My Christmas Vacation by Emily Chappell

We have been quite the busy travelers this holiday season. This year was Justin’s turn to get to spend Christmas with his family in Birmingham. This is something about marriage that really depresses me. Why do I have to share my favorite holiday with the in-laws? I know that it is fair, but I still don’t like it. So we decided to have our little Christmas on Thursday night, the 20th. We had a big date over to Moe’s and came home to open our presents to each other. It was very fun…just the two of us. Justin acted very surprised, even though he knew what most of his gifts were. He is so funny. Here he is emoting over a sweatshirt that he had asked for. All our pictures look like this. He even got this excited over the Carhartt pants and he picked those out himself. And bought them.

Justin is a creative gift giver. He gave me a new North Face coat to replace the one he bought me last year (I should devote an entire post to that gift)...he stuffed gift cards to Saks in the pockets so I can get some (more) jeans. I do love that man.We drove to the big city early on Saturday morning, the 22nd. We got there just in time for the Wallis family get-together in Trussville. We ate a bunch and played Dirty Santa. I came out with a piece of soap shaped like a snowflake…I am thinking that that is what I get for giving crappy gifts at the Baxley’s party. The highlight of our trip was getting to visit with old friends that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like. On Sunday afternoon, we had coffee with Lindsey and Brent. I finally got to meet Brent, and am glad to see that he does exist. In this picture I am wearing my religious Christmas t-shirt that Jonas (brother-in-law) gave me. He bought matching shirts for me and Mary (MIL) to wear. No Lindsey, I am still not over it.On Christmas Eve I had lunch with Jill at Zoe's and went back to her house to meet her sweet puppy Bella. Jill is having a little boy child in May and looks just fantastic. I told mom that she looks like a skinny girl who just ate. Her bump is so tiny. It's nice for my stomach to be flatter than hers for once in my life. On Christmas night we got to hang out with Kristen and Mitch who were in town from St. Louis. We had the best time, and Justin keeps saying how much he likes hanging out with them and wishes they lived closer. I do too. I miss Kris tons, especially around the holidays. We had the best time at the Brown House. Our Christmas parties ROCKED. If it seems like all I did was visit my friends, guess again. I really got in some quality time with the Chappell clan… we ate at Red Lobster, watched at least 13 movies over the course of 4 days and went to a movie. They are really into movies... Oh, and I read 2 books.

I missed my puppies so much while we were gone. I have never been so happy to see those two little furry people in my life. And my bed. I missed my bed, too. Four nights on an air mattress is too many for a person like myself with such a delicate constitution. My parents did come, hallelujah, this past weekend. I just love seeing them! We have so much fun together. My mom and I are just alike and Dad and Justin are quite similar too. It’s very weird. We ate a lot and visited a lot. I like to just “visit.” You know, sit around with the tv off and just talk. We opened presents and ate lasagna. I made another cheesecake, but this one cracked, so I was mad about that. Here is dad opening his gag gift from me. He looks very mad. I have promised not to ever show the picture of him with the actual gift, so this one is pretty close. I bought Mom a monogrammed sweatshirt for her birthday. I have one, too. We love each other like that.I didn’t even go to church yesterday because we were still visiting. Paul (our pastor) called me today to ask where I was. I hated to tell him that I am just a heathen and he should probably fire me. He also left a large bag of Lindor Truffles on my desk while I was gone. I am going to have to eat them all today because I start on my Jessica Biel quest again tomorrow. Tonight we are going to a party at the Henderly's house. It promises to be very fun, as they have invited half of the Eastern Shore. I am thinking of taking the truffles...maybe someone can help me eat them. Happy New Year's Eve!