A Cajun Christmas

The holidays seem to come and go don't they? You spend all of this time preparing for this big event, and then the next thing you know it's over in a flash. Christmas this year seemed to be just that, a flash! Because our families live in two different parts of the country, we have to alternate our Christmases and this year we headed down south to Louisiana to spend Christmas with Chris's family. We had a celebration at our house the day before we left so there wouldn't be so many things to travel with and then the next day Caleb and I were on a plane to New Orleans. The Sunday before we left though, Nana, Papa, Uncle Kent and his girlfriend came over so we could exchange gifts.

Caleb was so excited to get a Wii! His reaction was, "It's just what I wanted, how did you know?!" We spent the day opening gifts and eating lots of yummy snacks as well as setting up Caleb's new game from Nana and Papa!

That following Monday, Caleb and I were leaving for New Orleans, so that afternoon we headed to the airport and were ready to see Gran and Pa. It was nice going a day earlier than everyone else because it gave Caleb time to spend with just his Gran and Pa who he hasn't seen in forever. The weather down South was SO BEAUTIFUL, that we took Caleb to the park that his Daddy grew up playing at with his Pa and he met up with his cousin Lyndsie while we were there and we even helped Aunt Amy save a baby chick by getting her close to her mother.

After the park, it was time to head back to the house because Nana and Papa and Chris would be there soon.  Caleb ended his day curled up with Papa on the couch reading a story!

The next day we spent shopping at the LSU and Saints stores and that night we went to City Park with Aunt Amy, Uncle Keith, Lauren and Lyndsie.  The place was full of people, but the kids loved looking at all of the light and visiting Storyland while we were there.  Not many of my pictures turned out from this place, but it was absolutely beautiful.  They even had one whole section set up where they ran trains through a mini New Orleans!

After a night full of fun at City Park, the next day we woke up and headed downtown to the aquarium.  We spent the day looking at animals and wanted to go to the French Quarter, but by the time we finished we were all exhausted and ready to head back to Gran and Pa's house.

 

It was a long afternoon, but before leaving downtown we had to ride the street car or "train" as Caleb called it.

Our next few days were spent across the lake in Folsom, with Mother and Grams.  We always spend Christmas Eve there and have a big feast.  Caleb had the chance to spend some time with more cousins, play football, and we had a little birthday cake for Baby Jesus!

After lots of snacking/eating and opening gifts, we took family pictures which were pretty special.  Caleb is part of a 5 generation on Chris's side of the family.

After a long Christmas Eve, we headed back to the hotel to await Santa the next morning.  Caleb was surprised that Santa knew how to find him in Louisiana.  So we opened a few gifts and then Santa told Caleb that one of his gifts was too big to bring to the hotel so he left it at Gran and Pa's house.

Of course as soon as he saw it and unwrapped it he had to take it for a short spin before everyone else came over to celebrate Christmas!

Once everyone arrived, we began opening gifts with the little ones and ended our Christmas with a trip to LaFreniere Park to see the lights.

We had a wonderful time in New Orleans for Christmas.  We wish that Bruce, Sallie, Meg, and Morg could have been there with us, but it was nice to see and visit with everyone else since it's been such a long time.  From our family to yours, we hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2012 will bring you lots of love and laughter!