As I look back at Christmas, I can't help but wonder, "what were we thinking????" It was a wonderful time, but we had some of the most intense travel that I've ever experienced. And we did it with an 8 1/2 month old and slightly hyper dog. Thankfully, Ethan is a super traveler and was a great sport. It all started on Saturday, December 22 around 7:30pm. (Note: this was after having Catie's 3 kids off and on for two weeks, meeting Tessa, and spending the day with the McClure family to celebrate Christmas) We left Charlotte for Michigan, and drove straight through the night. (Okay, Dennis drove but I couldn't sleep because I was so worried he would get sleepy!) Most importantly, Ethan DID sleep, which is a wonderful thing. Upon our arrival, we took a short nap and then went to the Detroit Lions game. After a great Christmas Eve dinner prepared by Dennis' dad, we woke up on Christmas Day to load the car and drive four hours to Toronto. We spent the next couple days stuffing ourselves with yummy Chinese food, and drove back to Michigan on Thursday. Friday afternoon we got in the car to drive back to Charlotte. We arrived around 3am, unloaded the car and re-packed to get on an 8am flight to San Francisco. We got to visit Dennis' grandfather, who met Ethan for the first time. (more on that later) More yummy Chinese food, and the red-eye home. We arrived about 6:30am and I had just enough time to shower before heading into work at 8:30am Monday morning. In the cracks of all this travel were laughs and good times with Dennis' family, and Ethan enjoyed a fabulous first Christmas. His favorite part was the wrapping paper! While I missed the low-key cozy Christmas of rest (Dennis would probably say BORING :)), I must say we packed a lot into a week and a half. Actually, I know what we were thinking...I just didn't know I would be so tired.