It seems like our big family get together was just lots of whining and fighting over toys that weren't yours.
I told my parents and brother and sister-in-law that we'd come to Hickory for lunch on Christmas Eve. I was off from work, and they had just made the trip to our house for Sawyer's birthday party. Plus my parents just added hardwood floors to the house, and I wanted to see how they looked.
We got up early Christmas Eve morning and went to church. I was already grumpy because we were quite late for the service thanks to my other half, and it was crowded with oodles of families with small children.
Thankfully, the service was short and we got on the road sooner than I had hoped after a stop at Starbucks.
When Sawyer was younger, the drive to Hickory always put him to sleep. It didn't matter if he'd been awake two hours or eight hours, he'd usually crash before we got there.
Not anymore. He was wide awake and full of energy the whole trip, much of it being spent by whining about wanting out of the car. Meanwhile, Ray was getting business call after business call, so I spent the drive wishing I'd brought earplugs.
We stopped at the grocery store near my parents' house so I could grab salad and bread, our contribution to lunch. The store was a madhouse. By the time we go to their house, I needed some calm. Which doesn't exist when you combine three kids under age 3 at their house.
Sawyer and Peyton ran around like crazy people, whooping and hollering and jumping on Grandmother's bed.
I tried to stay in the kitchen, away from the chaos. The kids kept coming in though, asking for snacks. Grandmother decided to go ahead and serve them lunch, which they wouldn't eat.
When the rest of the family finally showed up, we all sat down and ate while the kids ran circles around the room. Except for Camdyn. He was the only behaved one.
Then we opened presents. Sawyer and Peyton got mini-guitars from Grandmother and Pops, though neither really acted like they knew what to do with them.
Sawyer got some cool Thomas stuff, but it was all too complicated to open, so he had nothing to play with.
The adults decided to accept my challenge of drawing names and buying gifts for $10 or less at Goodwill. That produced some interesting gifts and lots of laughs. (Ray wins the good sport award for his!)
By about 5 p.m., the kids were melting down and there was more crying that smiling. They devolved in arguing over the baby's toys, which must've seemed far more interesting than their own.
The parents looked around the room and we all jointly said, "Time to go home!"
Sawyer was asleep in the car before I gathered all our stuff up and packed it to go home.
Whew. Family fun.
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