Home again! We had a GREAT trip (BUSY!), but it was certainly nice to be home again yesterday. Quite thankful that despite the airplane incident Christmas, we encountered no problems with airport security and our flight left on time, arrived a couple minutes early, AND the luggage came out quickly. Can't get much better than that! The only thing I noticed was that TSA were looking MUCH more carefully at the x-rays of anything carried onto the plane, and the had people take off all sweaters, as well as coats.
A HUGE thanks to my mom and dad for all they did -- from coming to get us at the airport to taking us shopping to driving us all over to lending us a car to cooking dinners and doing laundry! WOW! Ya'll are GREAT! And another huge THANKS goes to Kris and Jon for having us all over for Christmas and having Tom and I over for New Years. More cooking, hosting, extra laundry, etc. And a final THANKS to my Auntie Ellen and Uncle Jeff for having us all come visit the 30th. TONS of kiddos in the house, a nice lunch, and a chance for me to meet with my cousins' kiddos.
So, what all did we do while we were gone????? We left the 22nd. Arriving in NC my parents picked us up. Tom, my dad, and the luggage headed to their house while the rest of us went shopping (Maggie and Abby had a bit of Christmas money burning a hole in their pockets). Met back up at the house, dinner, and relaxation. The next day my dad and I headed out for my Christmas shopping -- getting various supplies for our trip in 2 weeks to Africa. I never thought I'd be so excited to get a mosquito net for a present! Also the proud owner of my first pair of hiking boots. And dad got to experience the pleasure of shopping for women's pants which, unlike men's, are NOT consistent in sizes......
Christmas Eve we headed down to my sister's house. Had an appetizer dinner spread and got the little kiddos (the under-10 set) to bed. Maggie got to participate in the Santa-distribution for the first time.....Fun for all! We managed to get up at a reasonable hour Christmas day (after 8am) to start with the fun. In our family, Santa wraps the presents and we open them person by person, from youngest to oldest. Takes a while, but what else is planned? Mom always has to wait and wait until the end.....After that we had breakfast (for those who didn't eat all their stocking candy first!) and then opened presents. Maggie and Abby's "big" presents had been opened at home, and Tom's "big" present was our Transiberian experience and mine (for the next couple years!) is my upcoming trip (although Tom did manage to sneak me a special gift -- he's a GREAT guy!). I think the hits of the day were my sleeping pad and Maggie's was the USP expander (who knew she'd get so excited by that one!). Kristin made lasagna for dinner and we headed back to mom's after dinner.
Spent the 26th relaxing (or else I just don't remember what we did!) and then headed to the movies on the 27th. The ladies went to see "It's Complicated" which is hilarious. The men saw "Holmes" which I'm planning to take the girls to next weekend when Tom's gone. All were satisfied. On Monday Abby ended up spending the night at my sister's house and Taylor was up with us. We met at the outlet mall Tuesday and mom took ownership of the girls (to take ALL 4 kids to the Chipmunk movies) while Kris and I enjoyed some outlet shopping (THANKS dad for the bonus cash!). We started slowly, but did manage to have some success. Headed back to the house and went for dinner. Tom left from there to spend the night with Jon and the rest of us (8!) piled into Kris's car to go see the holiday lights at Tanglewood -- magnificent!
The 30th was spent visiting my dad's sister's family in Greensboro. I got to meet 2 of my cousins' kiddos and we enjoyed having lunch with everyone. Not the longest visit, but with that many little kids, all tired fro the holidays and running on adrenaline, we had fun! Back to mom's where Kris soon left to take her kids home. Tom and Jon had spent the day at the firing range and actually had a good time. Not quite my thing, but they had fun!
New Year's Eve saw mom meeting Jon to pick up his kids. Tom and I headed down to their house. Two friends of theirs came over and we headed out for Chinese food. Back to the Root's house for competitive Trivial Pursuit and adult beverage consumption. The men won the first round and we won the second. Somehow I pulled "Orson Scott Card" out of nowhere to get the final answer right! All headed back to mom's on the first for the pork roast, hoppin' john, etc. My cousin Amanda was able to come up as well and stayed through the Rose Bowl (go Bucks!). Nice to get to see her as well.
Headed home yesterday, more laundry, church with Maggie this morning, then taking her to a b-day party. Back to reality tomorrow -- I am NOT ready!
Happy New Year to all.......
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