The Dotsons: Christmas in Louisiana

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Christmas in Louisiana

We had the Dotson family Christmas in Baton Rouge this year....well, technically a little town called Darrow, where Rhett's grandmother lives. We stayed with her and all met up there for our Christmas get-together. Rhett's whole immediate family was there. His brother, Travis, and his family were down from North Carolina, so it was good to see them. We really only see them once a year now since they live so far away (for Travis's medical fellowship). They had their 2nd child just 9 days after we had Aubrey so we were excited to get to meet little Adam and for them to meet Aubrey!

We were supposed to leave as early as we could get out of the house on Wednesday, 12/21. Well, an interesting thing happened the day before and we were not able to leave when we had planned to. That Tuesday, the gas to our house got shut off, so we ended up having to wait around on Wednesday for the gas company to come turn it back on! Long story, but the short version is that there were quite a few mix ups and mishaps with the bill and a credit we had from an overcharge months ago....and so our bill ended up being overdue and they cut the gas off! We figured it out that Tuesday evening as Rhett was getting dinner started. The stove wouldn't turn on so we initially thought our stove had gone out...but then we thought of the gas and checked our gas fireplace...sure enough, it would not turn on either. So at that point, we knew the gas was off and Rhett called the gas company. I won't go into those details because that was not a pleasant phone conversation, but they said they'd come out the next day between 8am and 5pm. Of course! They ended up coming around 3pm on Wednesday. Anyway - that was a crazy ordeal and although it was highly annoying and inconvenient, we are thankful that it happened before we left and not while we were gone. Coming back the day before Christmas Eve and the weekend to find our house without gas would not have been fun!

So, other than that little hiccup, our trip went pretty well. We did not get to Rhett's grandmother's house until almost midnight, though. We were pretty tired and all headed straight to bed after figuring out sleeping arrangements. Rhett and Caleb slept in one room (Caleb on the floor b/c we didn't have rails set up for the bed) and I slept in another room with Aubrey. We discovered that we had not packed her pack n play, so she also had to sleep on the floor! I was a little concerned since we were in a strange place, but she did great. The one exception was when she woke up at 5am on Friday morning. I don't do 5am if I can help it! Other than that, she slept great and even took decent naps. Caleb actually did pretty well too.

Our trip was really quick because we wanted to get home for Christmas Eve at our own home. We were only there from Wednesday (late, so this day didn't count) until Friday (early, so this day didn't count either).....so basically, just one day - Thursday! It was worth the trip, though!

Rhett's parents brought the Gator truck (last year's present) for Cal and Caleb to ride. It was interesting to see these two interract this year. Cal wanted to tell Caleb what to do (and not do), which I think is pretty normal for a 3 year old! Caleb, being the defiant, I-just-want-to-push-every-button-you-have, 2 year old, thought it'd be funny to do the opposite of what Cal wanted him to do. It was actually kinda humorous. For example, Cal kept telling Caleb that he needed to hold onto the little handle bar for the passenger to hold on to. When Cal would tell him to do that, Caleb would look at him with a grin on his face while holding onto the windshield instead. Oh, kids! Uncle Mark taught them both how to call the cattle in the back pasture. This consisted of them both literally yelling "COWS!!" over and over at the top of their lungs. It was cute!

This is Rhett's grandmother (mom's mom), his mom and sister with Aubrey

Grandmom and Cal

G-Dad and Aubrey

Aubrey and Adam were precious together! They held hands - so sweet.

The big boys opening presents from NiNi and G-Dad.

They got a truck like G-Dad's pulling a Gator truck on a trailer!

Sweet girl

The NC Dotsons! Travis, Holly, Adam and Cal.

playing with the mini Gator truck

How sweet are they?! They locked eyes and just smiled at each other! (um, can you tell which baby sleeps on their back and which one sleeps on their stomach? flat head vs. round head, LOL)

Daddy and Aubrey (and her little squeeky bear that she likes)

Travis and Adam

Caleb got a Look N Find Handy Manny book and he just sat and stared at it for at least 5 minutes. He loves it.

Megan opening her TOMS from Rhett.

No telling what Mark said to make Holly laugh...

This shark bike helmet was a gag gift for Mark, but Caleb loved it! He kept walking behind the couch and all you could see was the little fin. We all got a kick out of that! (and that is a pop gun that he got from Grandmom)