Call Family Christmas

I think it is a great idea to have a family blog, so hopefully everyone else will get on board. If not, Drew and I can at least communicate, I guess.

We are back in New Jersey after our Christmas trip to Burley, Idaho. I have to admit I was not very excited about going all the way to Idaho for Christmas, I felt like it was about time we started our own Christmas traditions, and I thought being two thousand miles away from family would allow that to happen. However, Little Richie's Grandpa and Grandma Call could not stand the thought of not seeing their precious boy, so they flew us out.

The trip did not start out great with oversold and delayed redeye flights from Newark to Vegas, and Vegas to Salt Lake, an exhausted baby and lost luggage. I have always been one of those travelers who packs a change of clothes, tooth brush and other various toiletries in a carry on, but with the new regulations (not to mention a certain 25 pound "carry on") I decided to pack as lightly as possible, taking only what Little Richie would need for the plane ride in his diaper bag. So when our luggage did not make it to Salt Lake, I did not have anything to wear, and neither did Little Richie. He also did not have a crib because the Calls did not have one and we checked our travel crib. On top of all of that, our Christmas presents were in our bags. This all made me very grumpy, and I already had a bad attitude.

I soon had an attitude adjustment, though. My mother-in-law, Sayda, spoke in church the day after we got to Burley and she gave a beautiful talk about "the greatest gift". I don't really remember the details, but the spirit really touched me and I realized how much Richie's family loves me and that it was a blessing to get to be with family on Christmas. I had to apologize to my husband for my negative feelings about the trip and I immediately began enjoying myself.

It took three days to get our luggage, but we finally got it on Christmas afternoon. I was so happy to have clean clothes and the crib, but I was especially glad to be able to give my husband his presents. I got him a movie he really loves, and an out-of-print book he really wanted and he was very happy with his gifts. I didn't care if I got one thing for Christmas, I just wanted to see him and my boy open their things. We had a nice visit in Burley and also went to Logan and visited with friends.

I was so glad to get back to New Jersey and our own home and bed. While in Burley, Little Richie refused to sleep through the night in the travel crib (so I guess we didn't need to take it after all), instead he decided he needed to sleep in our bed with us, so we did not get a single good night's sleep all week. We quickly got back into our routine and things are back to normal, sort of, Richie still has two weeks before classes start, so we are enjoying a lot of time together when usually he is really busy.

New Jersey is a good place, we don't want to be here forever, but we like it for a little while. New York City is close enough for us to visit at least once a month, and we love that. We have a great ward and are making some good friends. I am a primary teacher and Richie is in the Sunday school presidency. I am new to this blogging stuff, so hopefully this is not too long. I look forward to seeing posts from everyone!

By the way, Drew, I am Mystique and Wonderwoman.