Home for the Holidays

Our first holiday season out of state... hmmm... it was different for sure! We celebrated Christmas on three diferent days instead of one. Here's how it went down:

December 25th -- Just the four of us in Omaha.

The day started out much like any other Christmas (besides the fact that we had to really be sure the kids were asleep before we snuck all the loot out of the attic -- right past their rooms -- and downstairs to the tree. We've never had such a treacherous "santa route" before, but it worked out OK. We ran them around pretty good on the 24th, so they were asleep pretty quickly. Ellie woke up at 6:00 am on the nose (we sort of have a rule... no getting up 'till the "sixes" on weekends / days off...) And like a good little rule follower, she told us she was awake for a while in her room ("It took forever for the 5 to change to a 6"), but she waited. And at 6:00 am, she came in shouting, "It's Christmas, it's Christmas, it's finally here, ...." Cute. Nathan didn't wake up until almost 7:30... it was agony for her. (And we kind of woke him up - seriously! What kind of kid has to be woken up on Christmas morning?!?!?) We got downstairs, did the present thing -- gifts were well received, I think. Frank purchased a doughnut-maker for the family - and of course, it's the first thing we opened to try out. When we lived in Chicago, it was a quick present-opening and then off to shower and get ready to go to Cary and Glen Ellyn. But, this year, we had the day to ourselves -- nothing to do but lounge around, play with our new stuff, and eat doughnuts of course :) It was a relaxing day -- Ellie was all about staying in her jammies all day (Nathan is still a man of routine... about 11:00 am, he started requesting "pants and a shirt.... get dressed?" We were amazed at how tired we were after a day of lounging, but it was fun to spend the day lounging together!

December 26th: Clean-up and Pack-Up

Frank had to work on the 26th, so the kids and I spent the day cleaning up Christmas, opening up more toys (i.e. fighting with all of those plastic ties!) and taking down the tree. I know, kind of hasty, but we were heading out of town for a week and I didn't want it to be up all week drying out and then having to deal with it when we came back. Lucky for us, it was near 60 degrees that day and Frank was even able to tear down the outside lights before we left, too! Another good "home day."

December 27th: The journey to Cary

This day would have been a lot easier without the ice storms through Iowa. It was a tricky drive...and long. A trip that normally takes us 7 1/2 hours took a good 9 hours. But, it wasn't the extra time that was the killer, but the weather! Rain, ice, "wintry mix", potholes, traffic (in chicago, of course!). It was a long day in the car, but once we got to Cary Christmas, it was all worth it. Unfortunately, the Williams clan had been hit with some kind of nasty stomach bug. It started with Gina, and had been passed on to Richard and Rich. Rich wasn't even able to make it out to "Christmas" -- we entered the infirmary trying to avoid the inevitable. While we were at the WIlliams', Frank also caught the bug, but the rest of us were clear! We had a great visit... Frank and Nana took the kids ice skating (which Ellie LOVED!), we went to the movies (which both kids loved) and we got to go visit Emma at her new place again. It also shouldn't go unmentioned that we were able to hit a few of our favorite "not in Omaha" restaurants: Portillo's and Potbelly...yum! A fun first half to the week!

December 31st: Transition to Glen Ellyn

We headed south to GLen ELlyn on Wednesday -- we usually celebrate New Year's Eve with my sister and her family - always a good time. Until this year, when Ellie came up to us with that "look" in her eyes around 8:00 pm. "What's the matter Ellie?" The gag, then the full blown "spit out" (as she calls it) Puke everywhere! Well, now Ellie has the bug - ick! She had a rough night (all night), which means we all had a rough night, but she woke up on the 1st ready to go and no further "incidents." We had spent the night at my sister's house. So, we all headed back to my parents house to do the "dykstra christmas." Another fun scene -- 4 grandkids and wrapping paper everywhere! We were grateful again that our families would postpone their Christmases until we got to their part of town -- we sure would have hated to miss it :) The rest of the week was fun -- lots of cousin time, another trip to the "choo choo train restaurant" (see the Thanksgiving post for the details on that one!), and plenty of time to hang out with Grandma and Poppa and all of their new stuff. We even managed to squeeze in a pseudo-birthday celebration for my dad, whose birthday is on the 6th of January... and we ordered pizza -- good ol' non-omaha pizza. I think that was a treat for us, not my dad, but...

We left chicago on Sunday, January 4th. What a difference a week makes! We made it back to Omaha in the standard 7 1/2 hours. Plenty of sunshine and not a lot of traffic -- a much more pleasant drive! We have been getting back to our "routine" - Ellie is back to preschool and we finished putting away Christmas, officially. Now, we are on to the list of things that we have been putting off, you know, until "after the holidays." And, as always, it's a big list. This year, it seems to be more baby-related than anything (think of a name, for starters!) :)

Happy New Year to everyone! Hope 2009 is good to you all!