Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

And he waits until December 23 to do his shopping at the Aeropostale in Short Pump, Virginia. He also carries around candy in his pocket, and if you give him your best smile you just might get a piece. Jeff and I are home in Texas now, after what was officially the longest drive of my life. Saturns, though they get excellent gas mileage, are not known for being incredibly kind to your derriere. But, the drive was totally worth it. We had an awesome visit to Virginia and we're already missing everyone and everything there. Just to try and give you a small taste of how much fun we had, I'll give you the run down. Jeff's from a family of six kids as well, and aside from us a couple of his sisters came for Christmas as well. That meant a lot of food. Fortunetly, Jeff's Mom is a fabulous cook and used to cooking for lots of people-she made lots of Christmas cookies. She also made her famous rolls, turkey, sweet potatoes... (po-tay-toes... you cook 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew..) We're going to have to go on a diet from all the good food we ate. We went shopping a LOT. That always, always adds to a pleasant experience. With so many girls around, Jeff was obliged to stay at home and snack while he played his x-box. It was a dream come true for us both :)

Miriam and I went sledding too. We were supposed to be helping Jeff move the wood pile, but then the hill just looked like too much fun and well-we got distracted. Jeff's parents have a wood burning stove in the basement that they can use to heat the whole house. There was nothing more picturesque than the snow outside and the faint smell of the wood burning stove inside... (Wow-looking at these pictures you would think I wore nothing but pajamas and sweats. I swear I didn't! )

Dallin and Miriam played together really well. They were our little entertainers the whole time!On Christmas Eve we had a little devotional with prayer, songs, and the Christmas story. We also laughed so hard there were tears in our eyes.

Christmas morning came quickly, and I was surprised that the kids didn't get up earlier than 7am! But promptly on the dot it seemed like everyone was awake. This is what the room looked like before we started opening presents..

And this is after... even after Tracy picked up a ton of stuff! Both mine and Jeff's families take turns opening Christmas presents. At my house we were up usually by 4:45am, we were allowed to open our stockings and the presents Santa left us on the fireplace. Then we had to wait until Mom and Dad got up-usually at 6:30. We read the Christmas story first, and then Dad would hand out presents one at a time while we oohed and ahhed over each others gifts. Jeff's family does something similar, they got to open stockings first, but had to wait on presents for Santa. Apparently they were really good kids because most everything came from Santa. They would open presents one at a time starting with the youngest and then going to the oldest. And then Dad would be the last one to open the last Christmas present every year. Jeff's parents were the best hosts. I might get shot for posting this-but I love this picture! Teresa and Steve got a quick family picture in before the kids ran off to play with their loot.

I love that we all wore our pajamas the whole day.

In years past, Tracy and some of the other kids would sneak into the attic and open the gifts that were already wrapped. They would trade with the other kids for what they really wanted, and then re wrap them. Christmas morning their Mom would be so impressed that their extended family had gotten them EXACTLY what they wanted :) Somehow, with all of us still around, Tracy still snuck into some of her presents!

But look at those cute faces-you can't help but love them.

Dallin loved Luigi. They were the best of friends all week, they played together, they chased each other, Dallin gave Luigi treats and Luigi loved him for it. A boy and his dog... well, a boy and his Aunt's dog. And Luigi loved catching naps under the tree like most everyone else. Jeff and him had to learn to share that spot. What is it about catching quick little naps in random places that is so wonderful? And that, in short, was our Christmas in Virginia. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed Jeff's family. It's not everyone that is lucky enough to feel like they have a home in more places than one, and we are so grateful for that.

So, where did you spend Christmas!?