tis the season

Tis the season to be jolly, fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra, ra ra...

(name that movie)

With two Christmas parties, our first Barrett Christmas card in the mail, presents wrapped and the tree lit, the Barretts are ready for Christmas!

I am a little embarrassed to admit we put the Christmas tree up 4 days before Thanksgiving...so we've been ready for a while. Our tree looks a little like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, so it took all of 15 minutes to carry it from the storage closet, throw a few ornaments on and plug it in. Ta da! If that didn't help put us in the Christmas spirit, this past weekend sure did.

Friday we were in attendance at the 1st Annual Thomas Christmas party. Like any legit Christmas party, this one was themed tacky sweater/white elephant gift exchange. Now-a-days, I wonder, what did people do at Christmas parties in the olden days when white elephant gifts were merely "junk" and tacky sweaters were actually "cute?" I guess they just stood around, sipping eggnog and talking...borrring.  In this case, change is a good thing. Guess who dominated our party by taking home the honor of best Christmas sweater AND the coveted white elephant gift?

(suspense...)

No, not me, but good guess. I'm proud to say, my roommate, Mr. Tate Barrett was awarded "Best Christmas Sweater 2010" and took home the shake weight. He has come such a long way. A year ago he wouldn't pose for the fast-face pictures and now he's wearing shoulder pads and Santa pins! You may be wondering, what kind of man wears shoulder pads anyway? Well I'll tell you, an IRONMAN. What's even better is that we had to run into Whole Foods before going to the party. While the River Oaks elitists were in the express line purchasing escargot and Merlot to take to their elegant Christmas soiree, we were parading around aisle 4 in our shoulder pads and Christmas bling on a hunt for the cheapest bottle of wine. 

Kind of random, but the next day we went to the Houston zoo, which I will be crossing off my Houston Bucket List! Although it was a great day for the zoo, 70 degree, flip-flop weather in December just doesn't ring 'Christmas time'. However, we did see a chimp wearing a jacket and some sea lions giving piggy-back rides (if you know what I mean...wink). We spent the rest of the day finishing up our Christmas shopping and dodging crazy Houston drivers. I am proud to say I have all our gifts wrapped and waiting under the tree. I am also proud to say there is a bow on EVERY gift this year, thanks to my second job. Later that night we (literally) scooted over to Lupe Tortilla to meet friends for a birthday/going away dinner.

Whoever said, "being popular, although fun, is exhausting" was right. We attended the second of our two Christmas parties on Sunday night. Our small group, Happily Ever After, met at our mentor couple's home for a delicious dinner followed by another fun white elephant gift exchange. This time the rule was that you couldn't buy anything, and you must bring something from your house. Considering we have a storage closet filled with things we have barely looked at in a year, I knew this would not be problem. We gave a 3rd place skeet shooting plaque and some scary Halloween decorations of little kids dressed in costumes, (oh, and by "scary" I don't mean it in the spooky/Halloween way, but more in the creepy/freaky way), and we came home with some old books and a Dwight bobble head. Success! It was so much fun spending the weekend with good friends, celebrating before everyone leaves for Christmas. 

 10 Days and counting...
Merry Christmas!