*For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me add pictures. Very frustrating!
Christmas morning, we woke up bright and early to open gifts from the family. We got some amazing gifts! I have to say that my favorite gift was the Cook's Journal that my mom gave to Sarah, Natalie and I. She took the time to write down many of our family recipes inside each journal. It's a gift I know that we'll all treasure for years to come!
Mom also gave us baskets of handmade goods; bath salts, laundry detergent, seasoning salts, cinnamon butter and apple butter. So fun! I can't lie...I also love the Tory Burch shoes a heck of a lot. Unfortunately, they were a half-size too small so I'll get the correct size in a few weeks. After we opened our gifts, we cooked a traditional breakfast together: biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, eggs and fruit. Absolutely worth every calorie.
After breakfast, we showered and loaded up for the trip to Trussville. Since Robert, Layla and I were heading to Mobile from Trussville, our car was completely packed. We even had to stick some things in the back of the truck and wrap them in garbage bags.
We made it safely to my Grandparents' house and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas lunch and exchanged gifts. We draw names in the fall and it's always fun to figure out who had whose name. Emily had my name and I was the recipient of a beautiful Kate Spade bracelet, comfy pj's and the world's largest gummy bear. He weighed in at five pounds.
It was while we were finishing opening gifts that we realized the weather was going to be less than ideal for our trip home. We quickly read the Christmas story, broke the peppermint pig (more on that later) and hit the road.
As soon as we got in the car, Robert and I both discovered that we had multiple missed calls and text messages from friends asking if we were okay. We had no idea what was going on. I quickly consulted Facebook and discovered that there had been a tornado that touched down in Midtown Mobile, the area where we live. We let everyone know that we were okay and called a neighbor to check on our house. Our neighbor told us that our street appeared to have fared well. We were very thankful but still nervous for the drive!
From Birmingham to Evergreen, the drive was rainy but okay. Once we hit Evergreen, things took a turn for the worse. To say that the weather was horrible would be putting it lightly. I've never been that scared in my life. Robert was trying to keep the car on the road and I was simultaneously praying and crying. We had lots of people texting and telling us to get off the road but honestly we were scared to try to get off of the interstate.
Around Atmore, the weather let up. I told Robert that we needed to get off and look at the radar. We knew that if we needed to, we could always stay at the Wind Creek Casino ($$$) for the night. We pulled into a rickety gas station and both went in to use the restroom. When we got back in the car, we pulled up the radar and discovered that we were right in the middle of the pink tornado box thing. Robert declared that we weren't staying at the gas station and floored it across the street to a hotel. He pulled up under the awning, told me to jump out and I ran inside. He parked the car and told Layla that we loved her. I went inside to find several other people who had also sought shelter at the hotel. Luckily, we were able to wait out the storm there and get back on the road.
A few miles down the interstate, we came across pine trees that had fallen across the interstate and cars that had barrel rolled over the trees. We actually had to drive on the side of the interstate to pass through. I am so thankful that we stopped when we did!
We made it back to Mobile safely. We didn't have power but we didn't have storm damage. We lit candles, unloaded what we could from the car and crashed. Some of our friends did have damage to their homes, but we are so grateful and blessed that no one was severely hurt or killed in the storm! Seriously, two tornadoes in a week!
Birthday/New Year post to come!
