A Christmas Eve To Remember!

Something interesting happens when you end up unexpectedly spending your Christmas vacation in a hotel.

You slow down. Or at least I did! Not by choice, but by force.

Yesterday we were well on our way to visit Rob’s family in the Seattle area for Christmas when Titus started throwing up in the car. At first we chalked it up to motion sickness because this seems to be happening quite often lately. We didn’t want to turn around and drive three hours back home only to find out that it was another bought of car-sickness.

But, just in case it wasn’t, we didn’t want to ‘bless’ Rob’s family with whatever it is that he has, so we decided to just go ahead and get a hotel and wait it out, hoping that we’d end up getting to see his family for Christmas after all.

So, we settled into a nice little hotel overlooking a golf course and enjoyed a quiet evening, just the four of us. The kids built a fort that they slept in and Rob and I spent the evening watching The Princess Bride (which, I confess, I’d never seen).

As much as I was really looking forward to seeing family, it was strangely nice to slow down and breathe a little. It, in some ways, is nicer than being at home because at home I have a never ending list of projects to do, and I’d want to bake and cook a nice Christmas dinner. Here, at the hotel, I have nothing to do other than hang out with my family. I am a little bummed that I’m missing out on yummy Christmas food though!

Rob and Leeann went over to his sister Shelly’s tonight to enjoy a Christmas Eve celebration with his family. Titus and I are enjoying a dinner of saltine crackers and an episode of Winnie the Pooh.

Titus is really, really bummed that he doesn’t get to play with his cousins. We were already scheduled to have an exceptionally short trip since Rob has to be back to preach on Sunday. But now, he’ll be lucky if he gets to see them for just a few short hours tomorrow. I am hopeful we’ll get to join them tomorrow since it’s been almost 10 hours since he last threw up and he’s actually kept quite a bit of food down today.

It’s really hard explaining to a kiddo that they’re still contagious even if they feel better. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve had to try to explain to him why we can’t go to Aunt Shelly’s tonight.

This will undoubtedly go down as a Christmas Eve to remember!

The fort the kids made to sleep in.

I, personally, would have chosen the comfy bed, but apparently, this is what memories are made of!

Since Titus and I are chilling at the hotel by ourselves on Christmas Eve, we decided to make a date of the 6 pm fresh cookie time!

Yummm, cookies! And Starwars talk.

And silliness. And apple cider!

And this was him slyly asking, "May I have another one?"

With a look like that I said, of course you can have another one, after all, it's Christmas! Here's to hoping that decision doesn't come back to haunt me!