Christmas for us is always a multi-day affair. We get to make our rounds and see multitudes of family and spread the holiday out over several days, if not weeks. For the Enloe Household Christmas began…
December 19: Christmas with the Hitchcocks. As is our tradition, we do Christmas Eve with Mandy’s grandparents, however it does not always work out to be exactly Christmas Eve, as was the case this year. We went over early to spend the day with Betty and Bebe (Mandy’s grandparents), Cliff (her dad), and the Woodman clan (Tom, Christy, Hailey and Camryn). We had a great ham dinner (technically lunch since we at close to two) and then tore through presents. We visited and just hung out and enjoyed each others company. We departed around 5:00 PM and were then off to our company holiday party in Spokane while Miranda stayed with her cousins.
December 24: Christmas Eve at the Hitchcocks. Wait, we’re back here? Yup. The gifting of Christmas Eve was done early as the Woodmans had a scheduling conflict (which frequently happens this time of year) but we returned along with Cliff and his “gal” Mary Lou for another dinner, this time prime rib prepared by yours truly (although cooked by Betty). Again we got to hang out and visit and play cribbage and Uno. A truly fun time.
December 25th: Christmas Day Part 1: Christmas at Home. We woke (rather Miranda did) early Friday morning for our Christmas proper. We wore our Christmas pajamas (Mandy and Miranda in Mickey Mouse and me in Homer Simpson) and opened our stockings and then gifts. Miranda wasn’t quite into the ripping and tearing things open; she did a bit but for the most part let us tear into her gifts. Mandy was pleased to see her Back2Life machine and I was surprised to see a Kindle 2 (more on that when I get through the photos). It was a great morning followed by a big, homemade breakfast and then, packing. Wha-?
December 25th: Christmas Day Part 2: Christmas in Missoula. We packed up and loaded the truck and hit the road for Missoula, Montana, where we had a hotel suite waiting for us. We had made arrangements earlier in the month to meet my folks and brother and sister-in-law half-way (about) in Missoula for Christmas. With Mandy’s job it’s nearly impossible to get much (if any) time off around Christmas; December is the biggest month of our year and what time is available goes fast. On top of that, this year we just didn’t have any time off to take by then. Luther and Victoria have teachers time off and usually fly up from Atlanta to spend time in Monarch with the folks. To prevent any one group from having to travel the full distance, we met in Missoula instead.
We arrived early and checked in and settled into the suite. It had two bedrooms on either side (one with a king and the other two doubles) each with their own bathrooms. A smallish living room and kitchenette finished out the suite. It worked perfectly for the seven of us. After we were all there we spread out food everywhere (most of which Luther couldn’t eat) and we grazed most of the night. We did presents, naturally, in our fun slow paced way, watching each person open their present and enjoying the looks of surprise and pleasure on their face. We then watched the Hangover (Unrated) and stayed up too late. We had loads of fun.
December 26th: Post Christmas Drive. The next morning we all went out to eat breakfast together before we packed up to drive back to our homes. Mom and I had a circus of a time trying to get a luggage cart down to the first floor with the rocking horse Pop built Miranda. The cart had a wheel that wouldn’t turn and somehow we went up to the third floor rather than down to the lobby. We got a hell of a laugh out of that. Once loaded, though, it was time for the drive back. We said our goodbyes and went on our way, happy for our time together, however short.
December 27th: The final Christmas of the year was held at Mandy’s mom’s house where we again joined by the Woodman clan. A nice ham dinner (again at lunchtime) and presents of course followed. Miranda got to feed one of the horses a carrot and saw a deer as well.
All in all a successful Christmas season for us again this year. We were able to spend lots of time with our collective families, which at the end of the day is what it’s all about.