The Most Interesting Christmas Ever
I got back from Texas yesterday night, and it was quite a trip. I hadn't had Christmas in Texas in 20 years, from what I can remember. My little sister was just a baby, and it was the last time we saw my great-grandmother alive. I don't remember much about it, but even that was nothing like this year's Christmas.
My dad, my little sister, and I got down there after 10:00 on Monday night. My other sister and her husband were already there, but they beat us by just a little bit of time. We had been traveling for 14 hours, so we just had a light supper, visited a little, and went to bed.
Tuesday was the beginning of our adventure. My uncle and his wife were going to a taxidermist a couple of hours away to pick up some venison, and they offered to take us along for the ride. I read articles most of the way, but I occasionally looked up to see some of the beautiful Texas scenery. We also stopped at a barbecue place that was unlike any I had ever been to. I didn't know what I was doing or where I was supposed to go for a while, so I felt very confused until I sat down. For those of you who watch King of the Hill, it really reminded me of Sugarfoot's. You pick the meat at a pit outside, then go through a buffet where they prepare it and any other sides, they give you wax paper instead of a plate to eat on, and the tables are more like big picnic benches. The only difference I saw was it didn't have sawdust on the floor. Anyway, I had pork loin because it looked the leanest--man, it was good! I also had corn on the cob (nothing special about it, but it was corn), pinto beans (they cook them with jalepenos, so it was a little too spicy for me, but it was complementary), blackberry cobbler (Heavenly!), and tea (good, but I think they put some of the sweetened in the unsweet dispenser; after I put in sweetener, it tasted a bit more sweet than I was expecting). Talk about a Texas-sized lunch! I didn't go into the taxidermy place because I needed to read, plus I wasn't sure how much of the process was completed yet (I thought if there was a lot of animal parts around, it would be too much for me). They took us back, and then my uncle's wife and one of my cousins picked up my sisters, my brother-in-law, and me to participate in a Texas Christmas tradition called the Trail of Lights. We rode a bus up to a park in downtown Austin (I happened to ride next to and across from some very suspicious looking strangers, so it was kinda uncomfortable), and we walked through this path filled with a lot of trees covered with all kinds of Christmas lights. It was kinda like an outdoor museum with exhibits because most trees had statues of cartoon and Christmas characters. Some of them were kinda artsy, and it was hard to tell what they were going for. A few had some animation, like they were trying to emulate the house in Van Buren (compared to that, though, they were amateurs). There were some fair-like attributes as well, like live music, food, and a place to talk to Santa, but we didn't investigate those too closely. It wasn't quite the Opryland Hotel, but it was very beautiful and very fun still. It would have been nice if it were a tad bit more interactive and a little less crowded, but I still enjoyed it.
Not much happened Christmas Eve. My sisters were talking about visiting a cave attraction called Inner Space. I've been there twice, and I had to work. The local Church of Christ wasn't having services, and we didn't bother to find any other congregation that was meeting. So, I watched the Miser Brothers Christmas special (cute! Rankin and Bass are back!) and got through M on my bibliography. One exciting thing happened earlier that day, though. My grandmother gave me a family heirloom, my great-grandmother's engagement ring. My favorite part about it is the cut; it looks like a rose, and I think the diamond is real! I was actually very glad I got it. If I ever do get married, I really didn't want my fiance to pay a crazy amount of money for the ring because that's something I, unlike other women my age, don't really want to make a big fuss over. I have an amathyst ring that is missing a couple of little diamonds around it, and my plan was just to ask him if he could fix it. Now, I don't even need to do that. I probably shouldn't wear this ring around, though, until a time like this comes, just because it's so special. I wore it the rest of the trip on my left index finger because it was the easiest way to store it.
We came over to my uncle's house for Christmas dinner. The main coarse was the venison he got on Tuesday. It was very different meal. It felt a little strange, eating deer meat on Christmas; I joked to my grandmother later, "How many people can say they had Rudolph for Christmas dinner?" It didn't upset me or anything, just struck me as ironic. I've only had deer meat a few times in my life, and before this Mom cooked it each time. She has this marinade that is so good! This was cooked by my uncle's wife in a completely different way. It was more like salisberry steak. It wasn't bad. After the meal, my cousins, siblings, and I went for a walk to a nearby lake. I didn't know we were going to walk all the way there, and we didn't spend as much time as I was expecting to. I picked up a few rocks. Texas rocks aren't quite as interesting as Tennessee rocks. There were a bunch of really pretty white rocks by the lake, but they all looked the same! I was starting to regret coming, but then something exciting happened on the way back. We saw an armadillo! My sister's said it crossed the road, but I was way behind and didn't see that. Yet I could see it in a little thicket. That was so cool; I've never seen a wild armadillo (perhaps not even a domesticated armadillo) up close before. I wish I could touch it. My sisters and my cousins tried to chase it out of the thicket, but I wasn't interested in that. I just wanted to see it, and once I got a good look at it, I was ready to move on. As far as presents, I think I'm up to $50 in gift certificates to Amazon.com, $20 to Wal-Mart, and $20 to J.C. Penny (though I never used the gift certificate from last year to J.C. Penny, so unless they cancelled it I might have more). I got to think of stuff to get, hopefully stuff I can use this year in the classroom. Then again, I remember the English department provides a stipend for classroom material and research for dissertation stuff, so I might have to look into that too.
And yesterday we made the 14 hour trip back. So, that was my Christmas in Texas. I don't know when we're going to celebrate our official immediate family Christmas. My sister and her husband are still on their trip; they went to see our grandparents in Arkansas, and I don't know how long they'll be. I've been told that Christmas is not going to be a big thing this year; it's mostly going to be shopping around stores probably after New Year's. But I do know my sisters got presents, and there's still stocking stuff. I'm hoping I may have gotten a present or two from my parents; Mom insinuated earlier this year that they might get me a new cellphone, and I need one! I'm way behind the times. I also think I need new pillows; the ones I got are pretty flat and not too comfy anymore. And maybe, maybe, maybe Mom and Dad got me a better rock tumbler. If they don't, though, I think that'll probably be something I'll spend my internet money on.