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Well I guess it is time I updated everyone on the Oregon Thanksgiving trip. First off we had a ball, and want to thank our Oregon relatives for a great time. We started off to Oregon on Tuesday night. I had packed lunches for eating in the car so we wouldn't have to stop. Everyone was very happy to start eating. Most of the gang wanted to eat about 10 min. into the trip. I said no not until we get to the airport at least. Julia and Henry went right to sleep and we had a pleasant drive. We stopped in Redding for gas and potty. The kids watched videos and the drive was very uneventful. We spent the night with my parents in Weed. That was a very good thing because I don't think we could've gone much further that night. The next day we woke up and there was ice on all the cars. Macie and I were wearing capris. I had forgotten to take into account how high we were. Macie rode with Grandma and Pa the rest of the way to the Oregon homestead. We only stopped once for a potty break and then to eat right before we went to the relatives.
There were so many relatives that people were staying in hotels, guesthouses, trailers, extra bedrooms, and bunking down with the kids.
On Thanksgiving we went to some friends of my Aunt. They have a building on their property that is like a grange. We had a fire, food, drinks, visiting, a gift exchange, and fireworks. We even had the traditional Mama and the Papa's CD while cleaning up. I usually help with all the clean up and am involved with the prepration, but with the Gang I have I was very busy keeping up with Matthew and everyone else.
We visited all day Friday and drove home Sat. The kids did really well. We only stopped for one meal, gas and potty. When we got gas in Ashland we got ripped off. You see, in Oregon they fill the tank for you. We asked the cheap gas, but somehow we got the $3.89 gas. ?????!!!!! We ened up getting 350 miles on that tank. So now Tom thinks maybe we need to buy the super expensive gas for better gas miliage. We are in the middle of the first tank about town experiment. I'll let you know how it goes. :)
Anyway here we are back at home getting ready for Christmas. We will be getting our tree on the 15th and our house is decorated for the season. Here are some pictures of the weekend.
Grandma and Henry
The kids waiting to open their gift
Great-Great Uncle Charles, Charolotte and Henry
The Hay Gang had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Gram and Pa. Gram always gives the Gang new PJ's to sleep in on Christmas Eve. This year she took the kids shopping for the PJ's. The Gang loved that because they could pick out the jammies that they wanted. This picture was taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house before we went home to sleep. We had pizza for dinner took baths and then on our way home we went looking at lights. Then everyone went home and settled in for a long sleep before Santa came and brought us wonderfrul gifts. The Gang had a hard time getting to sleep, but sleep did come and before we knew it we were up waiting for Grandma and Pa to come over for the unwrapping.
The gifts that Santa brought us. Wow were we surprised!.JPG)
Santa brought us new stockings. The Gang was thrilled with their new stockings. We had to buy a special stocking holder because we use our fireplace and we can't put anything flamable near it. So, we had this stocking holder with our old Christmas Stockings on it. We had breakfast with Gram and Pa and then played with all our new stuff. We met up with family for dinner at the Sizzler. My neice works there and had to work Christmas so we all decided to have dinner there with her. It was fun. Tom's brother stopped by for a nice Christmas visit. He had never seen Henry so it was fun introducing the two. After dinner we went to Grandma and Pa's for another present unwrapping. Everyone had a magical Christmas and we were so happy to get to spend it with family. We love that we have a little Gang of people to celebrate our Saviors birth with. The season is very magical and it is such fun seeing it through the eyes of our children. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
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