Best Christmas present... ever!

It's funny how sometimes the most important life events can start with just an idea and some hope.

Sometime in October, I mentioned to Jav that I would really love a trip to Fredericksburg to visit my two great aunts and one great uncle.  He agreed because it had been about a year since we'd seen them.  When I told him I thought it would be really cool if we could go during December sometime, his face confirmed his next words: he was worried I had lost my mind.  Yes, it is the busiest time of year.  But I knew how magical Fredericksburg could look at Christmas time.  And as I get older, I find myself shirking more away from all the shopping, materialism and commercialism of the holidays.  I wanted to STOP the insanity, and remember what Christmas should really be about:  giving of yourself to others and spending time with family.  After explaining all of this, he began to see the light.

Then one day while I was at work, and daydreaming about how fun this so far unplanned trip would be, I had an epiphany.  I picked up my phone and called my brother.  My mom had told me awhile back that my Uncle Robert had mentioned how much he would love to see Philip and his family, and maybe that's when the seed was planted without me even realizing it.  I told my brother about what we wanted to do, and asked if by chance he and April and the kids might want to make the trip too and all of us stay together somewhere.  He surprised me a little by sounding REALLY interested.  The trip morphed from going for one night and staying in a motel, to two nights in a Bed & Breakfast.  Could we all get off work that Friday?  Would it be ok to take the kids out of school for a day, or at least a 1/2 day?  Would my husband be ok with the fact that I just invited them without asking him first?  Yes, yes, YES!!!

They were supposed to pick a place to stay, and after they dragged their feet and hemmed and hawed about it for a couple of weeks, I went online late on night and found what looked to be a really nice 3 bedroom, 3 bath house in town, away from Main Street traffic, and across the street from a ranch.  I texted the link to Philip and he said to go for it.  We booked it that night.  The reservation service in Fredericksburg, Gasthaus Schmidt, has a crazy cancellation policy - two weeks notice.  I started to panic a little because we had just finished a round of pneumonia and I did not want to end up paying for a weekend when we had to stay at home in bed the whole weekend!!!  But my sister-in-law, who has booked trips using the service since she was a teenage in Austin, pointed out that we could reschedule, and that we would not be out our share of the payment.

Breath.  It's going to be ok.

I was still skeptical that it would happen, especially when I found out that April had a minor car accident the Wednesday before that messed up her ankle and foot, but she said she was still game to go.  Then my brother called the Friday morning we were supposed to leave to say that Macy had a stomach virus during the night, but seemed to feel up to going.  Did we still want to try to go?  I talked to Jav and we agreed that we were going to act like we knew nothing about it, and promised we wouldn't get mad at them if we all (or part of us) got sick.

We left for Weatherford about 12 pm.  Of course later than we intended.  It was one of the first rainy days we've had in a LONG time during this dry Autumn.  We met up with them and headed out around 1 pm.  It was about that time that we first found out about the horrible elementary school shooting in Newtown, CT.  I don't want to post about that here, other than to say it was in the back of all of the grownups' minds the whole trip, but not enough to let this sad news ruin our trip.  We didn't turn on the TV the entire trip, other than to watch movies together.  I will say that we ALL hugged each and every one of those kids over, and over, and over that weekend.

Our B&B ended up being PERFECT.  We panicked at first, though, because we could only find two bedrooms.  It turns out they lock the third bedroom and bath, which they call The Cabin and is in the back of the house.  Cade figured out where the key was hidden, smart little cookie that he is.  The cousins are seen frolicking in The Cabin in the picture above, which was a perfect room to send them to play and yell as loud as they wanted to.   And was also a perfect room for me or Jav to sleep with Joel, since he wakes up and starts yelling during the night sometimes.

April and all the kids.  She is good at managing the chaos!  For the most part I thought the kids all were really good on the trip.  It was definitely a family bonding experience - and something I've been wanting to do for a LONG time.

Joel spent alot of time in The Cabin with our portable DVD player, which he thought was the coolest invention since sliced bread.

The outside of the house was even better than the inside, with two porches to sit or play on, a totally fenced  in yard, trees to climb in and a beautiful ranch across the street to watch wildlife.

The main reason for our trip was to visit with these sweet people.  My Uncle Robert and Aunt Lou (my grandmother's youngest and only remaining brother and his wife), still live in the same house they lived in when we used to spend a week there every summer.  Aunt Lou is 88 and Uncle Robert will turn 90 in January.  They are both remarkably well, considering their ages.  The lower picture is my Aunt Gina (short for Eugenia), who was the wife of another of my grandmother's brothers, Uncle Jack.  He passed away 13 years ago.  I stayed at Aunt Gina's house the night before Jav and I got married, and we became so much closer because of that.  My love for these people goes very deep.  I worry that a big part of our German heritage will be gone once they are gone.  Uncle Robert has an accent when he speaks, as did all of my great aunts and uncles had on my mom's side.  Philip had not seen them since a brief meeting at our wedding, and I really wanted this trip to come together so he wouldn't have regrets when they pass away.

