11-31DEC09 - Houma, LA (fl & ms; happy holidays!!!)

On our return from Disney World, FL, we decided to slow down and take three days to get back to Houma, LA, to be with the kids for the Holidays. Enroute we stopped in Pensacola, FL, where we had an excellent seafood dinner at Peg Leg Pete’s. We also stopped in Biloxi, MS, for two days where the gambling gods where very kind to Corrie.

After once again setting up camp in Rebecca & Raymond’s driveway, we spent the remaining shopping days before Xmas taking care of last minute preparations and not doing much else. We had several dinners/BBQs with our son Joe, who even spent the night before Xmas at the house so we could attack our gifts first thing in the morning. This year Dan was the last one up on Christmas morning, but once everyone assembled in the living room, it was time to find out who had been naughty and who had been nice? Luckily no lumps of coal were received and everyone pretty much got what they wanted.

The hit of the day was Rebecca & Raymond’s new Wii game! It is hilarious to watch some of the players’ bodily actions as they bend, twist & gyrate in response to what is occurring on the screen. The funniest was watching Dan “beat-up” on Rebecca during Wii Boxing. It is amazing how tired and sore you can get standing in place and just moving a Wii controller around! Even the supposedly in shape young’ns were quickly gasping for breath.

And as always, there was one or two gifts where – “some assembly required”. This year it was a computer desk that had twenty pages of instructions and required 35 steps! Joe & Dan started the assembly, which soon became a group effort involving everyone except Corrie. The assembly was finally accomplished with no bloodshed, no broken parts, and only a handful of pieces left over.

After working up big appetites on the Wii it was time for the big meal that Corrie had been working on for two days. By this time we had been joined by Frank Garcia, a co-worker of Raymond’s, who has joined in past years for Thanksgiving and/or Xmas. As always it was an excellent meal, followed by slumping exhausted on the couch to recover. Meanwhile the young men decided to kill each other playing the latest version of “Call of Duty” in the true holiday spirit. For a very humorous holiday spirit check out the latest Benny Grunch song & video - "Santa & His Reindeer Got Their Modular Home", at the below internet link:

http://www.wwltv.com/video/featured-videos/Santa-and-His-Reindeer-Got-their-Modular-Home-79840277.html