The Rest of Our Christmas Trip

After Christmas MiniM.E. woke up and wanted to do it all over again.  She woke up Saturday and exclaimed, "So yesterday was Christmas DAY so today is CHRISTMAS!!!!" And then we had to crush her excitement by explaining that Christmas Day IS Christmas and that was it.  At least we had all the fun new toys to play with.

We also went outside to play in the brisk (still felt like fall and not Christmas) weather:

Hit up the grocery store where I learned that LittleL.G. loves "bread babies" the same way MiniM.E. used to love "fizzy water babies" when she was this age.  She carried this around, wouldn't let me put it on the conveyor belt (thanks, nice check out lady for scanning it in her arms) and was petting and kissing it on the way to the car.

Sunday we got in the van bright and early to drive down to CT for our annual visit with my mom's brothers.  It was a little crazy this year with four kids four and under running around.

snack time!

 But they all seemed to enjoy each other's company:

The most exciting part of our holiday travels happened on the way home when we realized at 8:00 on a Sunday night that we had a flat tire.  And that the tire iron in the van didn't fit the lugs on the wheel. Fortunately, we had only gone a couple exits from my uncle's house so he came to the rescue with one that worked to put on the donut, but it isn't recommended to travel more than 50 miles on one, so we ended up in a hotel.  As we realized that we would have to stay overnight unexpectedly, I expected the worst.  Not only did the grown ups not have changes of clothes or toothbrushes or any necessities (fortunately I brought pajamas for the girls), but MiniM.E. didn't have her blanket, which she hadn't ever slept without since she was a baby and LittleL.G. is so sleep trained with her black out shades, noise machine, blankets, sleep sacks, etc., that I figured she would be up all night. Thankfully, it worked out and with only a hitch with LittleL.G. when she wanted to leave the hotel room to go anywhere else, both girls slept.  It was definitely an adventure.

We took it easy when we got back on Monday.

Tuesday we planned come home to NY... but there was a snow storm.  At first it looked like it would let up mid-day, but it continued later than expected. We decided to leave anyway, but added another adventure to our travels by playing it safe and taking a longer route home- farther south and all highway.  Luckily, the girls slept the whole 5+ hours!

We had a great Christmas in NH but it's nice to be home!  Now we are slowly unpacking and dealing with post-Christmas blues, but like I was telling MiniM.E., without a fantastic Christmas, there would be nothing to feel let down about- and it was the best Christmas yet! (well, almost... we missed you Auntie Jen!)