Happy Holidays! Part 1

We have been crisscrossing the country and producing a lot of material to share with you (our readers), but have not had the time to post.  We will probably do a 3 part holiday post to make up for it, so get ready for that.  

So without wasting more anymore time, here comes part 1.

The week prior to Christmas was hectic. We both had busy weeks at work while trying to prepare for the whirlwind on the next week. The night before heading to Illinois, we set aside some time to celebrate Hanukkah with potato latkes for dinner.

Packed and ready to head out of town for the holidays, we made the drive from DC to Sparta, IL once again.  We left at 5am on the Friday before Christmas. 

(Mo is always ready for an adventure.)

The drive was long as usual, but not too bad.  A detour at Louisville slowed things down, but the weather wasn't too bad and we made it in time for dinner.

(Dexter daydreaming about what might be in his stocking.)

(Warning: objects beyond mirror are as ridiculous as they appear.)

In Sparta, it was good to see everyone, get settled in, and just be out of the car.  The twins were happy to see the dogs and their Aunt Kelly.

(Mo was slightly less excited to see the twins.)

The next day (Saturday), Ben missed the car a little - so he made a trip over to St. Louis to check on things there and have lunch with his friend Sam.  

Back in Sparta, it was a fair amount of lounging, eating and getting ready for Santa's arrival.  

(The twins continue to be puzzled about why Uncle Ben keeps asking if they want rice.)

Christmas morning finally arrived and it turned out we all made to 'good' list this year, so that was nice.

(These homemade donuts made for a naughty and nice treat on Christmas morning.) 

(The twins were pretty big fans of all the colored paper.)

(Layla had a special taste for wrapping paper.)

(For new dad Steve, Santa brought the joys of assembling toys.  Apparently some of the elves took extra vacation time this year.)

In the end, it was a fabulous Christmas morning.  We spent the rest of the day hanging out. Watching a movie, some football, playing words with friends, and eating as often as possible.

(We also got to meet the newest member of the family Owen, who was born December 16 to Kelly's cousin Mallory.)

On Monday, we did some more quality lounging and ate leftovers.  In the afternoon, we headed down to Carbondale for a couple hours to see some of Kelly's old stomping grounds.  When we got back to Sparta, it was time to start packing for the drive back to DC.

Unfortunately, it started raining and we were not interested in packing the car in cold rain.  However, that ended up meaning we got to pack the car in the snow Tuesday morning.  Our dreams of a white Christmas came a little late.  Eventually we got loaded up and back on the road.

We drove through snow for about three hours and then rain for the next 10.  The weather made the trip take about 15 1/2 hours, but it was good to be home.  For a day anyway... 

Be sure to come back for Part 2 of our holiday adventures.