A Very Merry Christmas

I know, I know, I haven't been very good about updating these past months. So here goes the whole week in one breath. It was nutty at work right up until the last day before vacation. We had a Christmas singalong in the morning at the school, which the students loved. We got to rock out to some classic tunes and everyone threw caution to the wind in favor of having a jolly good time. They weren't too thrilled with me for cutting out early and leaving them with a sub, but I didn't wanna drive over the pass at night. I left them in good hands with some holiday treats to bribe them. So hopefully they enjoyed their afternoon activities and were good for my sub, I haven't been back to work to find out yet since we are on winter break now.

So anyhow, I got the kids rounded up and the car packed for the trip. I made the drive without hubby. He wasn't able to come, so I braved the conditions without him and was very proud of myself. I put chains on the car all by myself for the first time ever! It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I went slow so that I could be sure nothing went wrong. The only problem I faced was when I tried to remove one of the chains, it temporarily got caught on something behind the wheel. It took several minutes to remove it. Once the kids and I got back on the road, all went fine...though the drive over took us 5 hours instead of the usual 3 1/2 due to the icy roads.

On Saturday morning, I went with my mom to run errands. It was a lot of fun actually to go just the two of us. She and I have had a rough go of it in recent months, so it felt really nice to check our egos at the door for a change. We truly enjoyed one another and that's what I had been missing. She even honored a strange birthday request I had made weeks earlier of her. She took me to pick out a receipe holder and promised to write down some of my childhood favorites. That really made my day that she had remembered. Later on, we made an interesting stop to pick up the food. My parents had been keeping our dinner a mystery, only mentioning that they were trying something new. We ended up going to Taco Del Mar to pick up the food, which ended up tasting pretty good. It was unusual to have it in place of our usual buffet of finger foods, but it worked out really well because everyone loved it.

My whole family came over to spend time together. I got to see my cousin's new baby, who is adorable in every sense of the word. She definitely got the best of both of her parents and is gonna be a stunner one day. We opened up presents, which is the best part for all of us. We take a slow and patient approach. Some families prefer the free-for-all, but my parents always insisted that we open each gift one at a time. The idea is so that we can enjoy watching each other's reaction and seeing what each person got. It prolongs the fun and teaches us all to practice patience. Anyhow, my mom finally got to the present I had been waiting for months to give her. She saw that I had given her a book called, Chicken Soup for the Working Mom's Soul. Her initial reaction was "oh thank you" and I could tell she wasn't sure why I'd give this particular book to her. She continued to seem confused when I insisted she read the short story that was bookmarked. My dad had accidentally found out about the book earlier in the day, so he was trying to help me to get my mom to read the story amid the many conversations taking place in the room (it was the last gift opened). She began to read the first few lines and a sudden realization set in. She looked up at me with the proudest expression I've ever seen on her face. She asked me in disbelief if this story was by me and I told her yes, while feverishly snapping photos to capture the moment. The whole idea had been my hubby's and he wanted to see her reaction. She got up and gave me a great big hug and told me how proud she was of me. That was the best present right there. Check out the play by play...

The night continued on as I visited with my family. I took my niece and another cousin to see "I Am Legend." It was incredibly scary, but a fantastic movie. The next day, we had planned to go sledding, but the weather turned really yucky. So instead, I packed up the kids and headed home a little early to beat the winter storm that was on its way. It was a a wonderful weekend with my family.

Then on Christmas Eve, hubby surprised me by calling to say he was getting off earlier than expected. I had thought I would spend another family get-together without him, thankfully we didn't have to. We drove down to Salem to spend the evening with the other side of my family. Everyone was eating when we arrived, so we dug right into the food and then opened presents. Another gread gift I was able to give was to my natural father. He had lent me a journal about 10+ years ago, but I had misplaced it. Well, about a week ago, I found it. Let's just say that my dad was VERY happy to get it back FINALLY. I also got to read aloud my short story and my family made me feel so good. They were really proud of me. One of the things I love about this annual family Christmas celebration is that we play a raucious game of Balderdash. Everyone gets really into it and it is an awesome bonding experience. Since we only get to do it once a year, most everyone plays. This year I even won, though my uncle was a very close second. I was sad to call it a night, but we had to get home.


On the way back, we drove around some neighborhoods so that the kids could look at the Christmas lights on all the houses. It's one of our family traditions. Then when we got home, the kids changed into their pajamas. They wrote a note to Santa, left out some cookies and milk, and I read aloud Twas the Night Before Christmas. The next morning, we watched the kids open all of their gifts. They loved all their presents and hubby made us a yummy breakfast. Since we were gonna celebrate this coming weekend with Kevin's family, we just spent a quiet day at home, doing very little while the kids played. All in all, it was a very merry holiday!