Christmas

We were rushed a little bit to get to town after a late night so we met the Watkins fam at church for the Christmas Eve service. So glad we made it!
Papa and his posse!


We've started this little thing on Christmas Eve where we have a fish fry. The men in our family, especially Papa usually have a good supply of fish. Its different than the usual fluffy dinner and yes, its a little white trash but who doesn't like fried fish, hush puppies, texas two step coleslaw and some baked beans. The Bees in this house get fired up about Papa's fish!

Papa and his mini-me, Graham.

Anna Lou Whoo

Brooks grubbin!

Little white trash baby hanging out in her tights looking a lot like Daddy.

After dinner Papa read the Christmas story from Luke while the natives were extremely restless and hardly paying attention. Once he finished Honey handed out the baby Jesus(s) to her nativity sets so the cousins to could put him in the mangers. Little Honey Tradition.


Then we tried to take a picture. Took too long...

but finally got one.

Reindeer Food

Milk for Santa

Brooks had it all set!

He added a little watercoloring.

Christmas Morning heading down stairs with Uncle Dave

DS for Brooks

Bear got a new chopper bike but was a lot more excited about the placemat.

Georgia with Jesse and a taggie.

Anna Lou got lots of Pink.

Serious.

Stockings!

Brooks helping Honey make her homemade rolls!

Graham sharing his Santa present with Brooks.

Honey and Papa with their little nest.

The ladies, babies and our Aunt Rosie

Georgie enjoying a cane!

Delish HAM lunch!!

Brooks opening his boots!

The rage!

We gave AL these sparkly pink Toms. Who wouldn't want some?

Bear and his boots.

Towel heads, which are awesome!

Anna on her new 4-wheeler.

Barrett fascinated with his new Bumble Bee transformer. Honey has definitely learned to shop for boys!

Georgia trying out AL's trike!

After an afternoon full of presents, napping and hanging out we cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire pit.

Anna Lou and me!

Georgia enjoying her smores and ready to call it a day. Always rubbing that ear!

BE SMART AND SAFE!

Its been 2 weeks now since we found ourselves in a life changing moment. Its funny how everyone always assumes life in Doha is dangerous or scary but its nothing compared to the threat of danger that is a reality in the U.S. on a daily basis. Over our Christmas break in Texas we experienced an extremely dangerous incident. My sister-in-law, Nick and some of our very best friends were robbed at gun-point the night before Christmas eve in Houston. Of everyone involved, I experienced the least amount of stress but for anyone who reads this blog I want to take the opportunity to remind you to be smarter and safer. Had I taken the time to think a little bit and be a little more careful I might have prevented such a horrific situation. Thank the Lord no one was hurt. All walked away physically fine but big lessons were learned. God is good all the time and I know He has a plan for everything and everyone. This incident was part of that. Please learn from this situation. We sure have! For everyone involved God has blessed us with a divine peace of mind. We are so thankful for that.

After celebrating Christmas and enjoying dinner with Nick's family on the evening of the 23rd, Amanda, my SIL and I headed out for a quick run to Willowbrook Mall. We left the house about 9pm. (Not so smart idea #1) We parked close and in a well lit area but that's all I considered. We went straight to the Apple store to get a laptop that I needed to pick up. We walked in a couple other stores and left the mall about 10pm. I carried the white, Apple laptop box all around the mall and out to my car without thinking twice about it. (Not so smart idea #2) At some point we were seen carrying around that expensive box and followed in our car for about 20 minutes all the way home without knowing or paying attention. (Not so smart situation #3) Our best friends Jackie and Mark were meeting us at the house to give Georgia a gift. We drove up and they were waiting outside while their kids were asleep in the car. As soon as we drove in the drive way, I parked Nick's truck and greeted Jackie and Mark. I quickly went inside to tell Nick to come out and visit and within 10 seconds the robbers that followed had Jackie and Mark on the ground at gun point and we met Amanda on the doorstep hysterical and screaming something about guns. Without hesitation and very confused, Nick and I continued outside to make sure Jackie and Mark were ok but instantly stopped because one of the masked robbers was standing not far from the front door pointing a gun at Nick telling him to get down. There were 5 men, all wearing masks and dressed in black. They had a precise plan to take the laptop out of the truck and get what money they could from Jackie and Mark. In less than 5 minutes they had Mark's wallet and the laptop and then they were gone. Within just a few minutes the police arrived. We talked for a few hours covering all the details. Everything happened so quickly. What I saw was one guy pointing a gun at my husband. Nick and Amanda experienced more and Jackie and Mark most of everyone. Now that we look back at the situation we know God protected us in so many ways. God has graced us with peace and not fear! Everyone is a little jumpy but maybe that's good and keeps us on guard. We have all continued to talk about the incident and be so thankful for the goodness of it all. BUT I wanted to post about it mostly as a reminder to be safe, smart, careful and prayerful!

