Parties, Santa, and Snow!

Thursday morning I woke up and it was snowing! It had rained all Wednesday and the rain turned to big, fat wet flakes over night. By the time I left for work, it was already turning to a rainy slush and starting to melt, so it didn't last long. But, it was fun to see how excited everyone was because snow is such a rare phenomenon in Louisiana. (I think it was 2004, the last time it snowed here). I got a message from Maggie, on my phone, at 6:30 in the morning, telling me to get outside because there was event outside that I probably wouldn't see again for 20 years! Then, when I got to work, Don scrapped all the snow off the back of my car and made a snowball with it. He put it in a mug and placed it in the freezer, with a tag that said, "Officially licensed December 11, 2008 New Iberia Snow from Lonnie's car."

It seems like I spent the whole week partying. First, we had our Branch Christmas Party on Tuesday night. It was nice. Stories were read, carols were sung (including the reenactment of "The Twelve Pains of Christmas"), food was consumed (the standard ham and funeral potatoes), and Santa stopped by for a visit.

Then, we had our Relief Society Christmas Party on Thursday night. We got into groups and did a picture scavenger hunt, where we had to drive around and find houses decorated for Christmas. We had 45 minutes and a list of 45 items that we had to take pictures with. For example, we had to find a blow-up Santa and, staying on the sidewalk, pose as if we had our arms around him. Another one was we had to find a red door, and again, from the sidewalk, make it look like we were knocking on the door. My favorite was "Find a dog barking in the window and pose as if you were petting its head" and we actually found a dog barking in the window! When we got back to the church, we each got a candy cane with a word on it and Julie read "Twas the Night before Christmas." When she said our word, we had to stand up and say "Ho, ho, ho" and then we got to pick a gift. Afterwards, we feasted on turkey with all the trimmings. It was a blast!

Finally, Friday was our Christmas Pig Out at work. Everybody brought food and we literally pigged out! I got to try boudin for the first time and really liked it (it's a rice mixture, usually with pork, put in a sausage skin-you don't eat the outside, you just kind of suck it out). I liked the spicy flavor.

Saturday I had another date and we went and saw the new movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (a remake of the 1950s sci-fi classic) and then had dinner at The Seafood Connection ( I tried the shrimp balls, which were pretty good). Afterwards, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. It was fun.

I going home for Christmas and I can't wait to see all my family and friends. I can't believe I'm leaving in less than a week! Kathy said she hope I could get there, because apparently Utah is having a big storm right now.

Lonnie