Our Christmas Week

To put the week in a nutshell, it was a very interesting week with many twists and turns.

Our original plan was to head to my parents' house on Tuesday the 22nd, the first change came when Jeff's mom was scheduled to have a knee replacement surgery on Dec. 16. We then decided to head out right after church on the 20th so we could take a day and head on over to see Grandma A.

Saturday the 19th, I packed and cleaned ALL day long. I had clothes laid out for church, we had Christmas cards made for all the kids' teachers.

Then came afternoon, Tanner had a cough and he then started complaining about his head hurting and feeling funny. We pull out the thermometer and yep, he has a fever. I think I'm feeling something coming on too.

Calls were made. 1. To the proper person at church, to let her know we wouldn't be there. 2. To mom, to let her know that Tanner had a cold. I was informed that dad had a cold too.

On Sunday, Jeff slipped out of church quickly, so we could get the topper on the van loaded and we could hit the road for our 6 1/2 hour drive. We made it safely there, with Preston starting to cough. I also found out some "upsetting" news for our family. The neighbors secured their Wi-Fi! How dare they! ;o) There were many times that there would be 3-4 laptops sitting on the couch closest to the window so we could get a low signal from the neighbors. We had joked many times about giving them a gift of a booster for their Wi-Fi, and that dad should build a little bar table in front of the window so we had a place to set up our computers. It was sad news for us all, no more Internet when visiting mom and dad.

Monday, plans took another twist. With three of us not feeling well and one still running a fever, it was decided that Jeff would make the trip alone to see his mom.

Tuesday, we had to make the 30 mile drive to Walmart to do some shopping, and to get out of the house. It was there that I got a call from my sister Theresa, who was planning on heading in Wed. night, but because of the weather forecast they decided to head out that day. It was also mom's bowling night, which means the best pizza in the world...Gambino's in Ellsworth! Late that night, a family of four, one with a cold from Oklahoma, one dog, and two gerbils rolled into town.

Wednesday, we hung around the house playing games and getting some food ready for Christmas dinner. The kids help make some candies and they played with the gerbils.

The guys also tore down and removed an old piano from mom and dads room. It was hard to see an old thing, with some nice wood, getting destroyed. They'd tried giving it away but there were no takers.

In the midst of that, we found out that mom's oven went out. We thought, "No problem, there's an extra one next door." When that was brought over the oven didn't work on that either. So now there was discussion if they needed to get one on Christmas Eve, or if we could make do with two roaster ovens and maybe get an after Christmas deal.

That night sister #3, Tammy, rolled in with her 3 dogs.

Christmas Eve, the cousins played, food was made. Dad and Matt went to Salina (an hour away) and bought a new gas stove. We had some "sister time" over at my grandma's house (which is right next door to my parents' house.) We did our Christmas Eve prep so our night wouldn't be too late. We had to wrap our "Santa" or "Spirit of Giving" gifts... that's all from a discussion with my 15 yo niece, Brooke. The question she threw out, "Is it wrong for a Christian to believe in Santa?" A very thought provoking question, but one that most, if not all of us sitting around the table, had already worked out for ourselves. I know my mom, Theresa and I believe the same way, and I think my sister Tammy does, but the reactions and the ways to answer were different.

The kids then were charging a penny for a massage. Aunt Tammy treated grandma to a massage and gave each kid a .99 cent tip, which gave them each a dollar.

Bringing over the "loot" in -24 degree windchill.

After the stocking were full and the special gifts laid out.

Christmas morning, we gave the kids a time that they couldn't get out of bed before...the time...5:30. Of course that didn't keep the kids from waking up and moving around. When our whole family is in the same room, that means this momma was awake at 4 AM. We were allowed to look in our stockings and then when every one was awake around 6:00 the kids got to open there "special" gifts.

We ate our traditional holiday morning breakfast of Bubble bread, or Monkey bread as some people call it. Brooke then read us the Christmas story as told by Luke,

and then we passed out all the gifts and paper was flying everywhere! I know we were done by 9:00.

You can barely see Tanner behind the big gift behind Kaylie.

Christmas afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious dinner. Had a little "dramatic show" from some guests, and we enjoyed our new Christmas gifts. There was discussion of inviting others over, but since there were three different cold virus' from three different states we thought it wasn't the right time to invite.

Saturday, the day we were suppose to head back to Colorado. The kids had really been praying that we would get snowed in, and I wasn't really wanting to leave yet either. So on Christmas evening, it was decided that the kids and I were going to stay. Jeff would drive mom and dad's car home and we would meet in Colby mid-week to exchange vehicles. Around 10:30 am we got a phone call from my uncle saying that he'd heard I-70 was closed. After many attempts to call the road condition line, because there was no Internet, and calls to people in Colorado, we found out that indeed, it was closed.

Jeff called his "back-up" and gave him a heads up, and had decided that it would have to open by a certain time because he did not want to be traveling late in the winds and weather that caused it to close. After the "deadline", Jeff called the elder who was his back-up to go over the message, and found out that I-70 had just opened. Jeff was really torn. He felt such an obligation and want to be at New Hope, but knew it wasn't the safest option to drive late in the wind and snow, in someone else's vehicle. The elder said it was better to play it safe. The kids' prayers had been answered.

The plans were now changed to, our whole family would leave Monday after lunch, the same time Theresa, Matt and the cousins would leave. So all the adults, except Jeff, went to Great Bend to hit the after Christmas sales.

Sunday, we visited mom and dad's church. We also did a family photo shoot for Aunt Tammy to fill her new Christmas gift.

The "Twins"!

Kaylie was excited that we all had red shirts and wanted a picture of all of us.

Monday, we took one last picture of the grandkids with the granddogs and one big family picture (that's on Tammy's camera) and we headed back to Colorado.