Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas, Part Two: Christmas Day

We had planned to spend Christmas day with my side of the family (the VD's), but with all the snow we were a little nervous about driving up there (our church had even been cancelled because it was so bad). We finally decided around 10 that morning that we were just going to go for it because we heard that the freeways were in good shape. We also knew that once we got into B.C. the main roads would be good because they have lots of plows and even use salt (gasp!) for the roads up there. But before we headed out, we had to open stocking stuffers...check out how Caitlin's hair looks (very typical in the mornings):The drive up there went very well...and no border line-up!! At my parents house we enjoyed some poffertjes for a late breakfast (if you're dutch, you'll know what I'm taking about), and then had some pictures taken. This time Jon made it in the family picture:
Then we had our gift exchange:

Owen with his first train set:Later in the afternoon we headed over to my Uncle and Aunts house for Christmas dinner. They had 3 dogs there, which kept Caitlin entertained the whole time. We spent a nice, relaxing evening there (a big shout-out to Uncle Ed and Aunt Lucy for a delicious dinner and awesome desserts!!). We spent the night at my parents house because we thought it would be better to drive home the next day. But we thought wrong. The next morning the snow started up again. We had planned to stay for a good part of the day at my parents house, but with the snow sticking to the ground, we were on our way home by 10am. The first problem was the border line-up...it took us 90 minutes to get through. Once we finally got through the border and onto the freeway, the road was treacherous. Between the border and B-ham there were 8 cars in the ditch (3 of which were upside-down in the ditch) and of course there were traffic backups by each of the cars. Normally it takes us about an hour to get home from my parents house...this time it took us 4 hours. It was torture at times because Owen was not happy in the back of the van, but he did finally fall asleep 3 hours into it:




Thankfully we made it home safe and sound. What a day!

2 comments:

McJason's said...

Four hours!!!! You could have gone on an airplane to LA and back:). What fun would that be, though? Love the pictures and "yay" that you made it home in one piece. I'm sure you had your hands on the edge of your seat the whole way home:). By the way, Miss M. is anxiously awaiting some lessons from Auntie C. b/c mommy is tone deaf!

Anonymous said...

Um, how do you get Owen to smile like that? I guess he's just a happy kid! Nice family picture.