Christmas Eve

A week and a half ago, the kids and I flew out to Virginia to see Grandma who has been having some health challenges.  When we pulled into Hampton, Todd surprised us.  It was wonderful to visit with family again.  Sitting around, laughing, and telling stories from years past always makes for a wonderful time.  

The kids were so excited to finally meet Grandma & Grandpa's dog, Maggie, too.  Not only that, but they got to go to the famed dog park where everyone knows Maggie because she is super friendly.  So friendly that she likes to give drive-by kisses on the lips to all the people there.  

The kids really liked the hotel for two reasons.  One, the gym.  They are big treadmill fans.  Especially the fancy ones that allow you to 'walk a trail' so the incline changes.  Every time we entered or left the hotel, they wanted to stop by and burn a few calories.  

They also loved the hotel for their pancake maker.  All you had to do was wave your hand by the sensor and it plopped down two dollops of batter which you could watch cook.  They tasted pretty good, especially with their fixings bar of sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and regular syrup.  

Halfway through the week, I drove Todd and the kids back to Grandad & Nana's house so they could visit a few days there.  We stopped at the Scenic Overlook and got a picture with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.  The kids were very big fans of Staunton and the mountains.  There was even snow on the side of the road when we drove, which made it all the more enticing.  

After a week, we flew back to Houston.  Amazingly, Caroline made it through both flights without getting sick.  I had a pack of 50 throw-up bags in my backpack just in case, but a nurse friend recommended that I give her Dramamine the day before the flight and then again the day of.  It worked.  She did fine during the flights and only started to feel yucky when the plane descended in preparation for landing.  We will forever use this trick.  

We had an early morning flight, so we were able to pick up Benson that afternoon.  When we originally dropped him off at the kennel, he did not want to go in the back.  We had to escort him to the door so he would go in the right direction.  So when we picked him up, he was quite happy to see Caroline and me.  I set up my phone to take a video of him on the drive home.  We got some good close up shots of his happy face.  Whenever he comes home from the kennel, he drinks a lot and then sleeps for a few days.  I imagine the stimulation of other dogs doesn't make for very restful sleep.  We did, however, encourage him to make a friend while he was there so it would be more fun.  

Later in the week, when Todd got back into town for Christmas, Benson got to see him for the first time in several months.  He was very excited!  

This week has been filled with game nights.  We've played Clue, Guess Who, Connect Four, Hangman, Battleship, and our new favorite - Telestrations.  We don't have the actual game Telestrations, so we play by our own rules, but it is quite fun.  We each have a white board.  We each take a card from Headbandz which is usually an animal, an object, or an occupation.  If it is an astronaut, then I'll draw an astronaut on my white board, but along with it, I'll draw a rocket ship, an alien, the moon, stars, and the earth in the distance.  Then I pass my board to the right.  When I get the person to my left's board, I have to figure out from their picture which picture is the one from their card (they picked their own card).  If I think it was "hamburger" then I erase their picture and write the word hamburger.  Pass the boards.  I get a board with just the word, so I erase the word and draw just the picture of that particular word.  Pass the board.  Erase the picture and write the word that the picture was. Pass the boards. By that time we should each have our own boards back and see if they got our card/word correct.  Josiah is tough because he draws a snail or an alien in every picture and several animals and several food items.  It could be any of them.  

Here is "goldfish."  

Josiah earned his solid grey belt this week.  He was really looking forward to getting it close to the time Todd arrived.  When you get a new belt, you get to go out to a restaurant to eat.  (A new belt is essentially 144 classes.)  Josiah has been craving Outback Steakhouse, so when Todd flew in, we hit it up that afternoon.  Josiah ordered his beloved chicken fingers with a double order of fries.  His arteries thanked him.  At least that'll keep him on the mat to work it off.

Henry has been working on his science fair experiment over the break.  He was interested in how drinks stain our teeth and which drinks stain the most.  He had 7 types of drinks - coffee, Coke, tea, pickle juice (pickles are a thing in his class), Powerade, grape juice, and our control, water.  He put eggs in each glass and then checked them at 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours.  We were actually quite shocked by some of the results.  What we learned was that you better brush your teeth after drinking grape juice!    

With Todd home, he's been doing a few projects that will help us with the move later.  One thing everyone helped with was taking the other half of the banister off in our stairwell.  Even Benson was in the mix because it looked so fun to hang out on the stairs together.  

The evening of Dec 22nd Caroline asked me if I had all her Christmas presents yet.  Well, Christmas is in about two shopping days, so did you make changes to your list?  Her original list had 'ripped jeans' on it.  We went a few weekends back to try on jeans.  We found a pair that fit, but that particular day Caroline said she didn't think she would wear them.  I said Are you sure? a bunch of times.  She was sure.  So we didn't buy them.  But Dec 22nd at 8pm, those ripped jeans were looking pretty good.  So, Dec 23, we went back to the store in hopes that they still had them.  Success.

Because Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year, our church had their normal morning services as well as afternoon services.  All of them were going to be the same, so we stuck to our normal morning routine.  It was a very nice service and at the end we got to sing Silent Night in the candle light.  It is always a peaceful song and a beautiful thing to see the whole church lit up with candles.  And then I had Henry next to me repeatedly saying, Look, my candle has a pimple.  Thank you, Henry.  

This year, the kids are all sleeping in Henry's room for Christmas Eve.  They rotate rooms and he spent the afternoon getting it all set up.  Josiah still has the same giddiness that he has had every year at this time.  He's a celebrator!