For the first time in almost 40 years, Kathy and I are not celebrating Christmas morning around our Christmas tree with our family. But never has the spirit of Christmas been greater as we have been joined by our family and many of the Tech Family in Dallas to spend time together and celebrate the season. We brought our gifts to Dallas and are continuing our tradition of early morning present exchanges with Chad, Shannon, Kyle and Ginger while Bret, Christy and Christopher are joining us by FaceTime, something that we have done for the past 3 years that they have lived in Jacksonville, Florida. And while we do not have our own Christmas tree, the city of Dallas gave us a beautifully lit Reunion Tower right outside our window. We also had a musical Christmas treat on Christmas eve with the John Horn High School Jaguar band right outside our hotel joined by many residents of the Dallas community.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, the Omni Hotel has welcomed many from the Dallas homeless community to spend Christmas night in the hotel, and we were able to visit with a few of them throughout Christmas eve. We are also able to celebrate Christmas with so many of the Tech Family who are here to watch the Bulldogs play in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Last night after a special dinner with our Guice family, Kathy and I and the family spent some time in the hotel hospitality suite with Skip and Jennifer Holtz and several other coaches and their wives. We have visited with many other Tech faculty and staff throughout the hotel. We spent much of Christmas eve with everyone around here watching various football bowl games and were pleased to see Conference USA partner universities Western Kentucky and Rice University gain victories in their matchups. Marshall also won their bowl game this week and that makes Conference USA at 3-1 for the bowl season so far. Our coaches even had a little fun at the final team practice on Christmas eve as they got to go against each other in a scrimmage. I understand that Tim Rattay still has that great touch in passing the ball. And after practice on Wednesday, the team was treated to some golf at a local Top Golf facility. I don’t think there will be any special highlight films made from our players’ time swinging the golf clubs though. After a nice Christmas lunch with Kyle and Ginger today, we will have more fun and fellowship with our friends here. The next wave of Tech Family members will be coming to Dallas this afternoon, and AD Tommy McClelland and I will be hosting a Christmas evening dinner and get-together at a nearby restaurant for approximately 250 Tech fans. That will get us all ready for tomorrow – Game Day! The Guice Family has enjoyed our Christmas with our Tech friends in Dallas! Merry Christmas to all of the Tech Family.