Homeward Bound

Today is Tuesday, Dec 30th. We've been away from home for a week now, enjoying time with our midwest families. What a week it's been. Really, has it only been ONE week?

Christmas was fantastic. Aunt Juju and "Uncle" Greg traveled with us from Atlanta to Minneapolis . . . and we all journeyed to Iowa together by car, with Nana and Papa at the wheel (wheels, actually -- we've outgrown one car!). The trip was uneventful, though we have decided that Meg is a bit easier with travel than her little sister is. We all arrived in Iowa late on the 23rd to find lots of ice and snow waiting for us. And Grandma was waiting, too -- Great Grandma Moen was delighted to have us all at her farm house to celebrate Christmas with her.

The 9 of us spent Christmas Eve getting ready for the big event . . . the arrival of Santa. We wrapped gifts, had a wonderful dinner together, opened a few presents, and set cookies and milk out for the jolly old man (oh, and carrots for the reindeer). Meg was excited, though I'm still not sure she understands the whole idea of Santa just yet. Kate is totally clueless, but she smiled and enjoyed all the commotion, just the same.

Christmas morning, Meg came downstairs to find her gifts (and Kate) sitting by the tree. She opened everything . . . her gifts, Kate's gifts, Nana's gifts, Papa's gifts . . . anything wrapped was opened and enjoyed by Meg. More family arrived mid afternoon, bringing the total number of family members staying in one house to 14. More gifts were opened, more food was enjoyed . . . it was a perfect little Christmas in the country.

What was on Meg's list, you ask? Oh, it was certainly a Disney Christmas for us. Lots of Princesses stuff . . . jammies, clothes, dolls. A new "Minnie Outfit". A walking, barking Pluto. Old Walt himself probably never received so much Disney in one day.

We saw even more family as the weekend went on. 34 Dahlbys gathered at Great Grandma Dahlby's house on the 26th . . . and we made plans for everyone to return again in May when Grandma turns 90. On Saturday, some great Aunts and Uncles joined us at the Silver Lake Lutheran Church for Kate's Baptism. We had lunch and ice cream cake following, back at Great Grandma Moen's.

Sunday we packed up . . . actually, the packing started on Saturday because there was so much stuff . . . and made the 6 hour trek back to Kansas City. Here we have enjoyed just hanging out and recovering from our Iowa adventures. We are attempting to get kids back to normal naps and meal times, but it's not working out exactly as we might like. Oh well. We'll be home tomorrow . . . plenty of time for regular sleeping and eating then.

It's been wonderful. No worries. No chores. Naps. Sweets. Movies (yes, we went to a theater!). I've loved our Country Christmas.

Tomorrow the airplane is coming to pick us up again, and back at home we should be by late afternoon. Jim -- as part of his Christmas presents -- is going downtown to the Chic fil A Bowl to watch Tech and LSU battle it out in the New Year's Eve bowl game. I'll probably ring in the new year in my own bed . . . I'm sure that I'll need to recover from everything with an early bedtime.

I'll be sure to post some pictures of all the events . . . I've taken about 12 gigs of photos, so there will be plenty to share.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that you have a fantastic New Year celebration. Drink one for me . . . and cheer for Tech.

Happy 2009! More when I return to Atlanta . . .