White Christmas

Despite having general plans laid out, it felt like the end of the week just sped up and arrived far too quickly. So there was relatively little warning for James' daycare when we picked him up on Wednesday evening and let them know we'd be keeping him straight through New Year's...so Sandra hastily presented James with his gift - a really cool Cars tricycle that makes music and car sounds. James was in love at first sight! We put it together right away and gave him a chance to play with it.

Helping Daddy put it together.

Nope - no pieces left in the box!

Vroom, vroom!

We got up early Friday morning to drive south, the car brimming with Christmas excitement...it took a little longer than we hoped, but we arrived in time to make a plate from the Collacchi family dinner and spend some time with Zak's in-laws. In the evening, we went back over to Zak's house to get the kids ready for Santa and put the finishing touches on our gifts.

By 7:00 am Christmas morning everyone was up and ready to see what Santa brought. Saint Nick did NOT disappoint! The paper was flying and presents passed, camera flashes and squeals of delight!

By afternoon the snow had started to fall...and fall and fall and fall. Who would have thought that we'd get a white Christmas in Mathews? We became concerned around bedtime, and by morning it was clear that we might really be snowed in if we didn't make our way home. We were sad to cancel our visit to Granddad and Granny B, but after 6 hours in the car to get home, we knew it was the right decision. Poor Pumpkin and Shayna were grateful to see us!

Ashton gets ready to dig in...

Breyden gets lots of spy gear.

James was a bit overwhlemed...

...but he managed to get the hang of it!

Breyden's special Santa surprise!