Christmas of 2010 will have to go down as one of the most eventful, and fulfilling Christmas days yet. From God's early Christmas present in baby Timothy to the wonderful white snow we were blessed with on Christmas day, this will be a Christmas to remember.
This Whitt household is probably not very traditional when it comes to Christmas in the sense of having 50 million presents around the tree. We keep it pretty simple. 3 gifts to make sure our kids understand what the Christmas season is really about, and that is most importantly the birth/life/death of our Savior Jesus, but it's also about giving more than receiving. Plus, the grandparents will provide close to 49 million presents to suffice. :) This year our kids got pillowpets, tag reader books from Leapster, and transportation vehicles...Caden got a bike and Lala got a scooter. Stockings were filled with chocolates and other goodies that Daddy seems to be enjoying more than the kiddos.
Shannon and I are very terrible (from the world's standpoint) when it comes to Christmas. We don't really buy each other gifts because we take care of each other throughout the year. Or if we do buy each other gifts, we can never make it to Christmas day to open them. We normally have our gifts open by December 2nd!! :)
But this year was a special one. With the new addition of baby Timothy, Shannon's little Taurus was no longer going to cut it. Talk about packed sardines!! So we did our talking and praying about getting a van and the Lord really came through. Shannon and I got an 08 Honda Odyssey for Christmas this year and I could not think of a more perfect gift!..........
Until Christmas day. Wow! What a beautiful sight it was. Except for the Christmas our family spent in Gatlinburg when I was younger, I have never experienced a true "white Christmas" in AL. We had a wonderful time the day before at Meme and Grandaddy's and we had a great time at Bitsy and Poppi's on Christmas day as well.
But the adventure came in traveling to my grandparents house in Huntsville. This is a tradition that has been in the family for almost 40 years now. I think last year was the only year that I have ever missed, and only missed then because Shannon was so very sick. I would not label it as the most convenient thing to do on Christmas day, but I love my family very much and have no idea how much longer this tradition will be able to continue. Plus I know how much it means to my grandparents since we only see them 3 to 4 times a year anyways.
Although it was snowing pretty good in Argo, we had no idea how it was coming down in Huntsville, and boy was it coming down. We started out around 11:00 and the further north we got, the harder it snowed and the more covered the roads began to get. My wife needed a puke bowl and she was not happy with me at all. But the kids were awesome and we made it there in one piece. Great family, great food, great fun and then came the decision to try to make it back that evening or spend the night. We decided to have a spend the night party and it was so much fun. I can't remember the last time I spent the night there, but it reminded me of the days where the cousins used to go spend the week with them. The next morning, we braved the snow to attempt to make it back home. I will say that it was very scary in the beginning. We were following mom and dad, and there were no real clear road tracks until we hit the interstate. It was very nerve racking. But we made it and all was well. And we have some wonderful Christmas memories about the White Christmas of 2010.
I hope everyone had as blessed a Christmas season as ours.
May your 2011 be even better!
