Only a couple days left...
12.16.2008
I am pretty excited about heading back to Louisiana for Christmas. It's been about two years since I've been home. Considering that before we went to Korea I was averaging a trip home twice a year, that is quite a long time! Of course, most of the fam came out to visit us over the past year or so. Dad visited in April 2007, Emily and Ben came out Labor Day, Katie, Kyle and David visited later in September, and Chris' mom spend last Christmas with us. Then, I saw Emily again over Mardi Gras this year in NYC when she spent the weekend there visiting friends. And Katie and David came for another visit in April for a jewelry show and ended up taking care of me during my surgery. When they left, Mom arrived to help out for a week. So even though I couldn't make it home, I still got to see my family. And of course, Rachel lives here in Maryland (and works with us) so we see her pretty regularly. Still, it's good to go home. I have tons of family there - aunts and uncles, lots and lots of cousins - and hopefully I'll see a few of them.
I love Christmas mornings at Mom's with everyone piled onto sofas or on pillows on the floor watching our nephew get so excited about opening his stocking, and getting to see everyone's faces when they open their gifts. When we were little we'd get up at the crack of dawn (and sometimes earlier) to see all the presents under the tree. We weren't allowed to open anything except our stockings until our parents had gotten up. That was around 7 or 8 when we were young, and then moved to 9 or so after we were a bit older. I can only imagine how tough that was for them, since we always went to midnight mass the night before. We'd get home around 1:30 or 2, then they would stay up finishing wrapping and stockings and setting everything out after we had fallen asleep. I'm sure there were years that my mom was up until 5 or 6. Of course, we didn't have a clue!
Louisiana Christmases are never white, although we may on occasion get a few flakes for New Years. A couple of my favorite things to do to celebrate Christmas in La are:
Driving through City Park in New Orleans to see the Christmas lights in the century-old oak trees
Unfortunately, the driving tour has been indefinitely postponed since Hurricane Katrina, although they still offer a walking tour. For more info, click here.
Eating breakfast at Cafe Des Amis in Breaux Bridge (that's pronounced "Bro" for all you non-Cajuns)
This tiny little cafe in Breaux Bridge (whose real name is Pont Breaux - all French) has live music every day of the week. They have the best zydeco music and Cajun breakfast hands-down! Okay, this is not really Christmas-specific, but if I don't do anything else during a visit home I always make sure we get to Cafe Des Amis for a Saturday morning breakfast. They start the music around 7:30 or 8 am, so you have to get there early! It's always packed, and usually has a bit of a wait if you get there any later. Everyone dances! Old, young, black, white - it's a whole lot of fun.
It's one of the best places to get beignets outside of New Orleans (pronounced "ben-yays"), and although I avoid sugar and white flour nowadays, I always make an exception for this tasty treat. My favorite breakfast there is the Eggs Des Amis, which is a biscuit with grilled boudin patty, swiss cheese and two eggs cooked however you like 'em. If you're not sure what boudin is - it's a moist pork rice dressing mixture that is stuffed into a casing. It's pretty darn yummy! And usually spicy! A close second is the Eggs Begnaud (can you tell I love eggs?) - a grilled biscuit with crawfish etouffee or crawfish au gratin and two eggs however you like 'em. And of course they both come served with plain grits, cheese grits or andouille grits. Mmmmhh, I love cheese grits!
Watching White Christmas with the fam
Well, the only reason this is in the "favorite things to do in La for Christmas" is that a La Christmas is the only time we all get together in one place. There is nothing we like more that watching old movies, and White Christmas is our favorite Christmas movie! I think my little brother could probably care less, but with a houseful of girls, he just kinda goes with the flow.
Posted bySarah at 8:57 AM
