Tender Tennessee Christmas

A quick recap of our epic trip to TN for Christmas festivities:

• It took 14.5 hours to get to our first destination. This was par for the course of other times we've made the drive and we were glad that baby didn't make the trip any longer. She didn't sleep well in the car, but was a trooper. She would wake up every time we stopped for gas. I'd take her inside to change her diaper and get milk as The Hater pumped gas in the car... and the people inside would look at me like we were aliens or like I was the worst mother in the universe for having my one year old at a gas station at 3 in the morning. Good times. She'd be awake for an hour to an hour and a half after each pit stop, then sleep for an hour to an hour and a half, when we'd have to get gas again and repeat the process. She didn't let Bryan play music as that made her even more fussy, so he made the entire drive in silence. He deserves a medal.
• It was a tedious trip, but baby was a trooper.
• She pet the calves, fed plastic fruit to a fake dog, and watched the snow.
• We were able to have short visits with lots of family and friends that we've not seen since 2 Christmases ago when I was 6 months pregnant. (That feels like a thousand years ago.)
• We are so very glad that we took our own pillows. The SUV was seriously packed to the hilt. We were slightly gagged that nobody listened to our space requirements regarding what they expected us to bring back. It worked out, but next time we're going to have to be more specific OR have them mail stuff back to us. (We're not going to sacrifice leg room again period.)
• Baby slept better than either of us expected. She was up every morning about 5am (our time), but napped well and went down well at night. She also didn't wake up a dozen times in the night. I credit that to taking the sound machine with us. At The Dorks' house we ended up having to forgo the crib in our room to put her in her own room in the P&P. She wasn't used to Daddy's snoring.
• My back did well on the trip. I'm almost to my pre-injury self.
• Three states. Three Christmases. Six and a half days. (exhausting any way you cut it)
• Baby did well, considering that everybody wanted to mess with her and that they were all well-meaning strangers. She warmed up rather quickly, sang her ABCs and Jingle Bells, counted to 20, and took people by the hand so they could "run run" in circles with her.

I think we're going to try to make this an every-other-year tradition.

This way we can have our own family traditions, too.

I hope all four of my readers had a blessed holiday. :)

I also hope that you have a fantastic New Year's!! I hope that 2011 brings you as many blessings as you need and as many adventures as you can stand.