...and boy am I tired!!! We got a pretty early start today and had a good, non-eventful day of travelling, which was nice for a change! We stopped along the way to do our last minute shopping with the 8,000 other idiots at the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart. DUMB. But we just hadn't had a chance to take care of some things. Such as...

The kids' gifts for each other. Every December we let the kids "work" to earn some money so they can buy a present for the the other two. This year they've done lots of extra work (!), but we didn't have to pay them anything since they already had enough money. Sam just had a birthday, so he has plenty. Katie had a couple of dollars already, then she helped Tammy deliver papers a couple of weeks ago and earned $5 more. And all three kids got $10 in their Merry Christmas/Farewell cards from the Andrews church! Crazy. Anyway, we took them to the dollar store for the annual fiasco. Katie and Joe are starting to do much better about keeping secrets, but Sam is the worst we've ever had. He picked out a toy for Joe and hadn't even put it in the basket before he was yelling into the other aisle, "Hey, Joe! I got you a ternade (grenade)--will you share it with me?!" HA! It was only a few minutes before Katie was informed that she was getting a jump rope. The rat. Anyway, they got their shopping done and we were able to get some stocking stuffers, too.

Then we had to stop at Wal-Mart so I could pick up a few ingredients to make some things so it might actually feel like Christmas! I haven't been able to do any of the traditional baking this year and it's just wrong! But now I'm equipped to make hot rolls, cinnamon rolls and Christmas cookies tomorrow. I've got the punch mixed up and in the freezer so it'll be ready for dinner tomorrow. Those things should help.

We finally made it to James' folks house at about 4:00 this afternoon. Praise the Lord!!! It is soooooo good to finally land somewhere solid for a few days! James' Mom had a nice chicken dinner ready for us when we got here, so we enjoyed that then worked on getting the van all unloaded and cleaned out. I got everything looking good in the van and got all of our suitcases unpacked and everything in its place in the house. Gave baths to all of the smelly kids, then we hopped in the van with the whole crew (Grandparents included) and drove around Mount Union to look at the Christmas lights. We stopped by James' Aunt Grace's house and went in for just a few minutes to say hello to the crowd there. That was nice. I like Aunt Grace a lot--and I love her crazy daughter Amy!

We came home and let the kids open the gifts they had bought for one another (the only things they are allowed to open on Christmas Eve!) and play with them for a little while before having devotions and putting them to bed. Ooooooh, that's what I've been missing. In all of our travelling we haven't had a chance to really do devotions (our regular devotions, that is, with the usual Bible reading and prayer time) the past several days. I hate that! I miss it so much. I'm always so ashamed when this happens. I was able to get some "alone time" with God last night while I was driving and everybody else was asleep, so that was nice. I'm excited to actually BE somewhere and hopefully be able to find the time and a quiet place for the truly important things. :-) Anyway... Don't know where that came from!

We put the kids to bed sometime after 9:00 and I went to take my shower. A good, long, hot one. :-) Mixed up the punch and stuffed the kids' stockings. You want to hear something weird? When we got here today, there wasn't a single present under the tree. Not one! They were all piled up in James' folks' room. Weird! They wait until after the kids have gone to bed and then drag them all out. None of them are "from Santa," they're all just from Grandma or whoever, but for some reason they can't be under the tree until after everybody is asleep. We don't really do the Santa thing either way, but still... it's weird! Oh well. I saw James and his Mom make trip after trip into the living room with armfulls of gifts a few minutes ago. I guess that means the kids are finally asleep. And there is a mountain of gifts under the tree now. James' Mom just can't help herself. There are always wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay too many gifts when we come up here! --James has got this cousin that shops for the kids and gets each of them 3 or 4 things usually!!! A cousin!!! It's so strange. I really wish folks would cut back. It's not that I'm ungrateful (really!), but it makes me feel terrible that they get so much for the kids--and it's just so unnecessary. Oh well. There's not much that can be done about it I guess!

I am sad that I don't have my diary. I used to actually write in it a little bit, but never could be faithful to it. Except on Christmas Eve. I always get it out and write for a little while on Christmas Eve after everybody else has gone to bed. But this year it's packed away in a box somewhere in a storage unit back in Texas! Oh well. At least I have my blog! I guess that will have to do this time.

I hope and pray that you all have a very, very Merry Christmas!!! I'll be looking forward to reading all about what you all did--and seeing lots of pictures. :-) Love you!