Summing Up Christmas

We are back home after a long weekend with my parents, and I am happy to report that we had a road trip with no puking! (it was so nice to come home and not clean up a huge mess in the car) Samuel did very well on this trip - he only cried for the last 20 minutes in the car, and it wasn't even hard crying. Sally, of course, is a great traveler - such a trooper. We listened to the end of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" and the beginning of "The Magician's Nephew" (thanks again, Mom and Ken, for a great gift!). At my parents, we had a very nice, relaxing time. The nice thing about where they live is that I have never lived there, so I know almost no one. I can wear jeans and sweats and no makeup and my hair in a clip the whole time and not care. My mom and sister and I went out for coffee and a bagel on Friday morning, and I got ready to go in four minutes. I'm not kidding! The wind was strong that morning, so that's what styled my hair :) Anyway, we had a great time, and all the kids played together so well. My nephew, Evan (he's four), told me one afternoon, "Aunt Sheila, Samuel has been sleeping long enough. You need to get him up because I want to play with him." So cute! They mostly played trains - Evan and Josh are into the Thomas the Train sets. My mom and dad got a starter set for Samuel, and when we got home and he realized he had his own trains, his face was just pure joy. He makes a little clicking sound with his tongue when he pushes the trains - he's so funny. Well, I could go on and on, about how my mom made too much good food - as always - or about how we played several games of liverpool rummy, our family's favorite card game or about how we laughed at the kids or all the nice gifts we got - but I think you get the picture. It's nice to be home, too. I was able to do three loads of laundry yesterday after we got home (we ordered pizza for dinner :) ) so now I'm facing taking down the Christmas decorations. It's raining hard outside, and the sun hasn't come out yet (it's 8:30 as I finish this - I got interrupted several times) so Sally has suggested we make hot chocolate. Yum. I think we need to make a fire, too. And maybe read some books before we clean. Maybe clean. Maybe not . . .