christmas in the bible belt
evan and i packed up the car with pillows, presents, suitcases and two dogs and headed off to georgia just before 10 am on december 20. davis seemed pretty carsick and it didn't take long for him to jump up front and throw up on the pillow on my lap. after that he seemed to realize that he was better off sleeping, and curled up on the dog bed in the back. we made somewhere around 5 stops during the trip, and davis would not pee. eventually while driving evan and i both sort of sniffed at the same time and noticed that davis had peed in his dog bed and abandoned it in favor of chloe's. it was a very, very long day and we finally made it to the valentines around 7:30 pm. we had dinner and visited before turning in early.
we woke up sunday and quickly determined that davis was peeing blood. awesome! i struggled to remain calm as we went to the nearest emergency vet; last time we did that, we came home without our dog. after sitting in a very uncomfortable exam room for close to an hour, the doctor saw us for two minutes and informed us that davis had a bladder infection, probably brought on by the stress of our drive. she prescribed an antibiotic and we walked out of there $161 poorer. we didn't do much else that day besides buy dog food, have a short visit with nanny and aunt nancy, and eat some really awesome sloppy joes for dinner.
monday (22nd) we headed to waffle house for breakfast, which is something we do every time we're here. the closest waffle house to us in virginia is about 20 miles away. then we went to the mall to do some shopping. evan convinced me to wait until we got here to do at least some of the shopping, so we wouldn't have to bring everything down in the car. the mall was surprisingly quiet and we got a lot done. rob arrived in the early afternoon with his dog kylie and of course chloe and kylie did not get along at all. there were multiple scraps during the trip resulting in a limp for chloe, a missing patch of fur on kylie's mouth, and a dog bite courtesy of chloe on rob's calf. we developed a system to keep them separate at all times and it was quite a pain in the ass. anyway, we had dinner at a chinese restaurant and then went to the local christmas light show. the line to even get in ended up being about two hours, so i was ready to go home before we even got there. the highlight of the trip was seeing a kid throw the door open in the truck in front of us right before throwing up all over it. they spent the next ten minutes inching forward in the line with the door open, trying to clean it up. they eventually used a diaper, and then we saw it come arcing out of the truck. driving through the light show took probably an hour and half, which was way too long at that point. we didn't get home until around 11 pm.
tuesday (23rd) we did some more shopping with rob, and had lunch at the mall. i couldn't find what i wanted, so i ended up just ordering some things with one day shipping on amazon when i got home. we bought ingredients for cookies and fudge and rented wall-e. everyone else watched the movie while evan and i spent hours making somewhere around 160 cookies. we went to dinner at a really awesome family style italian restaurant with evan's grandparents. on the way home we stopped at a house close to evan's that had christmas lights up synchronized with music on a particular radio station. that was really cool.
wednesday (24th) we went to waffle house again with evan's brothers, and then did a little more shopping. evan and i tried our hand at making fudge, and had one successful batch out of two. we watched elf, part of a christmas story, and ate leftovers. evan, his brothers and i stayed up until around 12:30 am wrapping everything. apparently that's what a valentine family christmas is like! oftentimes they don't even buy each other presents on time, and end up handing out an IOU on christmas morning. :)
they also sleep in a lot later than my family, and i think they had to set their alarms to be up by 9 am on christmas morning. we all sat in a circle around the living room and took turns opening presents. his parents got me a ton of stuff from my wish list, including books, a hair dryer, and maternity clothes. evan got me an ipod nano and a jewelry armoire. i brought some of my presents from krystle, including a scrabble crossword book, pajamas, a book, and a stocking full of goodies. when we finally finished, we had just enough time to get ready and drive to nanny and grandpa's house. all of evan's extended family gathers there every year for the christmas meal. there was a big buffet of food, and lots of picture taking, present exchanging and visiting. everyone started to play games afterward, but we headed home for a nap. that evening we went to the pub in the next door neighbor's basement. i didn't last long before i was dozing off on the couch in the other room, but evan and his brothers stayed and drank and sang irish songs until almost midnight.
friday (26th) we didn't do much of anything. i didn't get out of my pajamas until that night when evan's grandparents came over for dinner. after they left, we did a lot of packing.
we got up at about 7:45 this morning, walked the dogs, packed the car, and hit the road at 9 am. we gave davis some bonine and no breakfast and he seemed to do better. he never threw up or peed in the car, and seemed a little more with it. there wasn't any traffic and we got home around 6:30 pm. we brought in everything from the car, walked the dogs, and ordered dinner. i can't wait to fall asleep in my own bed tonight.
i'm glad we could make the trip, and that i got a chance to experience the holiday evan's way. his parents were obviously thrilled to have us there, and eager to take care of me. overall, it was really good. although i thought about my family a lot on christmas eve and day, always wondering what they were doing, it wasn't as sad as i thought it would be. i've got my first christmas without my family under my belt, but it's good to be home.