Our little holiday vacation is over. We drove back home yesterday, a drive that once took 5 1/2 hours and now averages around 8 hours. I think we would have made pretty good time yesterday had it not been for Arkansas’s continual game of let’s redo I-40. Every few weeks, (or so it seems) the powers that be pick a random 2-15 mile long stretch of road and just shut it down for about 10 weeks. It’s kind of like a game when traveling to Mumsey and Poppy’s house, not a game we really like playing, but a game of chance just the same. How far will we get into the state before traffic stops completely? Will we make it to Little Rock? Or maybe, just maybe, the road work will only be going on one side of the road and we won’t actually have to go through it at all? It seems that the traffic was a little bit enjoyable for at least one traveler, we saw two count them two, snowmen erected in the center median as we were creeping along last night. And these weren’t teeny, tiny little snowmen either. Someone was there for quite some time. And had it not been about 7:30 at night and very dark and my children being extremely unaware of dangers like cars, I think me might have considered getting out and playing in the snow, too.
And after the fun and relaxation of a vacation at the Bed & Breakfast that is my parents house, it was time for the great “Put away” that everyone who goes on a trip at Christmas time must endure. Brandon claims he had a patient today, but I’m pretty sure he just didn’t want to have to deal with putting away all the clothes and the new treasures that came home with us. It was very tempting to just leave it all in the annex and shut the door.
But before we get completely back to our old, before Christmas life, let’s get caught up on the fun that went down between last Saturday and today.
On Christmas Eve, we all piled into the Acadia (by all I mean, really all of us – Mom, Jerry, Brandon, Me, Mattie, Reese and Lila.) and headed to Tulsa to celebrate with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tom, Aunt Heidi, my cousin John, his wife Kumiko and their little girlie. The kids did great, waiting so patiently while we ate dinner, wanting nothing more than to be opening their presents. I really don’t know why we don’t just go ahead and do presents first. The kids don’t really eat a whole lot with their minds on whats all wrapped up and under the tree and we as adults are probably going to eat just fine before or after presents. But finally it was time…….
All the Cuzies
Getting caught up with Grandma
Its kind of funny, Grandpa started unwrapping this gift at about the same time that the kids discovered they had been gifted with silly string.
They had time to go outside and use up all the silly string on each other and Uncle Tom, in the time it took Grandpa to actually get into the present.
Better get it while you can Mattie, he won’t be smaller than you much longer
Little Brother getting some revenge for the first few years of life
Right in the face
It’s possible that I may have overdone it with the tape.
Still not quite there
Lila seemed very excited by the whole gift opening experience. She just sat and squealed, never actually removing any paper or even attempting to get toys out of the boxes, but she was just really happy to be there.
Lila’s loot
Then the fun really started. On Grandma’s suggestion, Mattie put Lila in the doll stroller. That was funny enough. Then MoMo was encouraged to push the stroller with Lila still in it. She took her job very seriously and would even stop and give her big, live dolly a kiss every little bit. Lila sat and smiled, enjoying her ride from her cuzie. I think she knew they were bonding and who doesn’t love bonding with their cousins.
A tiny, yet mighty pair
Cutie Pie MoMo
Grandma kisses
Grandpa’s boy
We finished off our time in Tulsa with a little visit to Rhema Bible Church. Ever since I was a little girl, Christmas has involved a visit to Rhema to drive through their incredible light display. And with Reese being so taken with Christmas and lights being so magical to him (he pointed out all of the houses decorated on our drive from Memphis, even some gas stations that weren’t really decorated, just had excessive lighting), it seemed only right to take the kids. It was probably about 28 degrees outside and Mattie rode through with her head hanging out the window, sitting on Poppy’s lap saying over and over, “Are you guys seeing this?”
I think they liked it.
Mama Tried 
sweet pictures!