Home from the Holidays

Alexandria had a fantastic Christmas.

We spent just over a week in Mexico City to spend Christmas with my family. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful. We ate lots of tacos, had tons of fun, and spent lots of time just sitting in the warm sun surrounded by the blooming flora in my parents' backyard.

Then we flew to Nebraska to spend just under a week with Eric's family. Talk about a weather shock! It was freezing!!! We had planned to go sledding too (since I can do that this year), but lo and behold, there was ZERO snow. Bummer. On the upside, we had a great time with Eric's family, were spoiled to near death, and ate enough cookies sustain us for the next year.

Our vacation definitely had some big highlights, though, apart from spending time with our families. Such as the following:

It was the morning that we celebrated Christmas with Eric's family. We had just finished opening all the presents and were starting to clean up all the tattered wrappings that kept ending up inside Lexi's mouth. Brian, Eric's older brother, looked around and said, "Well, shall we head out to the garage now?"

Now it is important for you to understand that Brian does woodworking as his hobby and his shop is located in the garage of his parent's house. Because of this, when Brian said he had something in the garage for us to see, I simply thought that he had made something for someone for Christmas. So, scooping up Alexandria in my arms, we all headed to the garage, where they made me enter first. I walked in the door, and looked around for Brian's so-called creation. The only problem was, everything looked normal. Workbenches, cabinets, wood piles, a car with a bow on it, refrigerator, sawdust, shelves, more wood, WAIT! The car has a bow on it. The CAR has a BOW on it! THE CAR HAS A BOW ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the CAR that has a BOW on it is a SUBARU OUTBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Which could only mean one thing, really, since I have been vocally eyeballing that car for about a year now]

I turned to Eric, complete shock and genuine surprise written across my face. He smiled, and handed me the keys. Seriously, this guy is amazing.

Talk about the best Christmas present EVER. EVER. EVER!!!!!!!

We drove home on Wednesday, only stopping once in 9 hours for gas. Lexi was a fantastic traveler! Since this is the first car that Eric and I have ever had (seriously, we have lived in Chicago for over 5 years without a vehicle, and neither of us ever had one prior to that), we are now adjusting to Chicago traffic and parallel parking. Eric is making me drive everywhere in order to build my confidence (which is getting better!) and soon I will be a pro.

It is kind of amazing how having our own vehicle has erased my dread of the freezing winter months. I now know with confidence that we can go grocery shopping whenever we need to as well as drive our dirty clothes to the laundromat every two weeks! It is truly a great feeling.

So here's a big huge thank you to Eric and to everyone else who is involved (you know who you are!)! And here's to the start of a great new year!

Peace and Joy.