Christmas 09 in Alabama

Well it was definitely a Christmas to remember! The Christmas Eve service went really well and the church was full of people, many who never come to our church and many were family members visiting for Christmas. We had over 20 kids there! We managed to pull out of the driveway at 6:30 pm, heading for a 22 hour drive to Bama. Most of you already know this but for those that don't.....we were doing great until about 5 a.m. in Texas, there were ice spots on the road and we had to slow down a bit. By 7 a.m., between Vernon and Witchita Falls, our journey came to a standstill....traffic was backed up as far as you could see and there was no way out. There were about 4 inches of ice on the roads and we assumed that there had been a wreck. Seven hours later...I repeat..7 hours later...we never saw any evidence of a major wreck, just 100's of small wrecks. We spent 7 hours waiting to just drive, on Christmas Day, with 3 kids AND a dog! It was insane!! There were helicopters flying over, cars stuck off to the side of the road for those that tried to cross the median to go the other way, and the National Guard out to help pull people out. It was crazy and I needed a therapist by about hour 5!!! I once thought about getting out and taking a picture but I thought "no...I don't want anything to remind me of this day"! Anyway, due to that and the slower driving when we did get to go, we made it to Gordo at 4:15 a.m on the 26th...33 hours in the van! We could have stopped to spend our second night on the road but we just wanted to be there so we took turns sleeping.
Thankfully, the whole Owen clan was able to get together again on Saturday for another Christmas gathering. Here's a picture of all the Owen grandchildren......


Then Saturday afternoon, we had the Richardson Christmas at Mom's. Here is a picture of all the Richardson grandchildren.....

Although we were so tired and sleep deprived, it is such a blessing to us to be with our families. I cherish every minute and thank you all for rearranging your Christmas to spend time with us. On Sunday, Mike preached at his dad's church and both families were there and shared lunch together. That is also such a blessing!
Landon's birthday was the 22nd and I had planned a party for him at the skating rink in Cullman for that Tuesday and invited all of Mason's friends to come also. He was so excited about it. However, no one showed up at the rink to open it up for us. Talk about stress! I had to go next door to the gas station (at this point it was 20 minutes past party time) to find out who owned it and was told that they own the bowling alley also. Then I called the bowling alley and found out that they forgot about my party, the owners were in Gatlinburg, and was told we could come bowl. So we all headed across town to bowl and I had a very disappointed birthday boy that had his heart set on skating! Once we got settled, it all ended being a lot of fun and it was a blessing to be with old friends again.
Landon's girlfriend Hailey was there.....

Didn't he choose just the coolest cake!!?

Mason with some of his 6th grade buddies......

It was so nice to see some of our friends and we ended up eating supper with Jeff and Tammy and spending the night with Bonnie and Shane. Thank you guys for the great meals and for the time we got to spend with you! There are many other friends that we didn't get to see and we hate that so maybe next visit we will have more time.

New Year's Eve for me was spent at the hospital with mom and that was the last time I got to see my aunt Gail and I am very grateful that I could be there, as hard as it was. Mike and the kids spent time with his family and his Aunt Faye and Uncle Herman, and Aunt Gail, Uncle Ralph, and cousin Brandon all came up from Georgia. They are always a lot of fun to be with and we are so glad we got to see them (although I know I was not good company-sorry guys!). We left coming back on New Year's Day and the trip home was much more uneventful...thank you Lord! With the horrible Christmas Day travels, the skating rink problem, and saying goodbye to a precious aunt, Christmas 09 with be UNFORGETTABLE