Christmas in Review

We arrived back home late Monday afternoon after spending nearly a week-and-a-half in North Carolina to celebrate Christmas with our families. We had a lovely time seeing everyone, but I have to admit that we were quite happy to get back home and try to slip back into routine here at the house -- or whatever routine we have when Jarrett is around, as he remains off from work until next Monday, which is fabulous! We celebrated Christmas at many a house, and greatly enjoyed all of the various festivities.

The drive up, however, was not so fun -- quite exciting, but not in a good way. We started out joking that we had packed the emergency blanket I put in Jarrett's stocking for our impending trip to Yosemite, and ended up thinking we might actually have to use it (and the box of Lance snacks my mom got from work to send with us!). We made it across the North Carolina border with nary a problem, though freezing rain started falling not too much before. Just outside Gastonia, where we were going to meet my dad at his office to drop off Merckx, a car passed us on our left in the fast lane and spun out right in front of us. Thankfully everyone reacted as calmly as possible, hitting the breaks as gradually as possible. The car came into our lane and then spun back into the far left lane, somehow missing the tall cement divider separating us from oncoming traffic and avoiding being hit by us or those in the other lane. I am sure the driver was shaken up, but so were we -- enough so that we missed the exit for my dad and ended up driving all the way into my parents' house in Charlotte, all the while trying to decide whether we should pause and stay the night at their place or continue on as planned and try to make it to Jarrett's mom's house in Kernersville. Hindsight being what it is, we probably should have opted to stay in Charlotte, but after my dad met us at the house and we checked weather.com, as well as talked to Jarrett's dad and brother up in High Point, we decided to shove on with the thought that it might be worse by morning if it sleeted/snowed all night. So shove on we did, and by the time we were around Concord, about 30 minutes outside of Charlotte, the icy mixture really started sticking to the roads. Soon Highway 85 was nearly white, and by the time we were around the Salisbury area, already witnessing many cars on the sides of the road and having just witnessed in the rearview mirror a pile-up just seconds behind us, white it was. We exited just after the main exit for Salisbury (about 3.5 miles beyond) and used our new GPS to look for available lodging nearby. Sadly, all of our closest options were back at the Salisbury exit. Seeing as we were now driving between 20 and 30 miles per hour on the highway, the thought of backtracking 3.5 miles seemed dreadful. So did the remaining drive ahead of us, but we decided to keep trucking anyway. Cars continued to slide off of the road, and we saw many the flashing light, but after 4.5 hours on the road (for what should have been a 1.5- to 2-hour drive), muscles tensed and nerves frazzled, we made it to Jarrett's mom's house unscathed, thanks be to God. (Seriously... I was praying nearly nonstop from Salisbury on.) And Elsa was a trooper too. I was thankfully able to change her diaper at my parents' house, but I had to feed her a makeshift dinner in the car and read and sang to her in the backseat to try to keep her calm. All things considering, our experience could have been much worse. Once safe and sound inside a cozy house, we were able to enjoy the snow for its beauty. This is how things looked the next day when Jarrett went out with his brother, Stephen, in Stephen's truck to make a grocery run.




While in High Point, we were able to spend time with Jarrett's mom, siblings, his dad and Susan, his grandparents, and his great aunt. Elsa had tons of fun with her aunts and uncles -- especially her Aunt Bethany. And Aunt "B" was so kind one evening to even watch Elsa for us so we could go out to dinner and to one of my old high school haunts, Tate Street Coffee, with Stephen and his friend, Lauren.




On the Wednesday before Christmas, we headed back down to my parents' house. That night my brother came over for dinner and then we exchanged gifts with him since he had to work on Christmas Eve (when my family celebrates Christmas). Elsa received a tea set from her Uncle Billy and served up tea and cookies for everyone that evening.

Back to tradition this year, my mom, Jarrett, and I went to see a movie the afternoon of Christmas Eve while my dad stayed home with Elsa while she napped. Also following tradition, we went out to dinner -- this year to T.G.I Friday's. My favorite memory from dinner this year is Elsa watching a boy of a about four or five, jumping and playing around his family's table. Her response? The American Sign Language sign for "monkey." Back at the house that evening, we all exchanged gifts, letting Elsa unwrap hers before putting her to bed and enjoying the peace and quiet while us adults did some opening. Elsa's response to the set of Elmo books her grandparents gave her was priceless.

On Christmas morning, after seeing what Santa left in our stockings, we hit the road for Jarrett's mom's house yet again and enjoyed a very lovely Christmas lunch with her, all of his siblings, his grandparents, my parents, and a good family friend, Reed. Later after Elsa's nap, we all headed over to Jarrett's dad's house for another Christmas celebration, complete with more delicious food. That evening we drove back to Charlotte. We typically stay in High Point on Christmas night, but Jarrett's aunt and uncle, who live just outside Charlotte, had a get-together scheduled for the day after Christmas, so rather than pack and unpack and pack it all up again, we decided to just go back to my parents' house. Having the Helms clan together the next day was a lot of fun. We were even surprised with a fabulous musical performance by Jarrett's uncle and cousin.




We spent the next couple of days just hanging out with my family. My mom and I made it to another movie, which was such a treat. There was a good combination of lounging and chasing our little toddler. Between the time we left Jarrett's mom's the first time and going back Christmas Day, Elsa really refined her walking skills. She was venturing out some while we were at his mom's, but still wanting to stick fairly close to one of her older skilled walkers or stable inanimate objects. Although, she did first discover stairs at his mom's and immediately started climbing them. At my parents' house, she was able to do laps around the lower level, and was soon walking all over the place on her own. AND there were stairs there too, so she was in heaven. Over the course of the trip she learned her first official, clearly said, words -- "up" (in reference to going up the stairs) and "off" (in reference to lights -- especially Christmas lights -- whether they were off or on).

Monday marked our day of departure, and thankfully it was a fairly uneventful trip home. Well... until Elsa threw up in the car for the first time just 45 minutes outside of Atlanta. But we will spare you those details.