...hehehe) around noon and drove up to West Texas to spend the Christmas holidays with my family.

After we settled in, we had a few Christmas cocktails and my mom brought out her old record player that I used to listen to down in our basement when I was a kid. One particular record stayed on the player 24/7 - West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys. I remember choreographing many detailed dances to this song on weekday afternoons after school.

A little dusty, but still plays like a champ 40+ years later

A few hours later, "Santa" put us all to bed so she could put all of our goodies in each of our stockings (dogs included). Jordan spend the night in Muleshoe as well, and brought Captain Karl Wallace (Shadow's nemesis) and Layla Mae (Shelbi Ri's dog) with him.

On Christmas morning, Kevin opened our bedroom door and Shadow rushed out to see Nettie in the kitchen. Karl had already beaten him to the punch and the two got into a nasty little fight. Kevin grabbed the first big black blob he saw and unfortunately it was Karl - who without intention - sunk his top bite into Kevin's thigh. Karl's canine punctured almost all the way and Kevin pulled back in severe pain just in time for my mom to grab Shadow and throw him outside. It was an eventful start to the holidays to say the least.

Kevin had to shave his thigh so the bandaids would rip his hair. Poor thing.

Following that fiasco, we had an awesome breakfast and opened our stockings and gifts from each other. Kevin and I had waited to open our gifts to/from one another until we were with my family.
As a couple, we gave my parents an invitation to see King Tut at the DMA with us in January followed by dinner at La Duni - they are wicked stoked about it!
My parents gave me some outdoor patio furniture, decorative serving dishes, kitchen gadgets, and a few other things.
Kevin gave me a 10-piece set of Rachael Ray hard-anodized cookware to replace the overused skillets and pots that lurked in my kitchen cabinets, a Calphalon grill pan, a bunch of kitchen gadgets...then he took out the small box I had been eyeing under our tree. Butterflies raced through my stomach as I took off the wrapping - and - WOW! He overdid himself! It was a beautiful heart and diamond necklace! I'm so proud to wear it every day now.
I gave Kevin a pair of TOMS shoes, a Swiss Army laptop bag, a Vinotemp 6-bottle wine fridge along with some other small stuff.

For lunch, my mom cooked an awesome spread of food and we ate at our fancy schmancy dinner table on the fine china...in our pajamas! Staring at all of the presents in front of us, I had to wonder, "Recession? What recession?"

Kevin opening one of his presents

My dad and brother, who was sporting his Batman pj's

Later that afternoon, Shelbi Ro. invited Kev and I over to her mom and stepdad's house for pomegranate martinis. My parents came over later on and by 9pm, I was nice and toasted! Friday we had another Christmas in Muleshoe, this time with my dad's parents and his sister and my two cousins. Again, we opened the booze later on that afternoon and continued the celebration until the late hours.

Saturday morning, we packed up Kevin's 4Runner and we all headed to Floydada to see my mom's parents. My grandmother and mom made prime rib with all the fixins (including 24 hour salad, yay!) and we opened a third round of gifts. Kevin got a Texas-shaped drain stopper gag gift, and I got fluffy ducky slippers. They also gave me the K2 rollerblades that I've been dying to have and a bamboo butcher block! I made out like a bandit.

Shadow ungratefully demanding some love from my grandfather Popi

We rolled back into Dallas around 11pm on Saturday night. We needed Sunday to finish moving Kevin out of his apartment and I had a paint party that afternoon (which I'll blog about soon!). Shadow is still a little depressed about leaving Nettie's side (and Popi's, for that matter) but I think he'll get over it soon. Until then, he can rest in his new handmade doggie bed she made for his Christmas present. ("Thanks grandma!" says Shadow)

Best holiday so far, hands down.

*So as to not confuse my audience, Shelbi Ri (Richardson) is my brother's girlfriend and Shelbi Ro (Robinson) is my long-time friend from Muleshoe. I know, it can get confusing. Believe me.