Christmas Vacation: Christmas

I'll be honest.  Christmas just didn't feel right.  First of all, we've only been at our own house for the last several Christmases, so it was odd to be anywhere else.  Second of all, we weren't in a house at all.  We were in a hotel.  Third, we didn't have a traditional gift-y Christmas.  (Ironically, what we told our kids would be a very small Christmas because the trip we were going on was enough, ended up being a very drawn-out Christmas which began with sibling gifts and books from Mom & Dad on Thursday, then gifts from my aunt and uncle on Friday, then gifts from Mema and Papa on Sunday, then a small Christmas in our hotel room on Monday, and another round of gifts with Pops on Tuesday.  They might end up requesting a "small" Christmas again next year.)

Anyway, we did try to make it special.  We'd already done our Luke 2 reading earlier in the week so we went along with Cat's idea to read an article from The New Era as a little devotional on Christmas Eve.  We sang a song and put the kids to bed.  Then the elves got busy, and a little mouse we received as a gift at the reunion that night inspected the job to see if it was up to snuff.  (Side note: the little mouse was part of a bigger gift that included a story written by one cousin and illustrated by her big sister about three mouse-cousins who were best friends.  It was wonderful.)

Santa filled each kid's stocking and Ben and I gave the kids a few more things they could use as our trip continued.  The kids were underwhelmed, but oh well.  We did try to warn them.  We were excited to see cousins one more time at the hotel breakfast buffet.  There was a Christmas tree in the lobby and I'm still kicking myself that I didn't try to get a group picture at the tree, but we were in a hurry to get on the road for the day's adventures.

Ben has one brother who didn't make it to the reunion, but they live just 90 minutes from Orlando, so we took the roundabout way to Mema and Papa's house, stopping on the east coast of Florida to wish the rest of the cousins on that side of Ben's family a Merry Christmas.  It was great to see them again, even for a short visit!  Then when we left we received a phone call from the brother who lives in the Jacksonville area, asking if we'd like to stop at their house for lunch, which was right on our way.  So we got to see that family again.  Hooray for extra family time!

Ben's left arm is pretty long, huh?

We arrived at Mema and Papa's house in the late afternoon and it was great to be back there!  It's so cozy and familiar.  Even though it had been 2.5 years since our last visit, Eliza wasted no time asking Mema if they could have a tea party, and of course Mema obliged.

While we were at Mema and Papa's house, Jack found a very old, very loved stuffed dog, which he immediately fell in love with.  Mema told him that it had belonged to all of her boys but that Ben particularly loved him.  Jack has started calling him Spot, not to be confused with his well-loved stuffed dog named Spot which he's slept with for several years.  We thought we should commemorate Spot's official adoption date with a little family portrait.  Also pictured is the stuffed mouse Jack received on Christmas Eve.

We only stayed at M&P's house for one night, to break up the trip to Atlanta (thanks again, Mema and Papa!).  Once we finished up laundry and got packed up in the morning, and the malfunctioning light saber Santa gave Luke was fixed, we took off.  Only to find a nail in the tire two miles up the road.  Two Walmarts and 90 minutes later, the tire was patched.  And then we were off again!  The funny thing was, it is supposed to be a 4-hour 20-minute drive to my Dad's house, but Ben kept joking that it would take us 7 hours.  It actually took us 7 hours and 20 minutes to get there, between the tire delay, the stops with the kids, and the Atlanta traffic.