This Christmas was very different than any we have had in the past. For one, the icy roads and snow really changed the way we normally celebrate. Not only was it difficult to get out of the house to hit the stores, but our usual trip to the Lutz Family home on Christmas Eve was cancelled. I thought they were making too much of the snow because in our area, by the time Christmas Eve arrived, our roads were fairly clear. I guess it was a totally different story on the hills of Redmond. In fact, I traveled to Redmond this last Saturday and the road were horrible. I was able to get up the hill but there were clear tire tracks on the road. If I were to go outside of those tracks I would surely have gotten stuck. The snow was so deep between the tracks that bottom of my van was dragging and I thought I would surely need to stop at the Bob Lutz Automotive Garage to have my muffler and gas tank reinstalled. It was bad! Anyway, we had a modified Christmas Eve at my dad's house. It was very nice. It was both of the VanderHoeven families, us and of course dad. We did the usual things. We pulled together a yummy spread of food, read stories, sang Silent Night and of course had the white elephant gift exchange. With a smaller crowd, the exchange was much shorter than the usual hour long ordeal. The gifts were just as great though. By the way, Jacob got the fruit cake and it is now packed away with our Christmas decorations waiting for next years sucker! Christmas morning was also really nice. It was fun to actually have snow outside and added to the ambiance of the season. Matthew has been home from BYU the past week and it has been so much fun having him home again. I know I have said it many times before but it is really fun to see your children grow in to adults. It is fun spending time with them, hearing about all their adventures and sharing in the dreams and goals. We could not be more proud of my children. They are all unique but we love that about them and we support them in everything they do. Anyway, we opened presents early and spent much of the morning playing with toys, trying on clothes, assembling things, having a big breakfast and just enjoying each others company. In the afternoon we headed over to dad's house to keep him company on a special day. The VanderHoeven's met us over there and we played a rousing game of Monopoly. Golden child Matthew was the winner! Then we played the most difficult game of Trivia Pursuit. The questions were super hard and we thought we should have gotten double credit for everyone we got right. Matthew's friend Ryon came over as well. It ended in a tie but we are demanding a rematch in the near future. It was actually a really fun day. It was much quieter than we are used to but it was very relaxing and we had a great time. The rest of the weekend was spend shopping, lunching, and just spending time together. Sarah VanderHoeven ended up staying with us rather than traveling with her family to Yakima. She got to see what it was like to be a Sirrine and I think she officially approved. I have posted some random pictures of the past week or so. This morning I took Matthew to the airport for his flight home. Mike is back at work full-time and I actually traveled to my office in Bellevue to get some work done. Life has officially returned to normal! Hooray! The next priority item on my agenda...a vacation to somewhere warm and sunny. I am surfing the net now looking for a bargain! We really need a vacation. More information on that to follow.
Matthew watching Michelle!
1 comment:
What is dad doing wearing a Seahawks sweater?!?! Anyways, Cat and I are gonna go on a trip to either Arizona or Utah. Wanna plan to go there together? Cherry Hill maybe? We also do wanna go to Mexico (hint, hint).
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