Our First Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! As you can see from the pictures, Byron got a new cell phone holder. Its highly advanced and frees up his hands to do various other things while talking on the phone. You can open presents, make coffee, vacuum all without skipping a beat talking to your loved ones! Watch out for the patented design coming to stores near you.

Byron was a little delirious the night before Christmas and crafted this "cell phone" holder. We watched movies and drank hot tea and tried to talk ourselves out of opening presents early. It was wonderful. He is on Trauma surgery right now, and some nights they just get swamped. HE says its like a war zone some nights- especially on holiday's. People having off work, going to parties, drinking, fighting etc. does not make a good recipe for a quiet night in the ER. He's been burning the midnight oil...but I've heard nothing but positive things said about his work ethic. That was a really cool thing to hear the nurses, docs, and administrative staff speak so highly of him! I'm so proud!

Anyway- Christmas morning started early (well...earlier for Byron than for me:). I headed to the church to help my friend Julie with a Christmas dinner for some of the needy families in the area. but...the power was out at church! Yikes. So- we rushed around trying to find available kitchens to finish cooking up the meal. God bless Grandma B for opening her kitchen to us on Christmas morning! SHe was a lifesaver. We served dinner to one lady who was so grateful to have somewhere to go for Christmas. She lives alone and doesn't have much family she can count on. It was heartbreaking to hear her story. We also delivered meals to two other families on Christmas day. Julie said they called her the next day thanking her over and over again for her outpouring of love and how much having a good meal meant to them. That made it all the hectic hustle and bustle totally worth while. Next year- we hope to have more families!

Byron even got off work early and was able to join us at the church! After cleaning up- we headed back home to open presents together. Byron got me a MacBook! Whooo hooo! My old computer was about 8 years old and was on its last leg. He said he couldn't stand the constant buzz saw noise coming from my desk anymore. Yipppeeee! Byron got some Aggie scrubs, gift cards to his favorite stores, a marshmallow shooter (which my 4 year old sunday school class thinks is the COOLEST gift ever. They think you can make it rain marshmallows with it.) and a few other ods and ends. And...with his Christmas money...he bought a shotgun he's been wanting for several years now. He was listing off all these other 'practical' things to do with the money- but I pushed him toward getting the gun. He works very very hard for our family and rarely splurges on things for himself (which is more than I can say for myself. Oops), so with a little encouragement- he gave in and bought the thing! He's now looking forward to duck season...if he can ever get away from the hospital.

After presents we headed over to Gentry's house. She's a 4th or 5th year neuro resident (I can't remember) and we cooked up a feast! It was amazing. SHe's and awesome cook and I'm so looking forward to learning more techniques from her. We were all running behind (who isn't on Christmas day?), so I got to help her cook! It was a lot of fun actually. We made Roast duck, apricots with cranberry sauce, several sauces for the duck (Raspberry, chocolate orange), sweet potatoes, cherry risotto, green beans and almonds, apple pie, homemade rolls, chocolate souffle, berry crisps, stuffing balls, fried apples and so much more! It was amazing. A true gourmet feast! We were STUFFED to say the least. I should have taken some pics of the before (when it all looked so pretty), but once again- I didn't remember my camera until we were about to leave. But- you get the idea.





We finished up the Christmas day by watching a movie and heading to bed. It was an excellent first Christmas together. THank you all for our gifts and holiday wishes! And...heres to a great 2010!

I'm going to have to download some pictures from Christmas morning- but another day...another post.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Merry Christmas everyone! Though Christmas time is my favorite time of year (Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year), Im somewhat relieved now that things have slowed down a bit. Don't get me wrong- I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays -but for some reason- it seemed a little more hectic than last year. Like...this year it actually snuck up on me! Maybe it was being out of town so many weekends in Nov. and Dec, or maybe it was being in a new city or maybe it was all the other big life events of the last six months (new job, new marriage, new city etc), but I feel like I blinked...and it was Christmas week!

THe holiday week was filled with GREAT meals (thanks Grandma B), quality hang out time with friends and family, and of course some last minute shopping. Most of my shopping was done online this year since almost everything had to be shipped. Byron took me to see the Lion King on Broadway. It was absolutely AMAZING! if you ever get the chance...you should go. The money is totally worth it! The opening scene is simply stunning. THe music is so loud and all your senses are overwhelmed as the "animals" come out on stage. It almost brought me to tears it was so good! I spend the next 45 minutes trying to figure out how the costumes worked. Johnny and Genevieve went with us too, so it was a great night of entertainment and friends.


Julie, ELliot and I delivered some HOliday harvest boxes to a few local needy families. Our church puts together over 530 boxes of food complete with everything you need for a traditional Christmas dinner: Turkey, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc. and also wraps up Christmas presents if the family has young children. It was such a privilege to deliver these boxes. the families are so grateful and really count on this help. One little boy waited ALL day by the window waiting for us to drop off this meal. He was so excited when we finally arrived with the goodies he hid behind the couch and wouldn't come out. He was overly shy at that point, but he poked his head out at the very end to say thank you. He made that day totally worth the effort.

Byron's work party was downtown on the riverwalk at Hotel Valencia. Neurosurgery does it right! The balcony overlook was simply beautiful. San ANtonio decorates the riverwalk with thousands of Christmas lights which makes the river walk even more stunning. I really enjoyed getting dressed up, and visiting with the other residents and their spouses. I'll admit- I was a little intimidated at first- this being a formal event and all, but after the music came on, and all the meals were served, talking and chatting came easily. Shannon- the wife of a faculty member, is an avid amateur marathon runner and she and I really hit it off. She is so full of energy- I hope I can keep up with her! She ran the SA marathon in 3 hrs and 45 minutes! yikes! Go Shannon. After a few hours, almost everyone was out on the dance floor movin' and groovin' while some good ol fashioned "Baby Got Back" played in the background.


Here is Byron with most of the other residents and some other co-workers. Two are missing from the picture... but someone's gotta be at the hospital right?!?




Christmas dinner was shared at Grandma B's house along with the Adam's family, and Warren and Melissa. THe Adam's kids donned their most obnoxious Christmas sweaters for the occasion. Grandma served up a wonderful meal, followed by a small Christmas in the family room. She bought Byron and I an oil painting of a beach scene that reminds me of North Carolina. I love it!

Thanksgiving Boswell Reunion

So after a mini reunion with friends...I headed out to the Branch Ranch for some quality family time. Thanksgiving day was an outing at the Ranch complete with a Family Olympics, devotionals, and lots and lots of food. There were so many activities including skeet shooting, a scavenger hunt, fishing tournaments, relay races (both running AND Kayak) and some good old fashioned hanging out. O my how the day flew by. It was a great way to get to know more of the Boswell clan. Its huge! I had such a wonderful time getting to know new members of my extended family.

Thanksgiving dinner was served at Grayln and the meat was excellent. I must learn how to cook a turkey and still keep it nice and juicy inside! the Dinner was peppered with little bits of trivia about the Boswell clan and its histories. One thing that really struck me was the lineage of Church of Christers. Wow! as I spend more time in the "real World" I'm learning more and more what a blessing it is to be part of a family that places such importance on Christ.

Friday was a relaxing day out at the ranch and we walked, talked, and went to see The Blind Side. What a great movie! SO inspiring! If you haven't seen it- I highly recommend it. We finished up Friday with a night of games and hanging out in the kitchen. It was so sad that Byron couldn't make it. Hopefully he'll have some more say in vacations and such as the time goes on in residency. We are really looking forward to that!