Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary, and New Years

Well, I started a blog regarding Williamsburg before Christmas, but didn't finish it until today.  Christmas Eve day, we spent quietly at the resort, watching TV, playing miniature golf and other games.  I had all of my Christmas presents wrapped and only needed to fill the little boys stockings.  We finally got them to bed around nine-thirty that night.  We had let them play hard that day and did not make them take naps to ensure they were tired enough for bed.  The boys slept in until about nine am Christmas, which was a blessing for the rest of us.  Of course as soon as they were awake we had to start opening presents.  They boys had been concerned the night before that Santa might not know where we were.  Kevin made a phone call to Jesus, to remind Him to let Santa know where we were for Christmas.  We have always explained to our children that the real reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus.  We have taught them that Santa is Jesus' helper and gifts are labeled from Jesus not Santa in our house.  They were relieved when they saw their stockings were full and that Santa had eaten one of the cookies we left out for him.  Christmas was quiet and we had a nice Christmas meal.  Christmas afternoon it began to snow.  At first it was not sticking, but as the afternoon wore on it began to cover the plants, cars, and eventually the road.  The boys (big and little) went out to play in the snow.  I stood outside for a while and was amazed that I saw individual snow flakes.  They were amazing, you could see the different shapes and formation of the snow flakes.  I tried to take pictures with the camera but I was not able to capture the beauty I could see with my eyes.  I spent part of the packing up and getting everything ready for us to leave the next day.  When we got up the next day, everything was covered with several inches of snow.  Kevin and Kevin Jr packed the van, while we got the boys and ourselves ready.  I will admit I was terrified of driving in the snow.  We prayed for a safe journey for ourselves and others before we left the resort.  The roads had not been cleared, so we followed in tracts left by other vehicles.  Kevin was only going about 25 miles per hour and I was having a panic attack.  I kept telling him to slow down.  He was so patient with me.  My mother, who I thought would be the one freaking out, was silent.  Kevin said he could her eyes were as round as half dollars though in the rear-view mirror.  It was slow going until we were in the lower part of North Carolina.  Unfortunately, we saw quite a few accidents, most of the vehicles involved had Virginia license plates.  Instead of taking us ten hours to get back to my mother's it took fourteen.  Unfortunately, I was sick all day and couldn't eat or drink.  I had a high fever as well.  When we got to my mother's she put me in bed, made me some tea and let me sleep.  The next day was Zach's 4th birthday (12/27).  I was still feeling pretty bad in the morning, so Kevin got up and went and ordered a cake for him at a nearby grocery store.  Later that day we celebrated Zach's birthday with cake, pizza, and presents.  Misty and Ernest (my sister-in-law and brother), along with several of the children stopped by earlier in the day to visit.  It was so nice to see them and get to spend some time with them.  Avory, my niece, showed me some of her drawings.  I was/am majorly impressed, that girl has talent.  I hope to have a drawing from her some day to frame for my home.  We had to leave on the 28th of December to come back home.  The 28th is/was my 26th anniversary as well.  The drive back home is about fourteen to sixteen hours long, so I was looking forward to that, but I was at least spending time with my husband and children.  We did pretty well on time and decided to stop for a nice dinner in Waco.  We had made it through Austin and we were on the southern end of Austin, when "Big Red" (the van), lost gas pressure.  We were eighty miles from home:(  I was driving at the time, I sneezed and was reaching for a Kleenex when I went off of the shoulder.  I did not jerk it back on the road, but when I steered "Big Red" back on Kevin said he heard a "popping" noise.  I had power, but she wasn't getting any gas.  We were in the far left lane, so I pulled over and tried to get her going.  She gave it one last try and got us over to the right side of the road on the shoulder before she gave out.  We had battery power and all the belts and other things were working, but she wasn't getting any gas.  This happened about nine-fifty at night.  We weren't sure what had happened and Kevin couldn't see anything wrong.  Praise God we have roadside assistance with Allstate.  They were able to send a tow truck, but the truck will only tow two people.  After several tense minutes, we were able to reach our wonderful Rosa, who worked with our wonderful son, Christian, to get the rest of us home.  I praise God that we did not have an accident or get hit by any of the car/trucks passing us and that it did not happen further from home.  I actually laughed about and had the children singing songs until the tow truck came.  It was an inconvenience, but only an inconvenience of time.  No one was hurt and that's what really matters.  Kevin and Jaclyn went with the tow truck and I stayed at a What-a-Burger waiting for Christian.  Christian got there about forty-five minutes after the tow had left, so we didn't have a long wait.  We made it back to San Antonio about two am, I dropped Christian, his friend Karl, and the two little boys off at Christians apartment and then went to get Kevin and Jaclyn from our mechanics store.  We had to transfer everything from "Big Red" to the caravan and then we went home.  We finally made it home and to bed about three am.  Since Christian had kept the boys, the rest of us were able to sleep late the next day.  We received a call from the mechanic late that afternoon, "Big Red's" fuel pump had gone out.  So she stayed for several days to get repaired, she is running great at this time.  New Year's was quiet.  Kevin had to work, but the children and I had a nice evening.  I spent the last week just relaxing at home with Zach.  I had the week off and he and I just hung around and went to the park.  It was nice to spend time with just Zach.  Being the youngest can be hard, but these times we are together seem to help.  This weekend Christian took the boys over night on Saturday, so Jaclyn and I were able to spend some time together as well.  We went and saw the tourist together Saturday night and then rented Eat, Pray, Love to watch when we got home.  I was a nice time and I enjoy the young woman she is becoming.  Today was back to work, and it feels good as well.  I had a wonderful holiday time and was blessed with a much needed break (from everything, including blogging).  As Tigger would say "Ta Ta for now".