We left CO on Tuesday, Dec 23rd, the day after our stuff was dropped off at our new house. We knew it would be a bit of a drive, around 9 hours, but not too bad. We left at 8 am, had to run by post so Trent could sign into his unit and then we were on the road about 9. As we were leaving our house we heard that there was a huge tanker fire on I 70 about 3 hours from us. We decided to go a different way, on highway 50 and then we'd get on I 70 in Grand Junction. That turned out to be a pretty good decision. We had been hearing that the roads on I 70 were pretty icy still from the storm the day before. Highway 50 was pretty clear. As we got higher up into the mountains, near the ski resorts, the roads became snow packed, but it wasn't bad at all. The kids were great in the car! However, with all of our stops our 9 hour trip took us almost 11. We pulled into Orem just after 7:30. So tired, and so through with the car!
I LOVE Christmas! Christmas to me is spending time with my family, enjoying Christmas eve playing games and having yummy food. Having my dad read the Christmas story from Luke 2 (although Carter read it this year...he may have messed up and said 'exposed wife' instead of 'espoused wife.' We all giggled) The kids each opened a gift, new jammeis from Grandma (well JoJo this year). The kids changed into their new pj's and went to bed.
Then the work began....We had all our gifts sent to my mom's house (you know, cuz we were moving over Christmas and we weren't sure if we'd get our stuff at our new house in time, didn't want to take any chances) so there was TONS of wrapping that needed to be done still. Jamie and her roommates were there, and with their help and mom and Jodi's help we got it all done in 15 minutes. We got everything downstairs and organized, ready for Santa and then we played games.
Julianne and Anthony were coming from Vegas and they got there as we were playing games. The kids tried to convince us that they needed to stay up for Nann and Anthony, this mom thought not. It was so fun to be home for a bit, to play games and laugh and play more games.
Christmas morning is always my favorite. I love to watch the little faces as they come down the stairs to see what Santa left. It's pure magic and I LOVE it!
We always start with stockings first, everyone goes through their stocking at the same time. Then we pass out presents. We start with the youngest and go to the oldest, only one person at a time opens a gift. That way everyone can see what each other got.
Andrew was SO tired! The poor kid hadn't slept really well in way too long, between hotels, traveling, and sharing a room with mom and dad he was just worn out. He got up too early after not sleeping during the nigh. He laid on his little blankey and rolled around the floor. He snuggled with Papa for a little bit, Papa started giving him M&M's and he was happy to stay with Papa.
Carter was SO excited to get book 6 and 7 of Harry Potter. Hanna also got a new baby doll. Hunter got some bristle blocks as well as a workshop. Hunter is so funny when he is opening a box, he doesn't stop to look at what it is till ALL the paper and tape are off of the box, then he'll sit back and look at it. This year Trent talked to the kids about making gifts for each other, that gifts didn't have to cost money. They got very creative. Carter made Hunter a pair of binoculars out of toilet paper tubes, Hunter loved it. Hanna drew my mom a mural on wrapping paper. I almost didn't bring the mural, it almost went into the garbage. But Trent convinced me to let it come. I'm glad I did! She did such a good job!! I had NO idea what she had drawn. She drew my mom's house at Christmas time. My mom loves to decorate for Christmas, it takes days to complete. She has a huge 12 foot tree in the entry way that we call the Disney tree because it has all Disney ornaments on it. That is what she drew. She did a really good job on it too. My mom loved it (frankly I was surprised that she remembered some of the details!) and folded it up and put it in her cedar chest so she could keep it.
After all the gifts were opened we all set out to get dressed and make our traditional Christmas breakfast. It's the same Christmas breakfast that we have been eating for as long as I can remember. My grandma Hunter's buttermilk pancakes with sausage and eggs. My grandma would make them at her house and everyone would go there for Christmas breakfast. I loved it!! We got to visit with cousins and my favorite person in the whole world, my grandma. My grandma passed away many years ago, so now my mom makes Christmas breakfast at her house. Everyone gathers there for breakfast. It just wouldn't be Christmas without our little breakfast tradition! My brother and his family came over to have breakfast too, then more presents were opened with the cousins.
The very last present that was to be opened was from my Aunt Tanya, my mom's sister. She had bought all the guys something and she wanted to have them open them up all at the same time....there was just one little problem...Anthony's shirt was different than the rest....
We had such a good visit but were more than ready to head home on the 1st! We were tired of transition and were read to be settled somewhere. It had been almost 3 weeks since we moved out of our house, we were ready to have a home again!
We left the morning of the 1st. The drive wasn't bad at all until we hit the mountains above Denver. We figured we'd be home about 6 pm. Not so! It took us 4 hours to get to Grand Junction, and it should have only taken us about 5 hours to get home from there....we pulled into our house at 10 pm. 13 hours in the car. Yuck! I've decided that there will be no more winter driving. CO has no idea how to keep their roads clean and ice free. (hurray for paint damaging salt!)
1 comment:
It was so fun seeing you guys and so glad you were still able to have a wonderful Christmas despite being sort of homeless. ;) Family is definitely the best part of Christmas!
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