Twas the night before Christmas...

We spent Christmas eve with DH's family at his mom's house. The day started out very wrong, but ended nicely. As many of you have read in previous blogs, we've had a major series of storms lately that have dumped several inches of snow and ice. While it has given us pause to marvel at its beauty, it has also been a bitch to drive in. We've only braved the ice a few times, so we've been homebound much of the time. However, the slow thaw has begun...thus making the roads a thick, slushy mess...but I will come back to this in a moment.

The morning began on a very productive note. I got most of the laundry done and the bags mostly packed for our trip to Bend on Christmas Day. I didn't want to deal with a lot of packing on Christmas morning, so I felt very much ahead of the game. I also got the kids all "purtied up" for Grandma J and DH loaded up the presents in the car. We left in the early afternoon for her place. As we drove down the backroads, DH got a little too confident with the chains and made a big oops. As he attempted to pass a car, the tires got caught in the slush. As you can probably guess, we did a whirligig as we spun out of control. I gotta tell ya, that was scary!

Thankfully, DH reacted quickly and regained control just before we were about to go into a ditch. By the grade of God, everyone was okay. DH pulled over into a nearby driveway to inspect the chains. They were making some strange flapping sound and DH discovered that a chain link had broken off. He removed the chain and threw it in the trunk. I was shaken and stirred to say the least. DH drove by two different Les Schwab's Tire Centers, but they had understandably closed early for the holidays. I realized that I wouldn't be leaving for Bend until Friday morning...

When we first arrived at my MIL's house, I was very stressed and hadn't yet gotten over the scare. DH ate some humble pie and we made up. We helped his mom finish making preparations for dinner and sat down to eat with his family. Later on, we opened gifts and enjoyed watching the children delight in their toys. All in all, it was a very nice evening and ended on a really sweet note as we carried out our usual traditions. When we got home (in one piece), the kids wrote their note to Santa and left out some cookies and milk. Then they changed into their pajamas and we read The Night Before Christmas. I tucked my two munchkins in and went downstairs to finish up a few stocking stuffers.

As much as I was disappointed and wanted to see my own family on Christmas Day, it wasn't the worse feeling in the world to know that I would spend a quiet day with DH and the kiddos at home. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!