National Lampoon's Nall Family Vacation

Well, folks, I must apologize for not posting for so long. I have been very busy, as usual, and keep forgetting to get my pictures downloaded so I can post them for you. I forgot them again today, so I’ll just have to post a text-only for now, and make sure to get them done this weekend. Hopefully I’ll be posting pics like crazy next week.

Christmas was fun and wonderful. Sunday we spent the afternoon at my Daddy and Momma J’s house with my siblings and nieces. My girls are such a blast! I wish they lived closer so that I could steal them for a weekend more often. W gets so much more grown up every time I see her, it just breaks my heart! My sister and I played pictionary against our husbands. That was something you should have seen! It was hilarious. We were over halfway around the board before they got off the first square. They kept looking at our paper and asking incredulously, “how did you get a ROBOT out of that? It’s just two squares!” To which we would respond, “No, it’s two squares and a line. See, that’s the neck.” Then they would assure each other that we secretly whispered the answer while they weren’t looking. It was great. It’s funny how my sister and I think alike considering how opposite we are in almost every way.

Christmas day J woke up talking sweetly at just the right time to wake me up to put the turkey in the oven. Then he just went right back to sleep on his own. What a good son! My mom was there with me (thank goodness) to help with cooking and with caring for J. I was so focused on getting the food done and coming out at the right time all together, that I forgot all about getting me ready. At about 11:30 I looked out the kitchen window to see my grandparents and Aunt and Uncle with their kids pulling up outside. I looked down and said, “Oh crap!” That’s right, folks. I was still wearing pajamas. I served a wonderful delicious Christmas dinner to my extended family in my pajamas. At least they were cute ones. LOL. Special thanks to my Mommy for giving me cute new pajamas on Christmas Eve, just like when I was a little girl. Dinner consisted of:
Sage and Garlic Roasted Turkey
Veggie Dressing
Mashed Potato Casserole
Pear-Cranberry Chutney
Orange Glazed Butternut Squash
Cinnamon Candied Apples
Fresh Steamed Green Beans tossed in Herbed Butter
Gravy
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate-Pecan Pie

As we were finishing up dinner, before we had gifts, my aunt asked to take J outside to play in the snow. I thought it an odd request. What’s a baby going to do in the snow? But she bundled him up, so what’s the harm, let her have some fun. Next thing I know, my Grams is at the window laughing her head off. I looked out, and there is J sitting in a little blue baby snow sled! Cousin A is pulling him all around the yard while Aunt C runs along behind, winded and laughing her head off, making sure he doesn’t fall to the side. It was the coolest thing I ever saw! Who knew they make sleds for babies?

After everyone left J laid down for a nap and so did I. We were both more tired than I thought, because by the time he woke me up, we were already late for my other Aunt’s house. And I still had to pump and get dressed and pack up J’s stuff. We had a real good time there. We played Uno Spin, which is viciously fun. We had our gift exchange and Grandma gave J a wonderful gift. He got a wooden toy tractor and trailor set that my Grandpa made before he became too ill to do his woodworking any longer. (For those of you who don’t know, my Grandpa went to Heaven June 04, 2006, and he was an amazing craftsman who could make just about anything out of wood. He was famous all over the area, especially for his old fashioned children’s toys and his puzzles and his fretwork.) Part of me wants to keep these out of J’s hands and put them up on a shelf, but I know Grandpa would be much happier to see them played with as they were intended to be. So J will get to play with them as soon as he is old enough to. Then we played pictionary again. Once again I found myself on the winning team, only this time we had three teams of three people each. What can I say? I rock at pictionary.

The next day it was back to work. You cannot possibly imagine how hard it was to leave J again after being with him 24/7 for four days! It was torture. But he wasn’t bothered. He was happy to have his Gammo back! Just three days and I was back at home with my guys. I had New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off, so it was another four days without leaving my son. Heaven…I’m in Heaven!

And one of the best treats of the whole holiday season: My oldest son T came to spend the afternoon on New Year’s Day. And he had reason to celebrate. At midnight on New Year’s he proposed to his girlfriend W. Of course, she said yes. I was very proud of my son. He even asked her dad’s permission first! We had such a wonderful time just hanging out with him. J was on cloud 9, and couldn’t decide whether to play with Brother or W, so he just rolled back and forth between them endlessly. LOL To T I have to say that I love you so much more than you will ever know. You will always be my first son, and I will adore you till the day I die. I am so proud of the young man you have become, and the grown man you are striving to be. I am excited to watch this phase of your life unfold. And to W, I want to say welcome to our family. I could not have hand picked a better mate for my boy. You are a wonderful, sweet, smart lady. I have admired the person you are since I met you five years ago. I look forward to getting to know you better.

And now it’s back to the ole’ grind with no end in sight. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. It’s just hard to walk away from such a sweet precious smile every morning. Now that the excitement is settled down, who wants to place bets on how long it will take me to get my tree taken down? Hopefully not as long as it took me to get it up! LOL The weather has been so bitter cold lately. It gives me all the more reason to wish I could stay at home with J. I hate getting him out in the cold and wind. One day this week it was 12 degrees when I left in the morning! But they say it’s supposed to be nice this weekend. It’ll have to be quite a change to make it to nice, but stranger things have happened in this part of the country!

Hope you all have a great weekend, and I’ll meet you here again next week WITH PICTURES! I promise.