Christmas Eve

We decided to go to Utah for Christmas with our families this year.  We'd been planning on going after Christmas but decided instead spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with my family before going down to visit Roy's family.  Unfortunately, both Roy and I had responsibilities on Sunday that we felt we should be there for so we didn't leave until early early Monday morning.
Roy likes to sleep for half a night then get up super early and leave so the kids can still sleep much of the way but so he's not driving all night.  This has worked well for us in the past.  This time it was misery embodied for most of us.
To begin with, K (the ONE kid who doesn't get car sick) groaned that her stomach hurt before we were even loaded in the van.  Sure enough, a mere 20 blocks from home she started throwing up.  We should have taken this as a sign and turned back right then but we were way too optimistic to do that!  Besides, she hadn't eaten since dinner the night before so it wasn't too bad.
The trip just got worse from there.  We hit snow in about 5 hours in (it was still dark) and eventually decided to put on chains for a while.  Roy got sick.  I got sick.  The only people who didn't get sick were the two who usually get sick!  Six hours in Roy starts talking about turning back.  No way.  We are going to make it come snow or high water.  And eventually we did.  It took us about 2 hours longer than usual, which considering the roads and illnesses was pretty good time.
Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa Bishop were all set to do fun things with the kids.  Grandma decorated cookies with the kids while Roy and I took naps.  They played and everyone ate dinner.  We rounded out the night with our annual re-enactment of the Christmas story including the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite (played by our little A), the stable scene and the wise men; a singing of everyone's favorite Christmas carols; and stories from Grandpa.  We sent the kids off to bed so Santa could get to work and get to bed.  It turned out to be a pretty good night.  I love the holiday time and I'm so glad we get to spend it with family.