We got to my parents' house and my mom had a nice, hot stew going to help us defrost from our drive. After dinner we went over to my grandma's new place so I could get the tour and play with Dixie, her Maltese/Chihuahua mix puppy.
When we got back home we watched "A Christmas Story" -- an annual tradition. On Christmas morning we got up early to get the massive turkey in the oven and get everything going. We had sausage gravy biscuits for breakfast and opened presents. I'm happy to report that my parents bought Andy and I a new digital camera, so we are retiring our old HP, aka the Commodore 64 of digital cameras. Seriously, we've had it since we first started dating (also a Christmas gift from my mom and dad) and I think that wasn't too long after they first came out. Remember how big cell phones were when they came out? Yep, that's my old camera.
Later, my brother and his family came over, along with my grandma, my aunt and cousins. We had a huge dinner and later all kinds of crazy good desserts. My aunt made a carrot cake and kringles (for those of you who haven't had kringles, I'm sorry. You are really missing out!)
We watched Elf and opened more presents. Thank you to everyone for all the great gifts. We sincerely appreciate them! The only thing missing was Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, another annual tradition that I unfortunately left at home.
On Wednesday we made some calls and found a glass place to get our passenger window fixed. Sadly, they wrecked their van over the weekend, so instead of driving to us, we had to go to them and they weren't exactly conveniently located. We decided that Andy would drive to the place and I would take my mom's car and visit David and Joaquin (aka the baby that is so ridiculously cute it actually hurts). See what I mean below.
This picture is courtesy of Joye's fabulous dad, Bob Ross.
David served up some Coquito -- Puerto Rican egg nog. It's made with coconut milk and is really tasty!
While I was enjoying the company of those two great guys, Andy was having a much more difficult time. The replacement glass for my window was delivered on time and everything was ready to go. The problem was when they took my door apart, they discovered that the glass was fine. Apparently the regulator was broken, which has something to do with the motor that rolls the window down. And apparently that part is pretty difficult to come by.
Andy ended up driving all the way back and calling around trying to find the part. We dropped the car off at our old mechanic where it would stay until Friday. Yep, Friday -- that's how long it takes to get a tiny little part to roll your window down.
Later that night we had Christmas leftovers and then headed out to meet Muffin and Sean for some trivia at a local bar. We had a great time and ended up taking second place. On Thursday, we finally made it to Fat Matt's Rib Shack for some tasty BBQ. We drove around downtown for a while, mesmerized by the how much more house you can get for your money there -- even in the hip Atlanta neighborhoods.
Finally we went to All-Tournament Players Park, where my dad works, to see my nephew play basketball and then to Taco Mac, our favorite hangout there for dinner and to see friends. Amy and Amanda met us there with their hubbies Jonathan and Austin, and later Muffin and Sean joined us.
It was great catching up with everyone and I hope they all visit soon. HINT HINT, no pressure though. Oh, and CONGRATS AMANDA!
The next morning we got up and got all packed and ready to go and then had to wait for our car until after noon. We finally got on the road around 1:30 and made it home around 12 hours later (thanks to a huge traffic jam in S.C).
Oh, and for the Christmas that just keeps giving, Andy got sick on the way home. Don't know if he picked up something while in Georgia or if it was something he ate, but he just today started feeling almost all the way better.
Despite all the road bumps, it was a really nice trip and we loved seeing everyone. Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year in about 20 minutes!)
No comments:
Post a Comment