Wow - What a Christmas!

Hmmmmm, not a single post in December. Could that have been because we were a tad bit BUSY?! :)

Yes, we were. But it was all a good kind of busy - culminating in a Christmas to remember. Our Christmas actually started on the 14th. That's the day we left to head to Oregon to spend the holiday with my family. Now, with leaving on the 14th, all the Christmas prep work had to be done early, early, early. Which was actually okay! I was asked around the 10th or so if I had all my shopping done. And it felt wonderful to say YES!! (I think I'll have to keep up this early shopping idea next year, too!) That meant, though, that the first couple of weeks of December were exceptionally busy, preparing for this big trip of ours. But everything got done that needed to be done. A little crazy there at the end, but it all worked out.

So, we left Friday evening the 14th. And just in time! A winter storm was rolling in and when we actually drove out of our driveway, there was already a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Our first 6-8 hours of driving time was quite slow as we dealt with icy roads. And seeing numerous semis in the ditch along the way didn't help my stress level. Ha! But we made it through the bad weather. And mid-way through Wyoming, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to the Northwest.

We were in Oregon for 11 days. And I'm pretty sure we saw all of my immediate family on nearly every one of those days. We kept busy!! We wanted to take advantage of each day we were together, as we don't get to see each other but once, maybe twice, a year. It was great to catch up - and just hang out together. And the cousins got along really well! It was rather loud and rambunctious, but they were all having a ball playing together. That did my heart good. :)

We didn't plan any big events while we were there - just low key get togethers, and time to sit and talk (and take care of kids and meals, etc). We did fit in an evening of bowling, rides at the carousel, LOTS of time playing my brother-in-law's Wii game (now the kids think WE need to get one, too!), puzzles, and walks in the rain. Yes, I think it rained every single day we were there.

On our last night there, Ben had a really hard time accepting the fact that we were heading home the next day. He cried and cried and said he didn't want to leave. He did manage to work through that, though, but it sure made me sad to see him so sad. I do wish it wasn't such a big time and financial commitment to travel halfway across the country! We miss our family out there immensely!

But as it goes, it was time to head home. And after that much time all together, I think everyone was ready to get back to their usual routines. For us, we had a long drive home ahead of us. This time, the bad weather was on the Oregon/Idaho end. A trip that we have made in one shot (24+ driving hours), and have also done in 1-1/2 days, ended up taking us three days this time around. Even though we stopped two nights and the kids got to get out, swim in the hotel pools, etc - it still felt like, "Are we EVER going to get home?!" But we did. :)

And once we were home, we hit the ground running! The following day after Sunday morning church commitments, we had Christmas with Kurt's family. We enjoyed a BIG dinner together, then the kids' favorite - present time. Following that, the guys and a few of the older cousins played cards, while we ladies and the younger kids played Bingo. Despite being rather tired and run down from the traveling, we enjoyed that time with the family.

The following day was New Year's Eve. We still hadn't had our own Christmas yet, so decided to have it the following morning, on New Year's Day, when Kurt had the day off work. We hadn't talked to the kids about it, so when they woke up New Year's Day morning and saw all the gifts under the tree, it was total mayhem. They were running around and yelling - just totally excited. And it was a good day. The favorite gifts from that day were Karis' Princess wall stickers, and the boys' Clue Jr game. Just those two things kept the kids busy most of the afternoon. And we all enjoyed the chance to spread out the Christmas celebrations this year.

And yes, even to this day, we are still trying to get settled back in after our time away. It's coming, though. Getting the kids back in school and for me to finally be getting over my drawn-out cold makes me feel like we'll be heading back to normalcy soon. Hooray!

With all of that said, I do hope you each had a wonderful Christmas!!