White Christmas

It is nice to talk about, it is nice to experience, but it is no fun to drive home in.  For 500 miles.
Happily, our Honda Element is very sure footed (tired) in the snow. 

Despite all the Global Warming, Columbia, South Carolina had its very first White Christmas since they started keeping records in the 1880s.  A major snow storm was moving up the East Coast, tracking just where we needed to drive home Sunday.

Fortunately, our SIL Brian is the family GIR (Genius-In-Residence) and looked at all the traffic cameras on the Internet and discovered if we went inland up to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, we'd have clear roads.  This is exactly what we found.

It still was a long 500 mile trip home.  On the way home we talked, smiled and laughed at all the fun we had at Heather and Brian's home with our grandsons.

On Christmas Eve, Andrew and Owie got to open one present.

It was an empty box!  Why was it empty?  Because Brian had already set it up in their backyard, it was a Zip Line.

The boys loved zipping across their yard.  It was pretty cool.

The boys love Zoe, The Wonder Dog.  They took her for several walks and explored some trails.  She loves to walk with the boys, too.

It was very cold so we had to bundle up.

Christmas morning we found that Santa made a visit.  From all the presents under the tree, we figured he must have used an 18 wheeler instead of a sleigh this year.

The boys had a great time opening their gifts.

Later, after a fantastic Christmas diner, we all relaxed in the living room.  Marti has been a Nintendo addict for years, she loves video games in any form.  You know when they say the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree, here are three generations of our family playing video games.

Andrew, Marti, Owie, Brian and Heather

Even Owie got the hang of playing Super Mario.  You don't think Marti is a bad influence, do you?

So we have some great memories and pictures of our Christmas.  Sadly, we couldn't spend any time with Ryan, Amber, Taylor and Kierra this year out in Oregon.  But next Christmas, we're looking forward to being with them and not having any time pressure or constraints to cause us to drive through another snow storm. :c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.