Silly Mom Thoughts

Oh boy, was our Christmas interesting!

Christmas Eve was awesome. My parents and brother came up to visit us, we had a delicious dinner of prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes. We drank a little, laughed a lot, and ate way to much. After they left, Turk and I got to play Santa and set up the toys that needed setting up, put presents under the tree, and filled stockings. Have I mentioned how much I love having kids, especially at Christmastime?

Bug Eating the Gingerbread Train

Santa was here!

Christmas morning, the kids were totally excited about the presents. Bug was very sweet and handed out presents to everyone and was quite patient waiting for everyone else to open presents when it wasn’t his turn. Bean was only mildly interested, so Bug opened her presents for her. It was pretty cute. It was snowing while we were opening presents, a rare thing for us Northwesterners, but it was absolutely beautiful.

Bean’s Favorite Gift: Rose Petal Cottage

After presents were opened and we were dressed to go, we left for Turk’s parent’s house. We were worried about the weather, but really wanted to make it down to see family. I backed out of our driveway and had to go around the block because a Comcast van was stuck blocking the other path. Not a good sign that we’d be able to make it up. Sure enough, I rounded the corner and started heading up our insanely steep hill, only to get stuck spinning my tires. Thankfully, the Comcast guy was super sweet and helped Turk push our car up the hill. Both he and Turk were sweating like crazy when, 20 minutes later, I was finally at the top. We were so grateful for the Comcast guy’s help, though.

The road down was fairly clear, though patchy in places. I took it easy and eventually we made it to his parent’s house where we opened presents and got to meet Bug and Bean’s cousin for the first time (and man, is she beautiful). At around 3pm we headed for Turk’s grandma’s house… such a bad idea.

You see, we live in a very hilly part of the world, especially in some towns near the water. When you go up one hill, you almost always have to go down another. This doesn’t work so well for my little 2-wheel-drive car whose tires need to be replaced. It would be nice if the roads were plowed, or even sanded, but since we don’t normally get 18″ of snow, there isn’t the man power or equipment necessary to clear side roads. We ended up getting stuck 3 times. Fortunately, I am married to a genius of a man who packed a shovel in our car. He dug us out and pushed the car so we could get through. The last time we got stuck, just a block from his grandma’s house, Turk’s dad came and helped us out.

I’d like to say Turk and I stayed calm the entire time, but there were plenty of f-bombs and sh*$, among other distasteful words flung about. We made up later, though, with no hard feelings. Fortunately, Bug didn’t pick up any of the words to add to his vocabulary. Shew.

After the party at Grandma’s, we utilized all the manpower we could to get up the hill. Clint’s dad backed up one hill, floored it, and just before he lost momentum, Turk and his brother ran up behind the car and started pushing until they reached the top, where Turk and I climbed in and drove back to his parent’s house.

After an entire day of getting stuck, swearing, and clutching the steering wheel tightly, Turk and I decided to stay at his parent’s house overnight. The next day, it snowed again, and we decided to stay one more night. I’m glad we did, though. It gave us more opportunities for chatting, laughs, and memories. Plus, I got to hold that little baby girl a whole lot. Did I mention how cute she is?

A Snowy Walk to Starbucks

Yesterday we finally decided to head for home. The snow was melting at a rapid pace, creating a foot of now slushy nastiness. I had barely backed out of the driveway before I was stuck again. Turk’s brother helped us out and we were finally on the road, only to get stuck around the next turn. A kid was shoveling his driveway and came out to help us, and Turk’s brother came up the road and helped us out again. They told me to get in the grooves and not stop, so I did. It was like being on one of those roller coaster type rides at Disneyland where you’re on the tracks and the cart bumps around to get into the correct grooves. We could hear the snow scraping along the bottom of my car and we bumped and thumped around until we finally made it to the main road where it was smooth sailing the whole way. We pulled into our driveway, relieved that the snow had mostly melted in our down.

Overall, a great Christmas, and one to remember for sure. How blessed we are to have such wonderful families, safe cars (even if they aren’t the best in the snow), and best of all, each other. I hope your Christmas was equally as blessed!