Christmas in Austin

Just before Christmas we packed up and headed to the Lone Star State. My brother, Mark, his girlfriend Jane and their friend Joe hosted the rest of the Watson family for the week. We had a great time hanging out together and relaxing. Jack had lots of room to run around and really enjoyed having Nana, Papa and his aunts and uncles around to play with. We were really sad that Tonya and Zac (Matt's sister and her husband) weren't able to join us as planned. The weather in the Northwest just never let up and they were grounded in Portland. Hopefully they'll be able to come out to England to see us soon.

Here are some pictures of the festivities!

Jack measures up the loot. "Happy Merry Christmas!"Helping Mom pass out presents to everyone. Decided opening presents was more fun than passing out presents!

Santa brought Jack a guitar! Just what he wanted!!

Mom opening the necklace we gave her (made by a friend here in England) Mark carving the turkey....YUM! Playing with the new Lego castle after dinner.

Riding around on the 'Gator' in the afternoon. It was a little overcast outside but generally good weather.

The day after Christmas the festivities continues as the Blanco gang hosted a party for us and their friends and neighbors. One extra special part of that evening was that my Aunt Beverly, her friend Jim and my cousin Willie came in from Houston to see us. It was really a nice evening with good food, lots of friends and great music.

MANY THANKS again to Mark, Jane and Joe for the trip and having us all over for the week. It was nice just to be there and all the little extra perks (like a Thomas the Train bed for Jack) were icing on the cake!