Angela BensonThis post continues my earlier post on how we spent the holidays in 2011.
Our second stop was to rescue my husband’s daughter’s car from its resting spot on I-94. Yes, we had to get the car towed. Nobody knew we were in town until we showed up, along with the tow truck and the car. We were greeted with happy smiles.
We still had Christmas gifts for his grandchildren to buy so the next couple of days were spent shopping. My husband found the toys and I found the educational gifts. I ended up getting the LeapFrog “My Own Laptop” in violet for his granddaughter and in white for his grandson.
One of my husband’s sisters invited us to her Christmas dinner, which she held on Christmas Eve so her children and grandchildren could spend Christmas Day at their respective homes. Hubby went over early in the day to help cook. When he came to pick me up for dinner, he sorta fell asleep. For a long time. By the time he woke up and got back over there with his daughters, all the food was gone and so were the people. He couldn’t believe it and neither could I. The look on his face when he realized there really was no more food was too funny. I wish I could have captured that look with a camera. Being the good husband and father he is, he bought his daughters Chinese and gave me the last serving of mac ‘n cheese and dressing. It was delicious!
After dropping off the gifts for the grandchildren the next day, we had Christmas dinner with my husband’s older brother. He cooked, we ate, and then we watched football on TV. And my husband talked to various relatives who called during the day. There were a lot of calls!
Since my brother-in-law also has grandchildren, he had a beautifully decorated tree and a family room full of toys. When we got there one grandchild was banging on a drum set and the other was riding on some kind of cart. I told my B-i-l he’d regret buying that drum set when his ear drums started hurting. My husband and his brothers are all very good cooks so we ended up with plenty of leftovers to take back to the hotel.
The next day we spent with my husband’s mother. We don’t get to see her as much as we see my mother so I was happy to spend some time with her. She’s a sweet woman who has welcomed me with open arms into her family.
She lives in an assisted living building that I think is perfect for seniors. Her apartment has a small kitchen area, but the facility also has a dining room where they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Residents can cook for themselves, eat in the dining room or have their meals brought to their rooms. The good thing is that my mother-in-law has made good friends in the building. While we were there, one friend brought her over some cake the woman had baked.
The next few days were spent with my husband touching base with various family members and spending some time with his kids. I went along on some of these visits, but not all of them.
On the day we left for home, we went to visit with his son and his family in Detroit. This gave us a last visit with them and the grandkids. Guess whose LeapFrog laptop was out of commission? The grandson’s.
After that stop, we were headed back home. We drove about five hours to our normal stop at the Holiday Inn Express in Carolton, KY. Again, we paid with hotel points.
The next morning we began the last eight-hour leg back to Tuscaloosa. We’d had a great trip but it was good to get back home.
My mom has already planned for us to spend Thanksgiving with her in Atlanta next year so I guess that’s what we’ll do unless we get an invitation from Michigan. In that case, we’ll have to have a family holiday negotiation session. Isn’t married life wonderful?
Yes! Married life is great 🙂 Sounds like a lot of fun.