christmas 2008

Christmas this year was quite different from how we usually do things. My side of the family is all - ALL - in Florida. The original plan was to meet half way, but the amount of time we would have been able to be together was quite limited. In a moment of absolute sweetness, Hubby suggested we just leave Christmas Eve and make the 16 hour drive to Orlando.

And that is what we did.

At 2:00 PM on Christmas Eve, we loaded up the car... all the presents... all the clothes... enough Chex Mix to choke a horse... three kids... a mom... a dad... and a dog... and we started out to the Sunshine State. I took the first leg of the trip and drove until we got to Beaumont.

When we stopped to switch drivers and potty, the nasty weather kicked in. And for the next 10 hours of the trip we had rain, fog, and just plain nasty driving conditions. The kids were too wired to really sleep, so we were all awake most of the night.

Did you know that you can track Santa on your BlackBerry? Well, thanks to Google maps, you can! Somewhere in Mississippi we saw that he was very, very close to our location. Pickles and SuperGirl were looking out their windows for a glimpse of the sleigh and reindeer without being spotted. Pickles looked and looked, and she swears that she saw a glowing red dot (Rudolph's nose, perhaps?) and then a streak of light. If you ask her, she'll tell you it was Santa's sleigh taking off for its next delivery.

As the sun came up in Florida, the fog was still with us. We were all bleary eyed and ready to see the family. A call to Grammy was made and she assured us that everyone was up and they were cooking breakfast... just waiting for us to get there. With the promise of breakfast tacos and muffins, presents, and hugs, it just made the last 30 minutes of the drive seem to take forever.

We pulled in to Nannie's neighborhood and the anticipation of the long drive and Christmas morning was almost too much to bear... the thought of what was waiting at the house made the girls giggly and ready to get out... and what a surprise they had waiting for them!!