A Christmas SURPRISE!! and the New Year is here!

Here in the Rowland house we had the most AWESOME holidays thus far! The plan was to surprise my parents in IL(and the rest of the family) for Christmas!! The ruse started a few weeks ago, when everyone was naturally asking if we'd be able to make. After 7 years of "sorry, not this year" they aren't surprised when yet again we say that line. Figuring out just who to fetch us from the airport was tricky, we thought of my brother, but his car wouldn't fit all of us. We then thought of dear friends of ours, but thought their work schedules wouldn't allow, plus they didn't have the "in" we'd need to coordinate some things. Eventually we decided on letting my Aunt and Gpa in on it. She had the in and he had the wheels! LOL

Then the web of little white lies began to spin! Since we'd want the kids to be able to open some presents my Aunt told my mom that she was getting a huge discount on shipping since she'd had done a ton of business though eBay. Mom,none the wiser kindly handed off the presents. She even sent me an email about the story my Aunt had told her-meanwhile me and my aunt snickering behind her back! The kids nearly leaked to BOTH of my parents, but both of them though it was just wishful thinking on the kids' part! HA! Even my Gpa had to lie to my Gma. He said that he and my Aunt were 'working on a project' and that he needed her van. I think my Gma was a bit hurt that we didn't include her on in it, but the less that KNOW the BETTER the SURPRISE!! ;-)

The day of the reveal was nothing anyone could of planned on. MOST everything went to plan! My FIL drove us to the airport at 0-dark thirty so we could leave for our 6am flight which was on time. My aunt and Gpa collected us from the airport in Indy. The weather once we arrived DIDN'T cooperate! It was freezing rain!! YUCK! We even lost power a few hours after we arrived to my Gma and Gpa's house. The hardest thing at this point was finding the right way to get my parents over to my Gma and Gpa's house. Dad of course was REALLY reluctant. After a long day of work, the only thing he had on his mind was a nice hot shower and dinner. But my Gpa finally convinced him and he was of course in shock to see us! Since the roads were increasingly getting worse the chances of my Mom making the hour long drive home was becoming less of a possibilty. Most of the time if the roads were bad she'd just stay at my Uncle's house, which is right around the corner from her work! After MUCH thought we decided to call and tell her just why everyone was wanting her to leave early and head home. We'd thought we'd "get" her some more by having L call on my Aunt's cell phone. Mom was so preoccupied with driving she didn't even bother to look at just who had called her!! It took a couple of minutes of L convincing her that it was not a prank!! Then came the "Oh my gawds" and (I'm sure) tears of joy!! It take her quite a long time to make the drive, but she was sooo glad she made it. Even if we'd only spend a few hours before she'd have to drive back to work for the next day.

We had a great Christmas moring at my parents and then Christmas lunch at my Gma and Gpa's. We also had dinner with our dear friends-it always so great to see them! We do wish they lived closer to us. GREAT friends are hard to find!! Also I did get my haircut and we also had a nice breakfast with my Gma and Gpa, not to mention dinner out with my brother and his fiance!!The weather was quite rainy and tettered on freezing most of the time, so we weren't able to go out and do much of what we had planned on. :0( BUT those 6 days were WONDERFUL!

Now that we're back things have slowed down SOME. We had a low key New Year's Eve with just us and the kids. B had duty today(New Year's Day), so we weren't able to drive to my MIL's for her NYE party. Even though the ACTUAL holidays are over, OUR holiday celebrating isn't. We still have to celebrate/exchange gifts with my MIL and her family on Saturday! We feel like that couple from the movie Four Christmas', though ours weren't so drama filled and they spanned several days instead of just the one! ;0)

I hope EVERYONE had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's just as we did. We are anxious to see just what 2009 will bring for us! Maybe a move? Maybe a new job for B? School for K? Time will only tell!!

Oh and pics will follow in the days of ahead!! We're still not unpacked from our trip to IL! LOL

Looking and feeling fine in '09!

~K~