Christmas in New Orleans

I should have put this picture in the first update post post. This is a picture of Claire's Natchitoches family. They truly treated her as one of their own. It was so nice to hang out with them. And they directed me to something I've wanted for years-- a Santa painted on a Cypress tree knee-- which is very unique to Natchitoches.

The next day, we volunteered with the Patio Planters of the Vieux Carre. They have been holding Christmas Caroling in Jackson Square for over 80 years. Assembling the candles:

The line to enter went around the square, with thousands of attendees.

Of course, David did his obnoxious Mexican laugh for Feliz Navidad, which we mostly appreciated.

We helped break down the stage after. Last ones standing:

The sheep and wise men in the annual Christmas Nativity are getting a lot taller:

The brave midnight mass attendees at St Louis Cathedral:

 

Christmas morning.

Sybil told me "It doesn't matter that you give horrible gifts because I have GG."

Lunch with Olga and her girls at the famous Parkway Bakery and Tavern

Cruising around the French Quarter with the teenagers

Bad News: Nola professional sports teams kinda suck

Good News: Buying a private suite is relatively cheap 

30 guests were allowed, so it was mostly men and their kids. 

The women stayed home and did a girls night; I lost the one-footed standing challenge to a 12 year old.

Dinner with the adults. This guy is my favorite.

Loving Abuelo. Brian brought his guitar and David did some interprative dancing.

Baton Rouge temple trip

Farewell lunch

 

Recap paused

I don't often get to talk to Elijah (and even less now that he's on a remote island with spotty connection), but I love that kid. On Monday mornings I always wake up to a message: "whassup," "Supppp," or a "Hey mom." Every week he emails a brief description of his week and a spiritual thought. This week his thoughts hit hard--it was very applicable to some feelings I've been having. I seem to be seeing a lot of not-coincidences lately. Miracles didn't stop when Christ left the earth.

Here's an excerpt from the more colorful part of his letter today:

 "We saw parts of the opening of Carnaval which is definitely an experience...! There were many people in costumes and dancing! There seemed to be lots of competitions going on including that of who can wear less clothes without catching a charge for indecent exposure... everyone seemed to be tied for first! We were counseled to avoid it so we didn't see too much of it, but definitely enough."

I'm guessing he took this pic on Jan 6th, the first day of Carnival season:

 

Starting my Christmas recap

 Oh man, It's been too long. I took my computer on vacation with high hopes, but I am an expert at talking myself out of good decisions. I also really enjoy spending time with awesome people, which often takes priority over blogging. 

Speaking of awesome people, David jumped in the hot tub yesterday, ready to call his grandpa. I thought about calling him this week also when I was driving to the temple. But we can't call him anymore. Hector Sr. was an amazing man. We were able to spend good time with him over Christmas break. He had a fall in October which caused a good amount of mental and physical incapacity. But he perked up, recognized David, let me feed him, watched some salacious Spanish daytime television with us, and even snuck in a few curse words. 

We drove to Nola. Our first stop was for gas in AZ where David bought his first and last Powerball ticket. He did under the influence of Sybil. I didn't learn about it until after when everyone was dreaming about how they were going to spend their trillions of money. Of course we stopped at Buc-ee's. And our last stop before Nola was in Natchitoches where the town was rearing up for the annual Christmas festival. The weather was perfect!

When visiting places where you grew up but haven't visited recently, you remember little things like: Natchitoches is the only place I have ever crowd-surfed.

Claire and her former LSMSA suite-mate.

Funnel Cake!

More to catch-up to come...

End of an era

After 8 months, this week was my last week of clinical at the Health District. I absolutely love the health district. One guy came in with a mass on his dorsal thigh that measured 12 inches by 14 inches. It had developed 2 years before. Where else do I get to see and touch stuff like that? At a concert last night, the music and the company were excellent AND we were sitting in the second row, just feet away from Angela Aguilar. But there was a guy in the first row who had a cyst of some sort on his head that I found almost as fascinating as the concert. I had to restrain myself from getting a closer look and asking inappropriate questions.

Another era might be ending:

 Sybil continues to give me private dance performances. She used to dance with abandon in the grocery aisles. Then, the dances were restricted to our home, and now it's usually a private audience of just me. I'm afraid they will soon end completely. On the other hand, I know she's still a tween and not a teen because I told her that the only thing ai wanted for Christmas was a promise that she would shower daily in January. She said, "you ask things that are too hard." 

Other happenings this week:

Sybil played her piano piece for the relief society dinner and will have her Christmas concert later today. Iris had her culminating orchestra concert yesterday. 

Church Christmas party and work party. Soccer tournament. Tonight we are hosting a posada at our house.

Los pastores

La posada

rompiendo la piñata

Family pictures

We waited too late in the season to get a professional photographer for our chirstmas cards. So we took a crack at it. Claire and I tried to use AI to clean them up, but AI wants us to be African, so we had to stick with unfiltered pics.

 

Sybil's Christmas wish list

On the back of the paper: "I need a donkey because horses get lonely."

 

Thanksgiving 2025

Pre Thanksgiving ice cream trip with soccer buddies.

We flew to Cour d'Alene, ID for the last Udall grandkid's (Emma Lou) baptism.

Visited Christmas lights:

Blueberry the bird

Practicing dancing moves

More cousins!

Singing to K-pop Demon Hunters

After thanksgiving dinner, we took pictures of eachother and used AI to see what it would look like to gain 100 lbs, dance like a moviestar, and walk a catwalk.

Proud sister moment: Leah offered us fresh, homemade muffins our first day there. They were grape muffins made of grapes that she had frozen because they were going to go bad, then took them out of the freezer and they were not too robust....so she made muffins. I gave her a hug when I found out what the muffins were made of--family ties run deeper than blood.

Feeding the bunnies

Walking along the lake

The baptism

Trying to hug the tween attitude out of Sybil= not successful

Ice skating

Yesterday I spoke to Elijah. He was excited to tall me about his score of 124 on an IQ. Love that kid and wish I had at least an iota of his confidence.