Christmas and various thoughts

Well this year we decided to travel once again for Christmas. As the date of traveling got closer I began to wonder if I would lose my mind traveling with the twins. The oldest three kids are used to traveling and Nana and Papa's house is there second home- so most of the questioning of sanity came from the twins and there totally unpredictable sleep patterns. Well after a slight breakdown 2 days before we were set to leave we packed up the car and headed south. It was a crazy trip and we ended up making it to my parents in time for a Christmas party- the first evening there was quite hilarious as my dad needed Darcy;s help and they left to attend to farm business and that left me, my mom and sister with 5 over tired kids- and a car to unload. It was all just a bit much and I thought that I had made a huge mistake thinking that I could juggle all the things needed and celebrate a holiday:) Well with the help of my mom and sister- we got the needed things out of the car (playpen, pjs etc) kids to bed and then were able to sneak off to the christmas party and leave the kids with dad and Darcy. What a crazy way to start a month away from home. Well the trip was amazing- filled with all kinds of things that make Christmas just a wonderful time of year. There was a lot of time to spend with family, baking things, making gifts, watching tv, hunting (deer, squirrel- it's the south so they hunt everything:), riding four wheeler's you name it I think the kids got to do it. Anyway- it was a good time for the twins- they learned if they wanted to be part of the action they were going to have to give up the crawling and start walking- they also realized that Papa is not as tolerant of food throwing as mom and dad. Over all i do not think that the month could have gone any better- i think my parents are on noise overload when we first get there- and their quiet home is suddenly filled with all kinds of activity- but I think that they love it-as difficult as it is for dad to have two little shadows with him everywhere he goes I think that he loves the company. Amelia is not to be left out and feels that nana needs her constant company- she would hate for nana to feel alone. The kids were so upset when we left- the kept asking "what will they do when we go home" It is a funny perspective because they had no idea how many things nana and papa where juggling to make it all work and that they would probably be happy to catch their breath when we left- Well we made the trip back home in one day- such a big change from needing to make many stops and we feel as though it now frees us up to make the trip more often as the twins seemed to take the long car ride in stride! We are now home and trying not to wish the days away- thought I am not sure how every year I forget how grey this part of the country is- where is the sun??? But I am sure we will adjust of just have enough and head south again!