This is my last day of the holidays in Texas.  Driving home tomorrow morning.  These are some highlights.  Eating out is always one of my favorites in Austin.  We’ve been dining at the Hyde Park Bar & Grill for thirty years.

It’s so hard to shop for your parents when they already have everything they need.  I simply wrote a book and wrapped that up for my mom.  Writing a novel this year didn’t make me exceptional in this crowd.  I enjoyed the discussions with Mark and Paige on their novels.  Paige has published several and Mark is still editing his first.

It’s a tradition that Papa always reads for the girls on Christmas Eve.

Brit, Ellie and Rachel dressed up fancy on Christmas day.  Ellie and Brit ran every day too.  They ran a ten miler one day, to counter the extreme eating.  No matter how many times I got them down to Town Lake, Brit would run past the bridge where she was supposed to cross, running farther than planned.

The fancy dresses didn’t last long.  I recall seeing them mostly in their pajamas.

I always get the best gifts from my brother-in-law Chad.  This package included a Batman onesie and even funnier coffee cup.

Each year includes a photo on the stairs of the Collier-Mahoney-Campbell grandchildren, from Brit the oldest to Liam the youngest.  We’ll end today with some laser tag and dinner at Matt’s El Rancho.