What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

I was in Michigan the past four days. Mike and I took the pup on his first multi-state trip back home to see my family for Christmas. And while the most that Mike and I did over our last holiday was make one dinner, this trip involved a lot more activity.

We arrived Friday night and had a delicious dinner with my parents. After dinner my mom and I headed to downtown Detroit to attend the Christmas Eve service at my sister's church. I love the Christmas Eve service at her church, so I was incredibly happy that I was able to attend this year. The service always leaves me feeling very warm and fuzzy, something which is definitely achieved through the ornate decorations of this beautiful, old Gothic structure.

The next morning I slept in until 9 a.m. Let me say that again. Nine A.M. That hasn't happened in I don't know how long. The reason is due to the one thing that made this trip so fantastic - my parent's backyard. Taylor was in heaven in my parent's backyard.

He ran himself ragged chasing squirrels all day, so he slept in a little later than usual. Mike and I got to be lazy parents and instead of walking him, we just opened the sliding back door and let Taylor chase squirrels until he wanted to come back in. Which wasn't often. So yes, the backyard was great for my sleep, bad for my thighs. I didn't walk him once the entire time we were in Michigan. Much less than my standard two times a day. But Taylor didn't care. He would have stayed in that backyard hunting squirrels until he scared them all away. Or until his neck cramped up from staying in this position for hours on end.

Saturday afternoon we headed to my Aunt Janet and Uncle Ray's house to see my mom's side of the family. My aunt and uncle's house is always a ton of fun for both the adults and kids. They are excellent hosts who have a variety of adult beverages, and their basement is a fun zone housing a pool table, darts and a Wii on a giant projector on the far wall. And this year, they added a brand new shuffleboard table. I'm proud to say that in the battle of the younger generation (Mike and my brother-in-law) and the older gentlemen (my dad and uncle), my man's team eeked out the final win of the night.

My Aunt Janet also has the family tree at her home. This year my cousin's daughter was working on a school project having to deal with her family tree, so we brought out the giant knitted cloth and examined the names that connected with and preceded our own.

My grandma stitched this giant family tree. Christmas was always her favorite time of year, so I thought it fitting that even though she no longer is with us mentally, we collectively sat around on Christmas day and admired the work she so lovingly created.

The day after Christmas was spent at my parent's house. So Taylor got more backyard time and I took advantage of my morning by scoring some crazy good deals at my local mall and picking up some last minute grocery items for my mom. My sister and her family came by as well as my dad's sister and her family. We hung out and all partook of the buffet my mom set up way too many times. Then we opened present and my sister decided to turn me into a living doll by dressing me up in pieces from my great aunt's collection of jewelry.

So that's it. That there is how I spent my Christmas vacation. To sum up: food, family, fun and necklaces.

I hope your holiday was filled with far too many good things as well.