A Long Christmas Story

Ever since we moved to Texas we have been making the trip back to GA/SC for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We try to fly for Thanksgiving but Christmas is the one time a year that we actually make the long drive.  With all the presents and the dog it just makes it easier.  But when you are driving two of the six days you have off and you have two families to see, it makes for one exhausting trip.

Day 1 - Drove from Houston to Atlanta with my Grandparents.  We left at 4am and drove for 14 hours which didn't seem too bad. When we arrived, we went to his parent's favorite Friday night Mexican restaurant to unwind.

Derek and Me with his brother and cousins

Day 2 - Christmas Eve! Part of Derek's extended family has been living in Atlanta for over the past five years.  His uncle is being transferred to Chicago and the move would begin right after Christmas.  Not knowing when everyone would be back together again made this a very special Christmas that everyone wanted to cherish. 

We took lots of family photos, enjoyed a pasta bar and chocolate fountain, and opened tons of presents.

It certainly won't be the same next year without everyone!

All of the Families

Derek, Me, and Maddie

Day 3 - Christmas Day!  We spent Christmas morning at Derek's house and opened presents with his parents and brother.  His other set of grandparents came over to eat breakfast and open more presents.  We then packed up the car and made the 3 hour trip to my parents house in South Carolina.

Christmas at my parent's house was a bit different than in past years.  This was the first year that we were without my oldest brother, his wife, and the only two children.  They recently moved to Utah and it was difficult not having my niece and nephew to enjoy the day with.  I can't wait to see them in a few weeks when we go visit.

We didn't take many family photos but I took lots of pictures of the delicious food.

My Mom's adorable Red Velvet Cupcakes

My Mom's Pumpkin Roll. Beautiful and Delicious

Picking the fried turkey clean.  It's family tradition.

Maddie really wanted some turkey

Smoked turkey, smoked salmon, and fried turkey!

Me with my brothers, Chris and John.  I have a picture of John smiling but I like this one better

Day 4 - We relaxed and recovered from the traveling and festivities.  We did leave the house long enough to pick up my brother's new car.

Chris saying goodbye to the beloved Kia. This was his first car and he drove it for 10 years.  It sounds like an airplane taking off in the morning and has one really squeaky belt.  It was time for him to move on.

Dr. Chris and the new Nissan Murano

Day 5 - Once again it was time to pack up and get on the road.  Before leaving, I went through all the stuff in my old room to bring a few nostalgic items back.  There was much to sift through but I found some really great things I never realized I had saved. We packed up a couple of my favorite trophies, medals, awards, and pictures to bring home along with all of my year books and my wedding dress.  I packed as much as I could into one box to bring back to Texas. 

We drove back to Atlanta to pick up a Uhaul and load Derek's childhood furniture and a few boxes of his favorite items from growing up. It was a long day of sorting and packing but it was great to get everything that we wanted from our parents.  I think our parents were probably more excited than we were because they could finally get it out of their houses.

This is what Maddie does in the car

Day 6 - We left around 4:30am to make the long drive back. Driving with the Uhaul added some time to our trip as we couldn't travel as quickly on the highway and we had to stop more often for gas.  Highlander usually gets 23 mpg on the highway but was lucky to get 16 mpg pulling the Uhaul.  It took a total of 15.5 hours to get back.  Pretty painful.  Thanks to Derek for driving the whole way and not making me drive with the trailer.

We made it safely home and are looking forward to celebrating the New Year and a much needed three day weekend at home.  Happy New Year!

Adopt-A-Family

Every year my division at work will adopt a few families to provide a Christmas for.  I had the privilege of being the coordinator for the event this year.  I wanted to do everything I could for the three families we had adopted and their eight children.  It is such a humbling experience to see what these children have to deal with and the condition of the places they live.

I spent several weeks sending emails, collecting donations, shopping, and organizing.  I have to admit that at times I wished I could just give the responsibility to someone else but in the end, it was all worth it.  It's such a rewarding feeling knowing that I helped play a part in giving these children a Christmas they will never forget.

Below is a picture of me and several of my coworkers before we went to deliver all the presents.  We gave each family a $75 Kroger gift card, a holiday dinner, a set of towels, laundry basket, and laundry detergent.  Each child received at least two outfits, a pair of shoes, and a few toys. 

O' Spider Tree

Anyone know the difference between these two trees?  One is real and one is fake? Yes.  One looks kind of like a hot mess and the other a bit more organized?  Yes.  One is strung with lights and the other is prelit?  Also true.   Now the biggest difference that is missing is one has spiders and the other does not!

Last year was the first time Derek and I got a Christmas tree.  Prior to last Christmas, we always lived in an apartment and were spending the holidays at our parents' houses so it never made sense to have one.  With it being our first Christmas in our first house, we just had to get a tree.  We picked up the gem on the left at Home Depot.  I had wanted to go to a tree farm to cut one of our own but they don't grow frasier firs in Texas.  That was the only kind of tree I wanted so we would just have to settle for one that was trucked in from North Carolina.

We thought the tree was great (although after looking back at the pictures it looks kind of pathetic) until we returned home from spending Christmas with our families.  We had placed white trash bags all around the bottom of the tree to prevent any sap from going on the wood floors but these trash bags caught far more than sap.  They caught hundreds of tiny spiders.

Apparently there was a spider's egg that we got at no extra charge with our Christmas tree.  Being in the warm house, the egg burst open spilling all the little pests out.  I guess I have to say that we were fortunate in that the egg burst before all the spiders were grown enough to survive on their own.  They were mostly laying on their back squirming their nasty spider legs and thankfully not scurrying all over my house.  What an awful infestation that would have been!

My friend, Katie, arrived home with us and I think within ten minutes she and I had completely undecorated the tree and dragged it into the back yard.  We swept and vacuumed up all the spiders we couldn't wrap up in the trash bags and then ran to the showers.  Whether we got any bugs on us or not we couldn't erase the images and had to make sure we washed off any remaining spiders.

That day, I swore I was done with real Christmas trees.  Once the trees came out in stores (which I believe was right after Halloween for goodness sake) we began hunting for the perfect fake tree.  We settled on the one on the right and I couldn't be happier.  No sap, no stringing lights, no watering, no needles, and NO SPIDERS!

Hot Tub Relocation

Our friends, Mark and Chantal, had been storing their hot tub in their garage from when they moved to Texas over a year ago.  They finally decided it was time to install it in their backyard and decided we could accomplish this ourselves.  So how many engineers does it take to move a 700 lb hot tub from the garage to back deck?

It takes seven. Five to work and two to watch.

Moving this hot tub was a challenge none of the guys could pass up.  They schemed for weeks on the best way to do it.  I think a few were upset when renting a crane to lift it over the house was ruled out.  They settled on a pallet jack and board path method. 

Derek drove the pallet jack.

They had to turn it up on its side to get it through the opening in the fence.  They then flipped it back down until they got it in place.  The big move was ultimately successful and there were no injuries sustained.

After the hot tub was wired up, cleaned, and filled we were all invited over to break it in.

Everyone else went out to enjoy the hot tub while Derek and I cheered on the Tigers to win the ACC Championship.  After the game was over, Derek and the guys enjoyed the fruits of their labor.