What I did in Houston for Christmas

I had an amazing time, I shopped, I saw a Bears game live, I went to the amazing exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I watched grandchildren open Christmas Presents and I indulged my taste buds at restaurants.

BUT, we also had the full effect of Murphy’s Law each and every day. When I arrived we barely could get the two suitcases and laptop into the PT Cruiser along with me, the girls, John and Misti. Seems things were destined for lots of oops…

We got back to the house and unloaded the thousands of items from the car and then it was on to shopping. We went to Wal-Mart, our first stop for the RC, Coffee Maker and other essentials. The first oops was Misti unpacking the coffee pot. I watched her and saw the disaster coming she had opened the box upside down and the coffee pot slipped out and crashed to the floor. Then to Paw Paw’s to get an air mattress and clothes for everyone because this was the first time the kids were going to be back in their home since the Hurricane. The furniture was due the next day or at least the beds so we made pallets on the floor for the night. We would make a return trip to Wal-Mart to get a replacement pot of course this pot was white trim and we had a black coffee maker, but we also managed to buy the present I wanted to give them. I purchased the WII version of Guitar Hero Legends and the yarn for the crochet lesson I promised Lily. So back to the house and a late night of pretend music which was fun and exhausting.

The next day was more shopping and waiting. The beds were due to come, but nothing came as scheduled. We also had to run to every appliance store to find a refrigerator, washer and dryer that was in stock and able to be delivered. We ended up at Lowe’s and were able to get all the equipment with the appropriate discount that would be delivered the next day. We did a few more last minute shopping trips to find gifts and outfits for the girls, but in the mean time we had to relinquish Lily to her father, which was sad because Layla would be alone.

Another night on the floor because nothing came as scheduled, so our next day was waiting, and waiting. I watched a lot of Sponge Bob and waited. It was about midnight before the final piece of furniture came in and we could get to sleep after another round of Hero and John pulling out his Fender for the REAL Crazy Train. Of course he had to solder his amp to actually hear it and Layla hit her head on the corner of a speaker while twirling and dancing.

Christmas Eve brought a busy day of shopping and planning. Since the refrigerator was now working and available and clean up done for the 20 millionth times we were ready for the adult duties of Santa’s helpers. After Layla finally went to bed, we wrapped and wrapped and wrapped some more, and the final duty was to make the Birthday Cake that Layla requested from Santa. Unfortunately, that was nearly a total disaster, because Misti mixed it in a plastic bowl and John had preheated the oven and because they then had to go pick up Lily, they forgot about the cake and put the plastic bowl in the oven. It did melt some, but the cake was able to be made and iced after the aroma of burnt plastic subsided.

Christmas morning was exciting, they opened present after present and ate birthday cake. Then it was hurry up and go to Misti’s mom and dads to open more presents and eat breakfast. Then back to the house to unpack and pack the car to go to Misti’s grandmothers to have another meal and open more gifts. The girls had a great day with lot of presents and the most wonderful pleasant day, weather accommodated inside and outside time. In the midst of our morning activities, the Insurance Adjuster made a visit to the house to do an inspection. I was quite amazed that they would come out on that day, but it has been so long trying to get the house back in order since Ike.

After a night of more Guitar Hero and having to let Lily go back with her dad I slept exhausted on the trundle bed. We had worked to clean up the debris from packages and set more bags out for the garbage man which was scheduled to resume the next day. John would have to be at work again and that meant Misti, Layla and I could shop in the morning, but we would go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in the afternoon.

The museum was awesome, here is the best description taken from their website: View the earliest known manuscript containing the story of Christ's birth in the oldest known copy of the New Testament Book of Luke. Examine other ancient manuscripts including the prophetic Old Testament Book of Isaiah - one of the original Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran. Witness history first hand and be among the first to view a host of other authentic artifacts from this fascinating time and place, which to this day remains one of the world's most important and influential cultural intersections. http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/birth_of_christianity/BoC_walk_through.asp

One of the speakers during the exhibit of the city mentioned what was meant by the Bible passage, it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. What it meant was there was a Gate; called the Eye of the Needle to enter Jerusalem and a camel almost had to crawl through to enter, so a rich man to enter heaven would have to exhibit great humility.
Layla loved the Dinosaurs, but only if we went up to the second level and looked down on them, she was not enthusiastic at seeing the Dinosaurs or animals up close and personal. She loved the buttons on the renewable energy exhibit and we hit them all several times.

The Chicago Bears vs Houston Texans started out great, but as an old Bears fan they did exactly what was expected, lost in an array of penalties that kept them from tying the game. There were quite a few Bears fans at the game and John and I were not completely ostracized. The stadium was huge, but the dome had been stuck open from the last ice storm and it rained on us and was really quite cold. I should have grabbed that little mermaid blanket from the car, but we were in a hurry to get in and start our fan worship. Our seats were great and we did have an enjoyable experience.

We couldn’t go to the IMAX because the girls had already seen those movies so we made a return engagement to Incredible Pizza and had fun eating and playing games. On the morning of my departure we were sitting eating breakfast and Layla finally revealed the purpose of having Birthday Cake for Christmas. She had decided that even though she was still 3, her birthday was now in December, not October.

What a wonderful time, even with all the little oops that happened each day. We were able to enjoy getting back into their house, playing games, eating and viewing the greatest things that Houston had to offer.