Christmas 2008 in review

The snow is gone, the presents unwrapped, the tree was hauled off by the boy scouts and we now have the 1:30 time slot in church. What does all this mean? It means that I'm sitting down and putting into action one of my new goals for 2009 which is to add a post to my blog once a week. Now that I have put that in writing, I expect you all to send me friendly reminders. I also expect that you won't judge me when you see how fast I fall off the train of accomplishing my goals. Enough about me and my goals...I'll save that for next week's post since I need to spread them out. Let's move on to Christmas.

Of course there was the snow that added an element of excitement and some sad realities to this season. There was the excitement of one whole additional week of Winter Break on account of the icy roads, but then there was the reality of a frazzled, frustrated and guilt ridden mom who saw 4 kids watching too much TV, playing too much WII and playing too much computer during that very long last week. There was the excitement of Adam, Diana and Madeline's arrival only to be met with the sad reality that their flight from Utah was cancelled and the roads were closed and they would have to spend the holidays in Utah. There was the sad reality that Doug and Staci and kids would probably not be able to make it to Oregon on account of the weather and then the excitement that came when we found out the highway had opened and they were on the road. There was the sad reality that Jon and Kirsten experienced when they had to cancel their trip to Sunriver but then the excitement when we found out we would get to see them more during Christmas. There was the sad reality that came on Christmas Eve when it took us three hours to drive home and then the excitement that comes from a good night's sleep and a wonderful Christmas morning. There was the sad reality that we may not return back to Salem to visit Jason's family on account of the roads and then the excitement that came after a positive news report and a good night's sleep.

So as you can see, the snow came with a roller coaster of emotions, but when all was said and done, it is always exciting to have a white Christmas in Oregon and I know that the kids had a fabulous time playing in it.

All the way from LA...here is Olivia...

Eric and Mary...Jon and Max...

Cousins had a fun time playing indoors at grandma's house and we soon realized that somehow everything seemed a lot more fun without your clothes on.

Whether you were inside...

or outside...

When we weren't playing in the snow, we were cooking, eating, playing games, watching "A Christmas Carol" or dancing...

That obnoxious dog provided hours of entertainment for my kids during our snowed in days...who knew?

When we weren't dancing to obnoxious music, we were singing it. Now everyone needs to know that I'm really putting myself out there in posting this video as nothing makes me more self conscious than singing in front of people, so...no snickering...okay snicker all you want, you won't be able to help yourself, but just so you know...I am very aware that I am off key and that Doug is and always was the more musically inclined one in the family and if he doesn't sound good in this performance, it is all my fault, but with all that said...we sure had fun. We were only missing Matthew in this tribute to Walker Middle School Westside Singers...

Okay...never mind...after two days of racking my resources, I discovered that the video clip contained too many megabytes and it won't be able to upload. Sorry to get your hopes up. I know you all were just waiting with baited breath to listen to my out of tune voice...maybe some other time.

After all of our Christmas eve celebrations with the Heder side of the family, we traveled back to Banks where we had a wonderful and cozy Christmas morning with just Jason and I and kids. I took no pictures, just a lot of videos. I needed proof that Santa had come, because unbeknownst to me, my children had been good. They got what they asked for from Santa, so I'm pretty sure some serious deal making took place.

We headed back to Salem that night to open presents with the Short side of the family and rather than enduring another drive back that night, we opted to stay the night. The next day we had a fun day of shopping and movie watching.

In conclusion...Christmas was almost perfect. I'm so glad that all my family was safe and that I got to spend some wonderful time with those that made it. I can't wait until next year!