Adventures of the Truckin' Duo: Sweet Time! Family Time!

My oh my! What a vacation I have had! My sweet loving boss (aka My Husband) gave me 10 1/2 weeks off. Wow...I knew I was home a long time but until just now I didn't realize it was that long. Well Mama.. guess that explains why I seemed to be a little short and snappy at times. I must admit that there were times when I probably should have read one of my previous blogs on attitudes. Carl did get to take a week off at Thanksgiving and 2 weeks for Christmas but the rest of the time he was working. So 7 1/2 of those weeks were spent away from my hubby...no wonder I needed an attitude adjustment at times! My heart, thoughts and prayers really go out to all the men and women of our military who are separated from their love ones for LONG periods at a time. I know 7 1/2 weeks is nothing compared to the months and years they go through. I so appreciate the sacrifice they make for us each and every day. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Even though I was home for so long, there wasn't much rest and relaxation going on. My family kept me hopping! Mama thinks if she keeps me busy I won't miss Carl as much. :) I do love being home during the Christmas Holidays and taking part in all the activities that go on during this time of year. After Thanksgiving my calendar fills up in a hurry! Well, it's really the only time of year my calendar fills up or even has anything written on it. This year one of my nieces started the season off by having an Ornament Door Hanging making party after our local Christmas Parade. The children had so much fun decorating the hangers, eating cookies and then delivering the door hangers to the residents of our local Retirement Home. What a blessing that was...for all of us! That will certainly be a new Christmas tradition for us. I also went to a luncheon that Mama had for the women of our family. We don't get to see some of our aunts and cousins very often so this is something we all look forward to each year. Then comes my nieces and nephews Christmas Program at Church, their school programs, and this year my 2 year old niece danced at her hometown's Victorian Christmas. How precious that was! I also helped my parents with a luncheon they had for the widows of our church. Our favorite Christmas tradition is Cookie Day. My mama, sisters and I and all the children get together and bake cookies and fix tins filled with goodies for family and friends. Even Timothy comes over and samples some of the treats and this year he got in on a little bit of the cooking. He helped my sister fix her delicious divinity...which is always a 2 person ordeal. We had our traditional Christmas Eve Brunch at my sister's....had Carl's family over for our traditional Christmas Eve Oyster Stew Supper and then supper at my parent's Christmas Night. Carl and I did some babysitting for my sisters and had a Get-to-Gather at my house for some of my high school friends. In my "spare" time I worked on a few DIY projects. The best part about being home was being with Timothy! Even as busy as I was, it was so nice to see his handsome face, his glowing smile and to hear his contagious laugh everyday. So morning, noon or night I had something going on but I loved every single minute of it.

Well, my vacation time is over and Carl and I are back on the road. We loaded up Jan. 2 and are headed to San Diego, CA. We are traveling with 2 other drivers and last night one of them asked Carl how much we weighed (the truck and trailer not us personally) Carl said 90,000 lbs which is about 3,000 more than the other driver. They started laughing and said his extra 3 was from me. At first I was like "Wait just a minute!" I thought they were talking about my weight. Then I realized they were talking about ALL the stuff I put in the truck. Carl told them it took me 4 hours to load everything up. He was exaggerating just a little bit. Three hours and six pairs of shoes later I was ready to go! This time of year a girl just doesn't know how to dress, especially when traveling all over the country....so I need to be prepared!