Little VanDeGrift: A White Christmas

Well, the "snow lay on the ground and the stars shone bright" through Christmas in Portland. Consequently, Luke experienced his first white Christmas on his first Christmas! Our Christmas celebrations got rearranged a bit due to the road conditions. We had originally planned to be at my uncle Paul and aunt Vickie's house/barn for Christmas Eve, but the roads were still a bit scary, so our family postponed the celebration until Saturday, the 27th. We had an impromptu Christmas Eve dinner with our neighbors (Jen, Phil, and Kyle). I was impressed that Luke did not play with their Christmas tree ornaments, but he did try to open Phil's Christmas presents.

We celebrated Christmas day with my brother's family, which was a lot of fun for all of us. We ate well and opened gifts with the kiddies. Mark was very excited about Christmas. Luke and Madeline had no idea what was happening. In fact, Luke was most interested in wrapping paper and shiny bows. We had an exciting drive to my brother's house ... we got stuck outside their house and we got stuck a block from our house on the way home. The main streets and freeways were clear by Christmas day, but the residential streets had not been plowed, so they had icy grooves.

On the 27th, we had a wonderful family gathering at my uncle and aunt's party barn. Because the party was postponed, my cousin Andrew, his wife Melody, and Melody's mom June could join us; it was so much fun to visit with Andrew and Melody again. Luke was well-behaved the entire afternoon, even sleeping at the right time so I could coordinate games and the white elephant gift exchange. Oh what fun it was to be with my family for a fantastic Christmas celebration. We'll see if they ever let me be the entertainment coordinator again... they call me "cruise director Tammy". (I suppose my college students might say the same thing :)).