We prayed so much that night for God's will and for Him to fill us with His spirit. I've continued to pray for the robbers. We guess that they were teenagers, which is incredibly sad. Its pathetic that "boys" are in a situation where they feel they have to risk their lives and others to steal. Our world, the U.S. and Houston, Texas is lost. I also pray God uses that situation for His good and that those young men come to know Him and hopefully change their lives.

Maybe our prayers were answered because a situation with very similar details ended with better results last week. The link below is from the Houston news. A week after we experienced such horror so did another family but they caught a few of the guys.
http://www.click2houston.com/news/26362662/detail.html

For such a dramatic situation. I would have rather told my close friends and family in person but with Christmas and such a short amount of time with everyone we focused on more positive things.

Don't be scared, be safe and smart. The timing of Christmas and a late night out at Willowbrook Mall was a bad idea. 2 young females are an easy target, take a man! Also don't obviously carry around expensive purchases. And most importantly I think, if you're out at night pay attention to everything around you especially cars that could be following or lurking around.

You never think this kind of thing would happen to you. Nick's mom lives in a very nice neighborhood and tucked away with a lot of crazy turns. Not only did they follow us a long way, they kept their plan even when they realized it wasn't just Amanda and me on scene.

Thank you for reading this if you're still here :) Pray for protection over your family and be safe please.

Mock Christmas in Houston

Since this was the off year for Christmas with Nick's family we made our own mock Christmas Day.

Georgia striking a present pose!

elves at work...

Tatty and her Elves!

Tatty got Emerilware! I want some now!

Legos for Brooks

Light saber for Barrett

Pink shiny shoes for Annanbelle

And the afternoon of our mock Christmas day was spent with the entire Junod bunch. Similar to the Brady Bunch.
Nick has 4 step brothers and sisters (the Junods) that he basically grew up with.
Its been 5 years since they were all together.
Uncle Vince and Georgia were FAST FRIENDS!

Daddy, G and Uncle Brett

There they are again...they're watching a very entertaining performance by the Brooks, Barrett and Annabelle.

The 6 Junod sibilings

The rest of us...

Enjoying Tatty's traditional Christmas dinner of prime rib!

Christmas - Round One

A few nights after Nick arrived from Doha we let the Christmas festivities begin at Tatty's house. Nana and Boppa plus Uncle George, Aunt Karma and Will and Aunt Monica joined us for chili and jalapeno cornbread (which was amazing).
Tatty and Georgia


Aunt Monica and Barrett

Boppa and his youngest great grandbaby

Krause ladies - Nana, Tatty and Georgia

Will and Georgia (clearly the baby got all the camera attention)

On Monday the boys spend the morning with Tatty seeing Yogi Bear and then followed up the afternoon and evening having lots of fun with Aunt Monica. In the mean time Georgia had Mama and Daddy all to herself shopping. Oh and she made her first visit to Lupe Tortillas for dinner. She loved the tortillas and pintos :)

Tuesday evening we went with Tatty to the Woodlands for Berryhill fish tacos and Christmas lights.



Fountains and lights to the sound of Christmas carols



Only in Houston where its humid and warm at Christmas do you allow your kids to get their clothes wet.

The next morning Tatty and the kids made Christmas pancakes.



We made our own Houston Christmas Eve. For dinner we went to Nana and Boppa's house for tamales with most of the Krause family.
Boys and the cookie plate!

Will and Brooks
(Will (11 yrs old), Nick's youngest cousin has quickly become Brooks' favorite!)

Kathy, Aunt Nancy and Amanda

Family full of musical talent. Wouldn't be Christmas without Tatty on the piano with a Krause Choir!

Nana and Georgia enjoying the carols

Nick's uncle George is a youngster and full of energy which means lots of fun for the little cousins!

Cousin Annabelle!

After we were home Tatty gave her traditional Christmas Eve gifts. Pajamas and ornaments, plus a little extra toy.






Annabelle helping Barrett and Brooks open their presents from Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado.