Holidays is the perfect time to spend with the ones you love. Enjoy delicious food and spend quality time with your loved ones. See how we’re celebrating the holidays this year with the Mazda CX-9 (car review), plus a sneak peek at our 2016 Red & White Vintage Christmas Tree!
We’re smack dabbed in the middle of the busiest season of the year, and driving the 2016 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring with AWD for a week was a nice treat. This Mazda CX-9 came in an absolutely gorgeous red color, and we received numerous compliments from family, friends and even the occasional stranger while we were out and about. Our main use for the Mazda CX-9 over the Thanksgiving weekend was three purposes: driving to Jackson for Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and picking up our Christmas tree.
And, you can never go wrong with the best sweet potato pie! Sis. Coretta (Ziah’s Godmother), makes the BEST sweet potato pie! I’ve had several, and no one has come close to her pies!
After spending a day full of thanks and food with our family and friends, Derrick and the boys headed home. One of the twins, Ziah, decided he wanted to see what all of the fuss was about going Black Friday shopping. So, along with him, my friend, and her crew of girls, we all climbed into the Mazda CX-9 and headed to Tanger Outlet in Howell for a night of shopping. With help from the 3rd-row seating and extra luggage space, we were able to fit all of us in as well as all of our bags from shopping.
I had warned Ziah that it would be a bunch of shopping and go from store to store. I’m impressed with how well he did. He went off with one of the girls, and I was able to shop in peace for birthday and Christmas presents. When I met up with later, he mentioned he had to hold a lot of bags and stand in line for the girls. “Son, this is what happens when you go shopping with girls. We’re breaking you in early!”
All in all, he had a great time and even picked up a few items. He’s also determined to get a job, save his money like the other girls so he can come back next year and buy more stuff. It’s amazing to see how much my twins are growing up before my eyes. They just celebrated their 14th birthday, and for their birthday and Christmas, they mostly asked for clothes and shoes. You know you’re growing up when those things are at the top of your list.
Able to seat up to 7 people comfortably, the CX-9 Grand Touring is ideal if you have a big family or if you’re always picking up friends for grand adventures. The gas mileage is ok for an SUV with 22/28 hwy mpg, so, if you’re driving around locally then it’ll get you where you need to go without putting undue pressure on your wallet. I was able to drive around all week on the same tank of gas. Close to the end of our week with the Mazda CX-9, I had to put a few dollars in the gas tank. Thankfully, with the low price of gas, $20 bucks gave me a 1/2 tank of gas. After getting gas, we headed to our local grocery and farmer’s market store called Horrock’s!
We debated whether or not we were going to put up a tree this year. I tossed out our tree last year and told the boys we were probably not doing a tree this year. Zayd’n (the youngest), put up a fuss. “It’s not Christmas without a Christmas Tree!” After many talks on schooling him about the real meaning of Christmas, he still wasn’t convinced. I have to give it to him, he loves Christmas and refused the idea of not having a Christmas tree. He has one for his room, but he wanted to see the big ones we usually have in the living room. If my Grandma were still alive, she would have loved him. My Grandma was BIG into Christmas, and you can see that’s where we get our Christmas spirit from!
Well, it’s safe to say Zayd’n won. We decided to pick up a tree from our local store ( I believe in shopping locally as much as possible and supporting our community). Derrick, Zayd’n, and I walked around for a while trying to find the perfect tree. Then we saw it. A beautiful 8 foot Douglas Fir tree. We’ve had a live tree before, and I LOVE the way they smelled.
The staff was helpful and courteous in helping us get it in the cart, then running it through their machine to bag it. We laid a blanket over the roof of the Mazda (didn’t want to scratch it up with needles), strapped it with a blue rope, and headed home.
We soon discovered after getting home the tree was too big. Derrick and a friend had to load the tree back up, head to Horrock’s, and have them cut the bottom and trim some of the branches.
After buying a tree stand, then cutting the legs down so it would fit into this vintage bucket, we were able to get the tree in the house.
Whew, I kind of felt like this was a moment of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. However, despite all of the hassle of getting the tree inside, we love how it turned out!
We were sad to have to give the Mazda CX-9 back. I loved driving this SUV. We’re putting together a list of potential SUVs (or vans) we would like in our near future. We have put a lot of miles, plus wear and tear on our current SUV so that it will be time for an upgrade soon. Plus, with the boys growing like weeds, they need more leg room. They all fit nice in the CX-9, with plenty of leg room and no complaints.
Other included features of the CX-9 Grand Touring AWD are:
- Rear Cross Traffic Alert
- Auto On/Off Headlights
- Power Sliding-Glass Moonroof with Sunshade
- Rear Privacy Glass
- Three-Zone Automatic Climate Control
- Rain-sensing Windshield Wipers
- Bose Centerpoint 2.0 Surround Sound System with AudioPilot and 12 Speakers
- Mazda Navigation System
- Multi-Information Display
- Outside Temperature Display
- Rearview Camera
- Bluetooth Hands-free Phone and Audio Streaming Capability
- Auxiliary Jack and 2 USB Ports
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