This Year we spent Christmas Eve with Jacob’s family.

I baked a Bouche de Noel and Jacob made eggrolls with his delicious homemade boudin. Sorry, this is not a recipe we will be sharing as we plan to make a living with boudin and other cajun specialities. The Bouche de Noel was just a combination of a few recipes from the web I thought would be delicious.

We attended a wonderful Midnight Mass after dinner and presents. On Christmas morning we slept in late then visited Jacob’s MawMaw. After our visit we headed on out with our camper to our next destintation. We arrived at the campground close to sunset.

Just enough time to set up the camper and make a nice fire. The smell of a wood fire is one of the best things about camping. I try to keep that smell on me as long as possible by not washing my hair LOL, tis true.
Since it was Christmas night, even after the fire out was burned out there was still one blazing on the television.

Gotta love the fire-scape with continuous Christmas tunes! I remember begin little opening gifts at my Grandparents house with this fire on tv, ah I love things that help you remember the past and all the people you love!

There are a few reasons we chose to camp in this park.
1.) We wanted to visit Avery Island, Tabasco Land.
2.) Visit Marc Savoy’s Music Center for a Jam Session in Eunice, LA.
3.) Dancing at La Poussiere in Breaux Bridge, LA.
5.) Walking/Biking trails.

This park was a great choice because it was close enough to all of our destinations. The restrooms were clean, but could really benefit from a renovation. This campground is basically a swam so some of the sites had water very close to the trailer pad, while the premium sites were on the bayou with a small deck to dock a boat. Before making a reservation you can look online at there website to see a picture of each site. I chose site 4, because I couldn’t decide based on the picture so I just picked my favorite number. It turned out to be one of the best, because it was very dry and had an additional tent pad. Plus the site next to us was broken, so we had like a football in between us and the nearest campers.

Our trip to Avery Island was fun and quietly enjoyable, because there was not many people there, I’m not a big fan of crowds. Unfortunately the factory was closed for employees, we assumed, because it was the day after Christmas. We made plans to go there specifically to see the factory in action, as did everyone else there. Therefore, they need to update there website to reflect the correct working/non-working days. There is a short video about the history of Tabasco, a hallway to view the factory (working or not) and small room with displays to visibly describe facts about the factory and processes.

Above is a picture of an oak barrell filled with a mash of tabasco peppers and salt, you can put your nose right up to it and take a big wiff!
Side note: My mom HATES that smell, funny because my dad put loads of tabasco on everything!

Above is a picture of the oak barrel filled with the mashed pepper then sealed up. They top every barrel with a layer of salt on the outside to seal in the flavors and to keep other flavors from getting in.

After the tour, we went into the General Store to have samples of Tabasco ice cream, soda, and a variety of sauces.

I loved the ice cream, I had a few extra samples…shh our secret! We decided to head over to the Jungle Gardens for a tour. The tour is self-guided with a download guide on a smart device. We chose to drive because it is a lot of ground to cover and it was a little on the chilly side. Here are some of the pictures.

Back at the campground for dinner, we made a big pot of chilly. Supervision provided by Roux.

While that was cooking, we scoured the woods for dry, old wood. We made a huge, raging fire! It was so nice and cozy eating homemade chili by the fire….note to self, don’t get too comfortable and use the fire ring as foot rest. The sole of your shoe will not survive.
The following day, Friday, we went on a nice long hike in the woods. There a few trails in this park, all with clear paths and labels. There are pavilions for hanging out with a group and restrooms located at the entrance to the trails.

The picture above is Roux peering over the edge of the boardwalk at the strange creature below. There were TONS of armadillos all over this!

Since this park is in the swam and surrounded by bayous it is a good place to get in some fishing.

We, of course, capped of the night with a fire…hotdogs and smores

On Saturday we drove over to Eunice, LA to visit Marc Savoy’s Music Shoppe. I didn’t get any pictures here just videos of Jacob placing his accordion in the jam group. I wish I could post videos, they are awesome, but I can’t.
We finished off the night with dancing to Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys at La Poussiere. That was such a good time!

Sunday we lit a fire to finish off our wood and played washers. Ask Jacob how AMAZING his wife is at that game. Then I got a call from my mom that broke my heart and had us packing up and heading home. I have an incredible husband, who always knows the right thing to do. He insisted that his dad come get our camper and trade vehicles with us so that we could get home as soon as possible. I was so lucky to get there in time to be with my mom and my mawmaw to see her one last time. I got to tell her I love her and kiss her goodbye before she went up to heaven. Now she is safe, in a happy place with everyone who loves her watching over us.

If I Should Go

by Unknown Author

If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don’t you ever cry.
The love that’s deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You’ll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.