Our First Christmas Away

I think I'm supposed to be depressed today.  After all, I'm away from my friends and extended family for the first time over Christmas, and we don't have a tree or any other decorations up for the season.  But I can't quite find it in me to be bummed.  We are in San Diego after a grueling 7 hour day on the road yesterday. It's just under 60 degrees here today, and this is the coldest it's going to be for our month-long stay in this area. Back in Minnesota, they've had a few record cold days and quite a bit of snow.  I keep thinking about how grateful I am that I am not driving around in that.  Between taking the kids to school, their activities, and driving to my own classes and private appointments, I was in the car almost as much as I was at home. Today, we're all hanging out together, talking about our plans as we watch the Green Bay Packers play the Minnesota Vikings.   If we were up north, we'd be on the road to see one of our families, the car full of presents, food, baggage, sour tempers and harried parents.

Instead, we are headed to the Holiday Bowl on Tuesday to see our kiddo march in the U of M band, and we made sugar cookies today. 

So we didn't have a big, holiday feast. And there are no presents under a beautifully lighted tree.   There was no running around, buying stuff we probably would never use. I didn't wrap presents only to have the floor littered with packaging as my kids tore through one present after another. I didn't spend much time in the kitchen at all, actually.  Even if I had, I'd still have been in the same room as the rest of the family.

...I am so much more relaxed! Don't get me wrong. I think all things have a place.  We have had many of those busy, packed holidays. They are great.  What we're doing now, though, is right for us at this point in our lives.  I'm happy to say that the kids are just as excited about having stockings stuffed tonight as they ever were about 10 presents under the tree.  They had just as much fun decorating and eating cookies as they did when they were little and for Santa (this year, they're just for us). 

I am feeling just as grateful this year as any other I've ever experience.  After all, this is our campground for the month:

Merry Christmas indeed! 

Ratchet Up Stress Level to HIGH

We finally made it to Texas! I was here all of one day before I heard "well, bless y'all's hearts".   I had to smile.  We're in Amarillo, and it is freezing!  I could have stayed in Minnesota for this.  There's actually snow in tomorrow's forecast.  Snow!  Yeah, that's not so fun in an RV. The walls, they be thin. Fortunately, we are all set quilt-wise, thanks to Grandma Joy and Grandma Clara. 

We're here on business, really. We need to renew my driver's license, which turns out to be the easiest thing we have to do this week. And it's not easy. Everything else is really complicated.  We need to register both new vehicles. Bought the trailer and truck in Utah.  Sent the registrations to Minnesota.  Need to register them in Texas.  We are not people who like things to be easy.  We live on the edge. 

We also need to get some other basic needs attended to.  Things like teeth cleanings and prescriptions take on a whole new level of difficulty on the road. 

As if this weren't all stressful enough, let's add in, just for fun, the fact that we don't know where we're going after this. The madness that is College Bowl games has taken over our plans, and I feel like it might break me.  Reese, our Marching Band kid, is looking at the possibility of joining the Gophers in either San Diego or Nashville for a football game...sometime in December...

You can see my issue. San Diego is West.  Nashville, as it turns out is East. 

We Type A's like plans. An awful lot.  We like order. We like for things to be in their places.

I have developed an eye twitch. 

Notice that there are no pictures or anything fun this time.  That's how stressed out I feel.  But to balance things out, here is a picture of Ethan and Erin playing pool, badly. 

I'm not even sure what he's doing there.  I mean, I'm no expert, but shouldn't the cue actually be on the table?  Even Erin, who is no shark herself, looks perplexed by what turned out to be Ethan's signature move.   I have to say, though, we loved this place.  It's so odd, but it really works.  It's the Route 66 brand spanking new RV Resort. Indoor pool and a delightful casino are included. 

 I know what you're thinking.  "I've never been in a delightful casino, Christi. They're all dirty and smell like stale people and desperation."  But this one really is different.  It's open and clean.  Maybe it'll be like every other casino in a couple of years, but right now it's really lovely.  If it weren't so cold there, I would live in Albuquerque.

Oh, before I forget to mention it, Henry and I have also started dieting together.  Because, you know, I needed some stress pimples.  We've cut out pretty much everything that makes eating fun.  In a nutshell, which is one of the few things I can still eat, we've cut all animal products out of our diet.  I caved the other day and had 12 of Erin's M&Ms and then faithfully wrote them down in my MyFitnessPal app.  They were amazing.  We'll see how long we can hold out.  Right now, the push is to just get back into shape. Why not? We have nothing else to do, right?  hahahahaha