Uncle Robert began to tell us FUNNY stories about our grandfather, including one about late night fishing in the Pedernales River.  They had left the poles and were just sitting up on the shore, talking and drinking beer, when they realized they had a bite.  My grandfather yelled, "Wait, let me get my hat!"  And Uncle Robert couldn't move he was laughing so hard, saying, "Harmon, I don't really think that fish cares if you have your hat on or not!"  When my brother was telling my mom about our trip later, he said he could have stayed and listened to Uncle Robert tell stories all day and then some.

Jav and Philip took turns taking the kids outside when they got restless, but the kids had a good visit with them too.  We stayed for much longer than I thought we'd be able to.  It was just wonderful.  A week after we got home I got their Christmas card, in which Aunt Lou normally writes a small message.  Uncle Robert had written in it too this year, saying that our visit was an early Christmas present and he was glad to see us all so happy.

We had lunch at the Altdorf, outside on the patio and with a pitcher of beer, as lunch is to be enjoyed in Fredericksburg.  One thing I learned about my sister-in-law is that she KNOWS how to enjoy Fredericksburg.   After lunch we walked around downtown and window shopped.  Joel, a.k.a. El Torrito (the Bull), does not do well when mixed with expensive glass bric-a-brac.  Jav kept him outside while we ventured into one store that was full of nutcrackers (seen below).  They even had a set of Wizard of Oz nutcrackers, priced around $400 each.  Who on earth would buy such a thing?  All I knew is that I didn't want to buy such a thing!

We all went into Dooley's, the 5 and Dime, to let the kids pick out one thing each.  This was pretty fun.  When we had our Girls Trip in Fredericksburg we had so much fun in Dooley's just looking at some of the more unusual inventory mix and taking funny pictures.  By then, the kids were getting punchy, so we decided to head back to the house to regroup and recuperate from the day's activities.  

It was during this resting time that I had one of the happiest moments on the trip.  I was reading in the living by myself.  I could hear Cade and Macy playing together in the front bedroom, and knew Jav and Joel were trying to nap in The Cabin.  I didn't realize that April had taken Gabriel out to the porch to show him how to make a slinky (his Dooley purchase) go down stairs.  Phil was reading with them on the porch.  After a few minutes, we all ended up outside, the grownups rocking and chatting and watching the kids chase each other around the yard while the sun was going down.  It's one of those moments in time that you wish you could freeze and call forth in your brain, during a time of stress or sadness.  I think we all were just so happy to be there and be together.  

Cade and Macy and I walked a couple of blocks over to the Herb Farm, where Jav and I had gotten married.  I wanted to show it to them, even though the last time Jav and I had visited I was reduced to tears at what the new owners had done to the place.  But I'm so glad we went, because the place where Jav and I were married is still there!  We had thought it had been covered up by tiny B&B cabins, but there it was behind all of them.  The only difference is a fountain and stream they built right down the middle of the courtyard.  

We ventured into town to walk around the square, eat dinner and drive around and look at lights.  There was so much to see at the town square that the kids went into Sensory Overload mode and everyone seemed to be arguing for a little while.  There was a lighted outdoor open air ice rink, a big working water wheel, the city Christmas tree, and a very tall wooden structure with hand made figures going around in circles, each level going opoosite directions  It was kind of what you would see coming out of a cuckoo clock, but much larger.    

We went to a catfish restaurant for dinner, and the craziest thing happened.  Our second cousin and her husband and part of their family came in and sat at the table right behind us!  We hadn't talked to them since our wedding, so it was good to see everyone.  And even though we managed to have a nice dinner, the kids were D-O-N-E by then.  Joel was too tired to even yell or throw things when he found out they didn't have milk to drink.  He just sort of pitifully colored with his crayons and grumbled every few minutes.  Macy had her head on the table at one point.  It had been a long, long day.  We decided to skip any further Christmas lights and headed to the house.  

The house below was way up on the hill above our house.

This is the flock of wild turkeys that visited across the way the next morning.  The kids were so excited to see so much wildlife practically at their doorstep!

Philip and April cooked breakfast for us both mornings.  Why does food always taste better when a) someone else is making it for you, and b) you are on a trip?  

The kids got to play in the yard one last time while we all packed everything up and loaded the cars.  

I figured out the camera timer, and was able to get some pics of all of us in front of our wonderful house.  We hope to go back someday. As we listened to the kids chattering away about Santa coming, we wondered how we could explain to them that we had already given them the best Christmas present they could ask for:  happy memories!!!