A Merry Christmas Whirlwind
This year Christmas sprawled across two weeks which in some ways was lovely, but in other ways was exhausting. We celebrated Christmas at home on the 20th then travelled to Utah to celebrate Christmas with my family. By the time we made it back to Colorado more gifts had accumulated on our front porch and so we had what felt like third Christmas. Even now that we’re in the first week of January, I keep coming across bits of wrapping paper strewn about the house. It was a jam-packed holiday that we’re still recovering from. I could probably write a book, albeit a boring one to most, about everything we did, but I’ll leave you with the highlights.
Top 10 Worst Moments
10. Ellen spilling multiple times on my parents’ new rugs.
9. Driving to my grandparents’ houses in a snowstorm.
8. Our car not being able to make it up my grandparents’ driveway in a snowstorm because it was so slick.
7. Sharing beds with the kids at a motel in Rawlins, WY.
6. Staying in Rawlins. Even the best rated motel was questionable.
5. Having our trip home delayed by two days due to weather.
4. Driving through 70 mph winds and past an overturned semi to get home.
3. Driving down I-70’s icy roads that frighteningly resembled a luge track in order to get home.
2. Kids getting sick.
1. Cooper vomiting all over the car only an hour into our drive to Utah.
Top 10 Best Moments
10. Waking up in the night to a crying baby and realizing it’s not ours so we can go back to sleep. (Sorry, Hope and Joe!)
9. Family mustache and lipstick kiss pajamas.
8. Ellen being a not so angelic angel for the church nursery nativity.
7. Snuggling baby Porter.
6. Our car starting up when it was time to leave Rawlins even though we’d forgotten to put anti-gel additive in our diesel tank.
5. Beating the storm to get to Utah in time for Christmas.
4. Going on a double date with Hope and Joe while my parents watched all the kids.
3. Visiting with Vanessa Joy and Chris (Noel’s sister and her husband) since our return trip was delayed and they were back in town.
2. Going to the temple and doing proxy baptisms for my great grandparents.
1. Seeing my entire family, including skyping with my brother who is on an LDS mission.
Bonus: Surviving all our travel and making it home in one piece!
3 thoughts on “A Merry Christmas Whirlwind”
I think this post brought up my PTSD from last year when we did three Christmas celebrations and dealt with Utah’s snow. I’m so glad we didn’t travel this year. But it seems like you had a great time and it was a very Merry Christmas overall.
PS totally loved the part about waking up with a crying baby that wasn’t yours. I’ve almost made it to those days (or rather nights.)
We used to open gifts before going to my grandma’s and we must have left a few for home, too, because I remember one year being so excited that we got to have “three Christmases.” As a kid, it’s the best thing ever.
My kids love fun-printed band-aids, too, and have gotten them in their stockings the past couple years (this year we supported the Dental Association and they also got kid flossers and toothpaste). That way, I can let them use them at their will, and just have a stash of boring plain band-aids for when they really have cuts. Annie is has already used nearly half her box….
Sounds like a fun, but exhausting Christmas. I hope you are recovering from it all!