Christmas Break

Our family had a wonderful Christmas this year. Our big family present was from Bob's sister, Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Don--they generously paid for our family to drive down to Maryland and spend Christmas with them.

The drive started out a little rocky. We got a little over an hour away when I realized that ALL of my make up and bathroom necessities were left at home. We turned around (because we thought it was cheaper to go back than to try and buy the things I would need--apparently I'm high maintenance...) and drove all the way back and started over, leaving London (for the second time) at 1:30 am. Driving through the night had 2 huge benefits:

1. I can give the kids a little gravol (to keep them from getting car sick and it knocks them out) and they sleep almost the entire time.
2. The border crossing was empty so we didn't have to wait to cross.

We had a great drive down through the Appalachian mountains (which look like pretty little hills compared to the Rockies) and along the Susquehanna River. The further south we went, the less snow there was.

We arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Don to be greeted by a very tall Danielle, a sweet Sydney (sporting her beautiful new hair cut) and a bubbly mini New Yorker, Joanna (Don's daughter). After having some food and a nap, we got dressed up and went out with Elizabeth and Don. We almost didn't recognize our car since Elizabeth had completely cleaned it inside and out. The kids stayed in and watched some movies--when I checked the kids after we got home, Lukas had made himself at home snuggling next to Joanna and Dani on the hide-a-bed. He looked so comfortable but I felt sorry for the girls because he takes over the whole bed.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and Don did a fantastic job! His turkey looked like it jumped out of a cooking magazine! It was almost sad to cut up...Don drove Joanna home that night so she could be with her mom. Elizabeth, Bob and I set to work wrapping the remaining Christmas presents while we watched Stardust (an awesome new movie with Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro). The kids were so excited on Christmas morning--they woke us up and could hardly wait to tear into their presents. Kailyn's favorite present was some Webkinz from Dani and Sydney. Lukas loved his Spider gun from Santa. Dani got a huge Star Wars Lego set and Sydney got some new games from her PSP. Elizabeth got a new wardrobe from Don and Don got iPod Nano from Elizabeth.Grandma White sent us all some thoughtful gifts and Grandma and Grandpa Fraser sent their gifts to the kids before we even left.

Dani and Sydney flew out to see Todd and Alicia on Christmas day. Lukas was so sad to see them go. He was crying because he thought he'd never see them again.

On Boxing Day, we took the kids to the mall and had lunch together at the Rainforest Cafe. The kids thought is was amazing! The whole place looks like a rain forest with trees and animals. Lukas walked in and said, "THIS IS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!! He didn't want to walk around and look at the animals because he was hungry and he didn't want the cook to not find him when his food was ready.

The next day, Elizabeth and Don watched the kids so Bob and I could go to the Washington DC Temple. It is such an amazing place. Things have been very challenging lately and it was good to be able to take some time and ponder what our plan is. I've always found the temple to be a place of refuge from the weight of world...somewhere to think without distractions. I feel like we have a better idea of what we're going to do over the next few months.

Our trip was fantastic! Thank you so much, Elizabeth, Don, Dani, Joanna and Sydney for giving us such a great Christmas!