Our trip home for the holidays got off to a delayed start this year. We had just under two weeks to manage to visit my family in NC, and then both sides of Nate's family in MI. But then a storm hit the northeast on our way in, and we got stuck in lovely Newark, NJ in a blizzard (a painfully cold welcome back to the US). We waited in line for somewhere around 3 hours, I think, in NJ and were very fortunate to get the only two seats on any flight to anywhere in the entire southeastern US for the next day.
We were exhausted after the flight from HK, so we got a hotel for the night somewhere in the middle of nowhere, ordered pizza, and cranked up the heat in our room. Fortunately, Continental accidentally paid for our hotel room (we didn't ask questions), and there was a free shuttle the 30 minutes to the hotel. Speaking of that shuttle, we had quite an experience riding it back to the airport the next day. It was a mini-bus with people and luggage absolutely crammed on it, but the door had apparently broken the night before. So, we're flying down the highway in the snow and ice, and some guy has to attempt to hold the door closed- much easier said than done- so that neither we nor our luggage would fly out. It was a very dangerous job, but I guess someone had to do it.
Once we actually got to NC, things were much better. We had a great time hanging out with my family, doing the traditional Christmas meals with extended family, watching our favorite holiday movies, warming our bums in front of the fire, and going to the Christmas Eve church service.
The photos below are courtesy of my parents, because I stole them off of their camera.
Christmas at my grandparents' house...
Loading our plates-- Yum!
Christmas music courtesy of my cousin Jacob and my grandfather.
Gift time!
Brandon and Jacob's matching shirts. Good thing they live in different cities.
Back at my parents' house...
Jessica and Brett gave us cute burping cloths. Nate shows he's ready for action!
Mom and Dad gave us a Baby Bjorn and cute little Carolina socks. Thanks!
We didn't have a baby to put in there (yet), so we felt compelled to try it out with Maddie. Surprisingly, she was quite tolerant.
This one is for those of you who keep pestering me with, "When are you going to start showing?" Well, here's the bump as of Christmas. I hope we can all agree that I am, in fact, pregnant and showing now.
Christmas 2009 Allen Family Photo. From left: Brett, Jessica, Mom, Dad, me, Nate.
Next Christmas there will be a new generation in the photo!
Stay tuned for a few more holiday photos from MI...coming soon!
