Christmas Excitement

Christmas is over now. It has been quite the week. I arrived home in GA on Sunday afternoon after a very very long flight. I was tired, to say the least. Evan and my parents drove to the Atlanta airport to pick me up. It was so great to see my husband and my parents again. Evan's absence was very difficult for me and I now have a newfound appreciation for all the military wives whose husbands are gone for months or years at a time. We stopped and ate dinner on the way home and then pretty much went to bed when we got back to the house. I think I slept about 11 hours Sunday night. This week was spent wrapping presents, baking cookies, and just generally gearing up for Christmas. The Christmas tree had many many presents underneath by the time I was finished wrapping everything. Evan and I made several batches of cookies to give to the neighbors. My mom made several other kinds of Christmas goodies. Needless to say, we definitely did not go without sweet things this week! It was great for those of us with a big time sweet tooth!!
Evan and I enjoyed spending the week with my parents and getting to spend the time together as well. On Christmas Eve, my brother, grandmother, and aunt all came to the house. We all went to church for the candlelight service and then came home and ate a very well prepared, very large meal. It was definitely a nice night. The night ended with the Walton family Christmas tradition of reading the Christmas story out of the Bible and also reading The Night Before Christmas. Eventually, everyone went to bed. It was a late night and we were all tired. While we were sleeping, Santa Claus came to visit. He left many presents for Tim, me and Evan. Evan got some screwdrivers, some legos, some clothes, and a razor. I got a North Face jacket, some clothes, some puzzles, and a bride doll to name a few. We enjoyed getting up Christmas morning to find what Santa had left us all! Then it came time for breakfast. Evan had his famous strata that his mom makes every year. It was quite delicious and Evan was happy that he got to continue that tradition. We began to prepare for the day and after a while, the rest of the family arrived. It went from mild chaos to pretty chaotic for a while. It was so nice to have all of my family around though. We had tons of food, lots of presents and lots of fun. We all ate Christmas dinner and ate so much that most of our pants didnt fit anymore but it sure was delicious! Eventually we got around to opening all the presents. That lasted for several hours and everyone had lots of stuff to open. Towards the end of the night, everyone started leaving and eventually it was quiet in the house again. It was great to have all the family gathered in one place and I was glad to be a part of it. Who knows what the next few years will hold, but this year we had a large family gathering and it was great!
Mama and I took Evan to the airport yesterday afternoon so he could go back to Anchorage. I think he was sad to be leaving and kind of regretted having to go back so soon. However, he had to be back to sit alert for his squadron to make sure the Russians dont attack. It is really too bad that he had to go back early but Im sure he was glad to get home to our house. We werent sure he was going to make it because of airport delays but he managed to get back to Anchorage this morning around 2ish. He told me that he went home and had to shovel several inches of snow off of the driveway before he could pull the car in the garage this morning. Welcome back to Alaska, Evan!! :) Today he started sitting alert and will be doing so until Monday morning at 7:30. Basically all that means is that he has to stay on the base at the "alert hut" for two days. He can not leave and has to always be ready to jump in his jet and take off in case there is a problem. He is glad to be getting this part of his job out of the way for this month while I am not there. I will be in GA until Monday morning. I will take off from Atlanta early Monday morning and will be back in Anchorage Monday afternoon. I have really enjoyed being here and seeing my family and friends. It has been in the 70s all week and it has been wonderful! I even wore my flip flops one day this week! WOO HOO! It sure is going to be tough to go back to 13 degree weather. Oh well....suppose I will be ok!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all got to spend the time with family, friends, and everyone who is important to you. I also hope ya'll got everything you wished for. We are sorry we didnt get to see everyone and hope to see you all soon. As always, you are all invited to come to Alaska and visit us at any point you would like to. We love having company and have an extra bedroom that always has clean sheets waiting for you! We hope to talk to you all soon!
Jessica