Christmas 09

this year Christmas lasted a long time for our family and don't worry I am not complaining. We started out on December 20th celebrating with Adrian's family, however we were all pretty sick. I was still throwing up because of the inside me, Adrian had the flu and I knew I had to get Jackson out of the house. So I trucked acrossed the county to Gloria and Mikes and left Jackson there for the night. Adrian was feeling better the next day so we got some extra sleep and then headed over for lunch. Between my head cold and the baby pukes it was a long day. But great times seeing family. We then came home and all went to bed early. Jackson kept Grandma and his aunt and uncle up all night so he was tired too. We worked really hard to get healthy, before we headed to MN on Tuesday.

Tuesday is itself an adventure. We got in the car at about 2:30 pm two hours earlier than we planned on leaving. It all started with flurries, an ipass that didn't work right and all of this made for a very unhappy driver. To top it off it didn't make it easier that Jackson and I were not feeling well and we all knew we had some tough weather ahead of us. But we knew we wanted to surprise My mom on Christmas by showing up early, so we were off. We got into Chicago and hit aweful weather. We were driving 8 mph and it took nearly and hour and a half to drive 17 miles. At times I could have walked faster than we were moving. Once we got out of the Chicago area and past Joliet we upped our speed to around 50 but drove like this to the Iowa border. After consulting with my dad in secret...we decided at 12:30 pm to get a room in Des Moines IA for some well needed rest and we would start out tomorrow morning. It took another two hours from there to get to my parents...this is normally a 8 and a half hour trip...that took us twelve. WOW...never in my six years have I encountered such a trip....but I guess I am blessed with the winter conditions...that I have made it with only one bad trip in 6 years.

My mom was elated and sooo excited to see all of us. of course she began thinking about all the things she didn't have done yet and the extra food she needed until I informed her there would only be one extra mouth to feed and he wasn't that picky. It was a great idea to have a few days before the rest of the gang arrived. It was good for Jackson to have more time with Papa and Nana and to not be overwhelmed with all the energy from my nieces.

We had our family Christmas on Saturday which went great. lots of gifts and family fun. then on Sunday we had the Christensen family Christmas at my mom and Dad's and we surprised my mom with a 60th bday party too...but I will let everyone know she is not 60 until January 18th. So give her another month before the harassment starts.

Then monday we had a very uneventful trip home. Jackson traveled like a champ again. I can only hope that our future children are the same. I gotta say if it was eventful I missed it. I slept a great majority of the trip. Adrian was the trooper driving us the entire way. I have pictures but off course blogger is not cooperating with me tonight...so we will try in the morning.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. I can't wait to see what is in store for us in 2009. 2008 has been great and I will do a year in review sometime soon.