The First Christmas of 2012

With John's family being here in Memphis and my family being in OH, we travel for either Thanksgiving or Christmas every year and alternate which holiday we spend with each family. This year, we made the trek to OH for Thanksgiving - a long, 13 hour drive for the weekend since we couldn't take any time off work other than me leaving a few hours early so we could get on the road.

We got on the road about an hour later than I would have liked to, and then about halfway between Memphis and Nashville, we started getting low tire pressure in one of the tires which slowed us down even more. We stopped at a few gas stations along the way to put air in it, then stopped at a shop in Nashville to get it checked out. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a nail and (thankfully) it was in a spot that could be patched easily. Also good is that the place we stopped at was a location of the company we had used to purchase the tires 2 years ago, and they don't charge to do a patch. But, while that was great, being slowed down and having to stop meant we were getting back on the road on a freshly patched tire right at 5 in the middle of Nashville. Not fun.

Needless to say, we did not make the whole drive on Wednesday, as much as I would have liked to. We ended up staying in Cincinnati and then finishing the last 4 hours of the drive Thanksgiving morning. I think the kids wouldn't have cared less if we had kept going, since they were fast asleep:

We spent Thanksgiving night at my dad's and let the kids open presents from my younger sister while her kids opened the gifts we had brought for them.

Years ago, my mom started cooking on the day after Thanksgiving to make it easier on everyone not having to worry about hitting 2 or 3 houses on Thanksgiving. So after an early dinner on Friday, the kids got to open their presents from my mom & stepdad and my two older sisters. Too many pics to post here, so I'll put the two biggest (combined gifts to cover their birthdays and Christmas).

John Anthony and the great iPod Nano:

 

 

Alex and the Nintendo 3DS:



I think they were happy boys that day, don't you?

It was a short trip (we drove home on Sunday), but it was good to get out of Memphis for a few days and see my family. We didn't get to see all the friends we usually do since we were short on time, but hopefully we'll make it up there this summer and see everyone then.

Sadness

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, but there's been a lot going on. I'll do a separate post to catch up on Thanksgiving and our trip to OH to spend the holiday with my family later on.

Today, I'm going to keep it brief. Please keep our family in your prayers as we grieve over the loss of my mother-in-law. She passed away early yesterday morning after a courageous 3 year battle with both breast cancer that metastasized to her liver.

This weekend, while comforting my kids while they each deal with their grief in their own way and my husband, his dad and brother made the arrangements with the church for the services, I am reminded of a comment Alex made on the way home from school the other day:

Alex: I like Mary, Jesus and God.
Me: You really like talking about everything you learn in church, don't you?
Alex: Yes, I do. And I love the Holy Spirit because if you like the others, you can't not love the Holy Spirit.