We were so grateful to finally arrive at the Vance's after about a 3-hour drive from Eugene. Entering Portland we hit a bad snow and ice storm. It was treacherous driving, and so it was such a relief to finally arrive. The Vance's had invited their friends, the Matt & Kristin Green family and Danny & Janneke Marquez family to join them for the evening of appetizers, games, nativity, singing, and some of the children performing. It was nice to have Grandma Vance join them, too. It took Gary awhile to pick up his Mom from the airport and to help stranded vehicles on his way home, too. I'm glad Dad and I could clean up so Gary & Ondalynn could focus on setting up for Christmas. Julia & Austin were a good help to with wrapping gifts and helping with final preparations.
It was fun to spend the night and to see the children walk in on Christmas morning to the fun surprises from Santa Claus. Our children were so good to give us a DNA testing for me and Crismon. That will be interesting to find out the results. We received many other nice gifts. We were spoiled! The gift was Ondalynn & Gary giving Julia & Austin their electric piano. This is such a blessing for Julia to be able to give piano lessons. We were pretty much stranded until that afternoon. Gratefully we made it home ok and up our hill. Because we were able to get up the hill, Seth's family came that evening, the Vance's and the Caudle's. I provided the meal of soup, bread and salad. I'm glad we could all be together on Christmas despite the roads.
