We had the best Christmas ever! Two weeks of vacation, two cute girls, two wonderful families, and two beautiful states...it doesn’t get much better than that!
Josh for some odd reason, probably because he wasn’t part of the drive from Philadelphia to Utah or from Utah to Texas earlier this year, decided driving home for Christmas would be “super fun.” I was just so happy to be going home that I didn’t care how we got there. We actually did have a lot of fun on the drive. The girls were great. They can transport their imaginary games into the car without skipping a beat. We listened to Christmas music and audio books, had cheetah races at the rest stops, and enjoyed an excuse to eat junk food and sit in one place all day. We stopped in Albuquerque for the night. The highlights of Albuquerque were the pool at the hotel and the Trader Joe’s next door. We nearly went wild when we saw Trader Joe’s. We were inside for 10 minutes and spent $90! We had to stock up on all of our favorite treats.
Our first week of vacation was in Salt Lake with the Woodfords. We had so much fun doing puzzles, watching Christmas movies, and relaxing like you should around Christmas. We spent one evening with Alisa and her family. When we arrived Alisa had little stockings out for Kate and Jane. The Christmas magic took over and they were in heaven playing with stickers and notebooks and treats. A little later the older cousins came home from school. Josh started wrestling with the boys and Kate and Jane fell in love with Jessica. She was so cute to them, as she always has been. She shared her toys, dressed them like princesses, and let them hold her bird. They are still talking about Jessica. After a pizza party we went to temple square to see the Christmas lights. Being away from Salt Lake has made me appreciate just how incredible the temple square Christmas display is. I had mocked the lights our HOA put up in our neighborhood and the girls knew I did’t like lights that go part way up a tree. Now they know what I was comparing it to! Temple square was absolutely lovely, as always.
The Woodford family party on Christmas Eve was great. The house was bursting at the seams and it was so fun to see everyone! The food was tasty, especially Miyuki’s desserts, of course. The left and right game was given new life with a variation on the Grinch written by Kim. The talent show was a delight. And then we all just talked and raided the left overs and read Christmas stories and played games. It was a Merry Christmas Party, indeed.
When we finished our games and realized it was almost 11:00 p.m. we faced a bit of a dilemma. We had the car all packed up with our Christmas and were ready to drive to Island Park, but we hadn’t counted on it being quite so late. It was either unpack everything or drive all night. Josh decided on the latter with the provision that we could stop at a hotel in Idaho Falls if the roads were bad. So, off we went with Santa and his reindeer on a midnight ride.
At 3:00 a.m. we listened to “Past Three O’Clock” on our A Cappella Christmas Album. The roads were dry and clear until we got close to Island Park. Then we hit frozen roads and fog. The clouds were sitting at about eye level, which made for an amazing scene. They rippled over the top of the car as we drove. It looked like a time lapse video. Since we were the only car in site we could enjoy the scene and not worry about dodging other vehicles. We made it to the last hill before Idylwolf and got stuck. Fortunately, a rescue party greeted us. The girls were bundled and taken to Idylwolf and Alan helped me get the car safely down the hill, park it at the mouth of the road, and shuttle all of our things in the 4Runner up to Idylwolf. I guess in the end, we had to unpack the whole car anyway.
By the time we finished setting up Christmas it was 6:00 a.m. We crashed for a few hours until the girls woke up and then we had a fun Christmas morning. The girls were darling. It is so fun to watch them discover things and see their reactions. Kate was most excited about her pillow pet and her bow and arrow from Jane. She picked up the bow and arrow, pulled back the string, and shot her Dad in the head. He was sitting behind her! Uncle Doug gave her a lesson on how to shoot a bow. Jane was most excited about her dress up princess dresses and her Belle Set from Kate.
We had a very low key Christmas day. For some reason we were all a little tired. It was very nice not to have anywhere to go or anywhere we had to be. We could just look out the window at the sparkling trees, enjoy the comforts of the warm fire, play with toys, eat yummy food and enjoy the day together.
We spent the next week at Idylwolf, my parents’ home in Island Park. It was so relaxing. We went on snowshoeing adventures across a frozen lake and up a big hill, which gave us a beautiful view of the Tetons. A quote from Oscar Otter kept running through my head, “The world lay before him like a map.” (Yes, when you are a mother the fine literary quotes running through your head come from Oscar Otter.) While we were off snowshoeing my Mom took the girls out sledding. She pulled them up and down the roads around the house. The grade was not overwhelming, but they were in heaven. It is nice to be reminded about the joy that can be found in simple activities. The cousins then began to descend, the noise level picked up, the girls disappeared into cousin fest, and the next phase of the party began. We found an amazing sledding hill, had Nerf gun wars, snowshoed again, rented snow mobiles, played Warewolf and Bang, puzzled, read books, and ate delicious creations. Alan and I made a baked brie. I won’t brag, but...“my friends certainly say I know how to make a baked brie.”
The only bad part about the whole two weeks was leaving. Admitting that our two weeks of vacation were really over was no fun at all. The drive home seemed longer and not nearly as fun. The girls were still really good, however, and they had their pillow pets to sleep on. Josh drove so cautiously, I wondered if it was really him. We made it home and had a day to unpack, undecorate, and regroup. No fun, but necessary. The next morning when it was time to get back to the routine it was a pretty rude awakening. Oh, well. We will hold on to the happy memories and see what 2012 has to offer.
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