Christmas Eve was spent getting ready for Christmas Day. Mom and I did some shopping and then Mom worked on some salads for Christmas Day. We made soft sauce later in the day for the Christmas pudding to be served the next day. Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Vicky and Warren's for some yummy appetizers and then lasagna. It was good to see all of the O'Dell family. Church was next. It was a nice service. I always love the singing and there was lots of singing.:) Back to Dad and Mom's and then kids were bouncing off the walls. They were so excited to open new pajamas with slipper socks and one other gift. It was hard to get them all to go to sleep. Finally Santa couldn't wait any longer. The gifts were placed and the stockings stuffed after Santa had some Eggnog and pecan tassies.
The kids were woken up at 6:30. I am still waiting for the year that they wake up before me.It didn't take them long to get out of bed. We opened stockings and then opened our presents. The kids enjoyed everything they got. They were all really excited to get ice skates for Christmas and could hardly wait to get on the ice. The kids played with their new toys the rest of the morning while we got ready for Christmas dinner. Finally all the food was ready and the family arrived. We ate much food and then cleaned up. Later, we played a little game and then ate some more.
The next few days we went skating, sledding, and swimming. It was lots of fun to play together and I was tuckered out by the end of each day.
We celebrated Dad's birthday twice. We had a party at the house a day early and then went out to eat on his birthday.
We left for home the morning of the 30th. The weather didn't look great, but it didn't look real bad (except around Gillette). We left at 8AM and had pretty good weather. There were some icy spots, snow drifts and blowing snow. It wasn't too bad until we got to Douglas, Wyoming. The roads weren't very good and it was snowing. After we left Wheatland, we saw a "No unnecessary travel" sign. We decided to drive real slow. I was a little worried for a while. Finally we made it to Chugwater and we stopped. Paul checked the forecast for the rest of the way and there were no more scary signs.:) We continued on our way and finally pulled into home at about 12:30AM. We were very tired, but so thankful that we were home safe and sound.
