Our National Lampoon Christmas Vacation

Yes, this is my husband's favorite Christmas movie (mine is A Christmas Story). This year we lived our very own version of the iconic movie. Unfortunately, it was real life and we didn't make the money the actors did in the original.



Not good when it happens to you!



It started innocently enough. We traveled four hours from the mountains of VA to visit our families in NC on Christmas Day. When we left we knew there was a chance for snow in NC (which very rarely gets more than a dusting) so we loaded up the kid's snow attire.  About two hours into our trip I look at my husband and ask, "Did you pack the kids coats?" Yep, heading to NC for one of the coldest weekends so far and we left their coats sitting in the foyer. We had their snow boots, hats and gloves, but no coats. So, we formulated a plan for borrowing coats once we arrived and continued on with our trip. Crisis averted.

We arrive in NC and celebrate Christmas with my in-laws Saturday night. We had a great time watching the kids tear into their presents and eating great food! Fast forward to about 5:00 a.m. We are all asleep and hear a big "THUD" around this time. I think my husband put one of our kids in the bed with him (we had to sleep in separate room with the kids) and they fell out of the bed. When I got up to check I noticed his grandmother in the kitchen so I assumed she had made the noise and went back to bed. We all wake up a few hours later. My husband comes into the bedroom and says, "A huge tree branch fell on my car!"

During the night it had started snowing and the "THUD" we heard at 5 a.m. was the branch falling on our car due to the weight of the snow! It caused LOTS of damage but fortunately it was still safe to drive, no towing required. To put this into a little perspective, we've had this car for less than a year and my husband takes very good care of it. So, to say he was a little upset is an understatement. Let's just say my assurances of, "that's why we have insurance," did not help.

We were also supposed to travel into town to celebrate Christmas with my mom and sister and have dinner. But, thanks to the snow, we couldn't get out and missed an awesome dinner at my moms.

That evening I started feeling a little nauseated. Yep, you guessed it. Around 11 that night I was hit with a wonderful stomach bug that kept me up all night throwing up. I finally, stopped around 5 the next morning and got a little sleep.  About an hour after waking up, the power at the house we were staying in goes out. Thankfully, the roads were better so we packed up (in our PJs) and headed to my mom's for hot showers and gifts. I felt rotten the entire day so I did not get to enjoy the leftovers from the night before.

Needless to say, we were ready to go home early. On our way home we stopped to get gas only to find out that we couldn't get the door to the gas knob open thanks to a nice dent from the tree branch. We went to the local dealership and they had pity on us and fixed it quickly to we could fill up and get home.

We finally made it home and it never felt so good!

We will not travel again for a looooong time!