Christmas with the Family - All of Them!

This Christmas, Brandon, Keaton and I all drove all the way back to Chicago.  Friday night after Keaton got off work we drove up to bountiful and stayed at our Uncle Lon’s house.  Brandon got to go to a play with Uncle Lon because he had one extra ticket.  He said that he enjoyed that a lot.  Keaton and I stayed at home and made a puzzle with Aunt Ellen.  We slept and then got up very early to try to beat the snow storm that the valley was expecting.  But I guess it wasn't early enough.  There was a lot of snow for the first two or three hours of our trek.  We had to go extra slow because of it.  We saw many semi-tractor trailers rolled off the side of the road as well and that was a little scary.  But we drove and drove and drove.  It is about a twenty hour drive and because of our delay we did it in about twenty two hours.  On the drive we listened to Ender’s game which was also a phenomenal book written by Orson Scott Card. 

When we finally got to Naperville area, I missed our turn on the highway and didn’t realize it until far too late and had to take a different way home which did not add to the speed at which we arrived home.  But we got home and slept several hours before being awoken the next morning.  For several days while the youngest siblings were still in school we each went shopping with mom and to Dallin’s basketball games.  We all just relaxed; after all we had all just finished finals!  We enjoyed Christmas traditions with the family like drinking lots of egg-nog and orange juice and mixtures of the two (orange-nog), and baking good Christmas treats, and making homemade caramels.  Christmas eve we had some family friends over and re-enacted the nativity as we do every year.

Christmas morning we got up at perhaps 7:30 and sorted presents and ate a delicious breakfast, then spent about three hours going around one at a time and enjoying opening presents.  I appreciated my new shoes which I desperately needed as well as some new Sunday shirts.

That night we packed up and loaded the van.  We left early the day after Christmas headed for North Carolina.  It ended up snowing quite a bit through Ohio and it was slow going for a while.  Then all the sudden it became very difficult for dad to drive and we found out that we had two popped tires!  Both on the same side of the van!  We couldn’t figure it out!  Because we must have ran over a board with nails in it or something cause it was extremely strange.  We waited for the tow truck and watched a movie in the van for a while then walked to the nearby Wendy’s off of the highway.  The tow truck took forever and then tried to fix the tires then and there.  A mistake!  We just wanted to go to the shop to get them fixed!  Plus because it was so crazy out all of the shops were closing up!  One man said he would stay open for us though.  An answer to prayer!  Dad ended up having to pay for four new tires because you can’t just replace two or it is uneven or something.  Kind of expensive!

We did end up getting to North Carolina though late that night and Justin came to the hotel and picked Brandon and I up.  We bunked at his place on an air mattress and the couch while the rest of the family stayed at the hotel.  Nathan had thrown up a few hours before we got there and that night Keaton was doing the same at the hotel.  Kind of a rough ride out to North Carolina. 

Brandon and I were awakened by our two little nephews Andrew and Isaac.  They are the best ever!  Two years old, talking, walking and running, opening doors, playing with cars and airplanes and trains.  It is just so fun to be with them.  Mom and dad got them the magic school bus series for Christmas and they absolutely love it!  Brandon and I had previously recorded some clips of loaders in action and cranes and other trucks, and the boys were just glued to the videos!  They loved them so much!

While there we had some authentic southern food with fried kiesh and fried chicken, pork and beans.  We went to the hotel pool and swam with the twins and they had a blast.   We went to the North Carolina Basketball museum and say all of Michael Jordan’s stuff amongst many other incredible players and coaches.  The older family members went to the Raleigh temple one morning.  On the drive there we got to see the beautiful country and small homes on large properties.  It was good to spend time with Justin and Melissa and their boys. 

Grandma and grandpa building trains with the twins

Isaac tries really hard to smile when we are taking pictures of him!

We drove back to Chicago and picked up Brandon’s girlfriend Christine from the airport.  While she was here we ate out at Portillos, our favorite Chicago still restaurant as well as Giordanos, our favorite deep dish pizza place.  I love their food!  It was a great Christmas break; lots of rest and lots of time with family.  I love my family!

Christine, Brandon, Me, Dallin, Keaton, Nathan