A Blessed Christmas

I'm hoping you had just the Christmas you were hoping for....we were blessed with that this year! Of course, it wasn't difficult to beat last year so maybe that's why this year seemed so cheery. I admit that I am guilty of sometimes posting about the glory days and not discussing the less than glamorous times, which I'm pretty sure is exactly what I did last Christmas. I mean, it was Aiden's first Christmas....was I really supposed to write about how bad it was? It's still a pretty terrible memory so yeah, I probably should have, instead of trying to dig up whatever fluff I ended up writing. Short summary - last year Aiden got a black eye shortly after we arrived in KS, he was SO sick the entire time we were up there, our family was having "growing pains" of figuring out how to do Christmas since everyone is grown up and married now, and we drove back on Christmas Day and spent part of it stuck in an ice storm in Oklahoma. (A drive that's normally 1 1/2 hours took over 4....and Aiden was not happy for a large portion of that.....)

So, last year set the bar pretty low, and unfortunately this year's trip up to KS started off right where we ended last year. Our old friend the ice storm came back to visit. We were stopping at every rest stop, banging ice off the wipers (after having to buy new wipers at a gas station), just so that we could get visibility while driving. The quiet, peaceful conditions meant good sleeping for Aiden....(or not)....so he unhappily hung out in a whiny awake state in the back seat. A little after midnight we decided to stop for the night because we had at least another 4 hours to go, and while Ryan and I could recover from 4am night, no way, no how could Aiden recover from that, for at least a week. So the Super 8 in Blackwell, OK it was. Yuck. I'm not even going to tell that story because it takes too long and is too icky. But Aiden slept so the overall goal was achieved. 

We were back on the road by 6am and that's where the bummer Christmas story ends. Really and truly. No sarcasm. The rest of the trip was pretty perfect. Lots of family, friends, fun, relaxing, laughter, and an overall healthy (like no sickness, not healthy eating), happy time. We've had a rough go in our house the last six or so months, and Christmas was just what we (or at least I) needed. Praise God for the blessings of Christmas this year and for the most important blessing, that began Christmas thousands of year ago. 

Aiden's new "toy"....a pen he named 'tickle'.

Aiden really perfected the art of saying 'cheese!'

Aiden went out in the snow 3 days in a row. Loved it on day number one, fell on his face on day number two and quit being a fan....tolerated it on day number three. This is day two...I could also mention it was about 10 degrees and windy that day. Weather that chilly often ruins some of the fun (in my warm blooded opinion....)

One thing that remained consistent, despite how he felt about playing in the snow. He loved eating it. (I know, I know, it's surprising that my kid likes to eat something....it's not like he tried to eat his slinky from his stocking or anything...)