Randy and Lynsi's Christmas Vacation

This would be better pictured if I was tech-savvy and had a map of our travels to describe this Christmas vacation of ours, but here it goes:
As of Saturday morning after the night of my school's Christmas party (and after trying out our new toaster/egg poacher combo for breakfast) Randy and I set off for some much needed family time. First stop: Nashville (to do one of the Hartman Christmas traditions and spend time with the Tucker Christmas..well, dinner and gifts at least). Second stop: Louisville to see Randy's oldest brother, Dan, and his wife, Jenna, and our adorable nephew, Luke. Danny is a first year family practice resident so didn't have fun work hours around the holidays. Third stop: Dayton for Mamaw's 80th birthday. This was such a memorable time which I'll share more later. Fourth stop: Granville for time with D & P and amazingly enough, lots of snow! Fifth stop: Back to Nashville to pick up Jack, who enjoyed being with the other cats waaaaay too much and might start hating Randy and I. Finally, back to Memphis for New Years.

Our little Hartman family on Stocking Night...Jack's eyes got a crazy red-eye fix!

Catnip!

Although Christmas was a little unconventional this year with so much traveling and flip-flopping from one place to the next, we found that (this Christmas especially), it's not as much about what you do, but who you spend it with. We are lucky to have the ability to see both sides of the family almost every holiday even though we technically switch every other one to keep things even. The time in Nashville was short, but packed with lots of fun. We got to see Randy's uncle who lives in Colorado, his grandma, grandpa, and cousins, and then we got to spend time with my (immediate) family for dinner, talking about how in just a few days Jodi and Matthew would be Cincinnati-ians.

Family Boys: Grayden, Luke, Isaiah

Cousins Luke and Grayden

Daddy's Girls on Tucker Christmas

Starbucks with old friends

Gift swap with Lipscomb girls.

Louisville was bonding time. We miss seeing the Hartman brothers and sisters so much, and although Danny had to work more than he would have liked, we still got plenty of time to spend with them. And I made a quick bond with Little Luke and taught him how to stick out his tongue and funny stuff like that, which his mom told him was "only for Aunt Lynsi". We were there from Monday to Saturday, and Randy's parents got there Wednesday night and we went to Macaroni Grill and watched Love Actually. On Christmas day, we thought Danny had to work until 5:30, but a Christmas miracle happened and he got to come home at 9 am! Rob and Jen (Randy's older brother and his wife) and their cute, talkin' son, Grayden came on Christmas day and we opened presents before sharing a Christmas meal together.Saturday was Mamaw's 80th birthday. That's Randy's grandma, who is about as sweet and tough as they come. We were so happy to be part of her memorable day. Randy's grandpa (on his dad's side) also turned 80 this year, and it is so amazing how healthy, happy, and active they both still are. While in Louisville, we found out what to do for Mamaw's big day. We bought her 80 different colored (mostly pink) roses and tied a different memory/reason we love mamaw to each rose with ribbon. What was best, though, was the presentation of them. She did not know she would have all her grandsons together (cousins Curry and Ryan made it as well) and that alone was enough for her, so by the time we brought in the roses and the great grandsons with "mamaw's boys" t-shirts, the tears started flowing! It was beautiful. That evening we all went to dinner at the Chop House and celebrated 80 years of a wonderful life.

100 roses...80 for Mamaw.

Soaking it all in...reading all the memories and reasons we love her.

Mamaw's boys!

Granville was good relaxing time for just us and the folks. We got to visit with some great family friends, Brenda and Brian, and go to Easton (my most favorite mall ever, located in Columbus) to see Avatar in 3D. We wouldn't travel to Granville without eating at our three favorite Ohio spots: Donatos, Skyline, and Chipotle, and yes, we had them all! Best part? the SNOW!!! It always snows after I leave Granville, but we got it this time, and boy was it pretty. Randy and I enjoyed some time making snow angels, having a snowball fight, and sledding down a hill with a plastic baby pool! Oh, how I love snow!

First time I didn't bring snow clothes, it snowed!

The best pictures are not on the post, because my camera died. I will share if I get them soon, but the day after the first snow, there was MORE snow! This time we wanted to do it big, so Randy and I went to his friend, Matt's house, and just barged through like we were part of the family. After all waking up, Matt and his girlfriend, Lorrie, and Randy and I took boogie boards and went to a really good hill on a golf course. When Randy took the first run, he went so far he crashed head first into a bunch of cat tails surrounding a pond that, although looked frozen, probably would have been a disaster. We had so much fun, and sledded for far too long for my Tennessee bones, they just couldn't take all the cold (I almost passed out, how embarrassing!). The boys got creative and used the boogie boards as snowboards and had some major blowouts, and we had double decker races where we not only had to be the first ones down, but then had to get off and run to the finish line! The whole day was just about perfect. I asked for sledding, and boy did I get sledding.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Coming Soon: 2009 Highlights