Merry Christmas

We're done with our Christmas travels and home for the night. How did the day go? Pretty well, all things considered. This Christmas will be widely remembered because of the weather. It hasn't been the snowiest weather that I can remember. Haven't heard actual totals but probably something like a foot. The strange thing has been how long it's snowed. Something like 48 hours (off and on). Went out and shoveled three times yesterday and still had to dig my car out this morning.
The other weird thing is how warm it was today. Temps were right around freezing, maybe a touch higher. That meant lots of slush. And heavy shoveling. Tonight we'll get down into the low 20's so the ice should be spectacular tomorrow.
But that isn't what Christmas is all about, family is. We started the morning by bringing Relia into our bed and explaining that she's having a little brother. She didn't get it. I'm not sure how much she'll understand before the end.
We went downstairs and opened our stockings. That meant that she got (unprecedented) candy at breakfast time. A very strong start to her day. She also got some small toys.
Then it was off to the FP Gal's family for waffles and such. And more presents of course. She was our little elf, handing out gifts once we pointed her towards the new owner. It was fun to watch her open gifts for herself, slowly at first and soon all business. These presents scored her more candy and toys. Personal highlight: got to talk to Hans on the phone for more than a half hour.
Next I dug the car out (and got some pushing) and we were off to my Mom's house. Relia fell asleep on the way over and we thought she might take a bit of a nap once we got there. No such luck. Rain and dripping trees woke her and she was ready to roll.
More presents and this time Relia really wanted to open all of them for herself. She opened a shirt from Hans and Rachel and said, "Oh, a cute shirt!". Pretty darn adorable.
Got all set to leave and my car decided to pull the ten minute wait nonsense. So we sat in the car, all bundled to go and counted down till we could start it. Mom came out to shovel and see what was wrong just as we started it. We rolled down the window and explained and then were off for home! Relia took another nap.
Now we're home and recovering. If the roads are ok, we'll drive down to Austin tomorrow.

Hope you all had wonderful days!