Christmas, Part One

Well, the Christmas tree and decorations are all taken down and put away.  My house is once again clean... finally!  Christmas 2009 was definitely a Christmas to remember!

I had to work Christmas Eve till 2:30 PM.  The original plan was for me to come home, throw everything and everyone into the Suburban and head to my parent's house in MO for Christmas with my family.  As I was walking out to my car, I was sliding everywhere on the wet pavement.  Then when I reached my car and it was covered in ice, I called home and broke the bad news that we weren't heading out in this ice.  It was dry when I went to work that morning.  It started to rain early morning and by that afternoon, it was sleeting.  By 9:00 that evening-- everything was covered in snow, the Governor had called a state of emergency and major interstates were closed down.  Tulsa, OK was receiving a third blizzard in its 25 year history!  I had never been in a blizzard.  I didn't know what it was.  I'm here to tell you that I am so fortunate that we stayed home that night in a warm and safe home!  I kept thinking about my co-workers that were still at work, hoping they made it home okay.  It was neat to watch it, but scary to think of the people that were stuck in it.  It looked like smoke just blowing all around...

The drifts were huge!  We got 8" of snow, but some of the drifts were almost as tall as my 4 year old!

That night was only the second time in my life that I had been away from my family at Christmas Eve.  The other time was because of snow and ice storms.

I was deeply saddened.  I sent them pictures of our blizzard.  I called a few times to talk and hear all the fun that was going on.  Rich told me that when we were able to get out, we would head up there and stay a few days.  That made it easier, but I knew it wasn't the same.  When our family gets together to celebrate Christmas-- it is a celebration!  There are 6 kids + 4 spouses, 19 grandkids + 11 spouses, and 23 great-grandkids... with 2 more on the way!!!  Including my parents, that makes the sum of our immediate family 65!  Soon to be 67!  When my parents built their most recent house, a huge basement was planned for all the family gatherings because that was the only place to hold us all.  My Mom insists that she sees everyone open their presents.  Since she's the matriarch, we oblige.  But the past couple of years we had to change it up since it was taking 3+ hours to watch presents being opened.  Would you believe it never, ever got old for me??  I would continue that, but my sisters say enough is enough!  So now we go two at a time opening presents.  It's cut down to a little over two hours.  But, oh what joy!!  I LOVE Christmas madness with my family!

Christmas morning, we woke at 9 AM.  I wish I could say that we have a nice, big breakfast or even a muffin, cinnamon roll tradition... but we don't.  Our tradition is to skip breakfast and head straight for the presents!  I am just as bad as the kids!  Lol!

Blurry, but the only picture I have of my favorite gifts of all time...

In a nutshell, that is how we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  I'll be back later with the rest of the story of our Christmas.

I'm extremely grateful that I belong to such a large family that loves, gives, cares and serves God!

Even though ALL Christmas plans were shattered, I believe this Christmas of 2009 was a most memorable and enjoyable holiday for me and my family!