Holly Jolly Holiday

The morning of December 23rd we woke up at 4:00am to make it to the airport in time for our 6:30am flight to Portland. Ouch. I have never liked these early flights and doing it with a one-year-old in tow was even less fun. Will was a little (okay, a lot) dazed when I woke him up, practically in the middle of the night, to get him dressed. He looked at me like I was out of my mind.

We made our way to the airport, preparing for a long day of flying. There are no direct flights from Austin to Portland, so it required a hop to Dallas, a two hour delay at DFW, and then a four hour flight from there. Will did great on the first flight, and did well during the two hour layover. Then came flight number two; mayhem began. By this point Will was tired and wanted to either sleep or walk around (traveling with Will now that he is completely mobile is more challenging than it used to be). Poor kid has a hard time sleeping in our laps now that he's bigger, so he opted to cry (read: scream) for most of the flight. We tried everything to distract him, but no luck. Fortunately there were about 20 other babies on the flight with parents in the same predicament, so that was our saving grace. Three hours later we touched down in beautiful, snowy Portland and our Christmas holiday with my family began.

Portland doesn't usually get much snow, but this year they had several inches and it was literally a winter wonderland. It was so nice to get out of the 70 degree Texas weather (which I love, but for Christmas, bring on the snow!) and have a white holiday. We stayed in Portland for five days at my sister Paula's house, and she did have a houseful indeed: my parents; me, Billy and Will; my sister, Pam, her husband and their two kids; and Paula's family of four were all under one roof. Somehow, it worked out and we had a great time. My four nieces range in age from 10 to 15, and it was a joy watching them interact and play with Will. Needless to say, the little guy did not want for any attention. Over the five days, we ate copious amounts of good food, went bowling, played a lot of Wii, frolicked in the snow, watched my niece's basketball game, went to the science and industry children's museum, and just generally had a really nice time with my family. Rough plane trip aside, we had a very Merry Christmas.

Fortunately, the plane ride home went much smoother. Will fell asleep for most of the trip to Dallas, so we were spared the drama of the first flight.

For New Year's, we went to a party at our friends' house (thanks, Jen and Shawn!). We took the Pack N' Play and Will with us and after charming several ladies in his footie pajamas, he went to sleep while mom and dad hung out with friends. It was a nice way to ring in the New Year. Mom had a little much to drink (I am a bit of a light-weight these days, and well, mixing vodka, champagne and wine is generally not a good idea), so I was a little "tired" the next day. Fortunately, Billy was a trooper and took care of Will so I could sleep in.

Here are a couple pictures of us playing in the snow. Hope your holidays were merry!