Gift Exchange

Coming from a dutch background, we take on a tiny little bit of the tradition of December 5th, which is known as "Sinter Klaus and Swarte Piet" day. Although I am actually not too familiar with all the traditions of December 5th (should really look them up some day), growing up we've always kept our gift exchanges in and around this date. The benefit of this is that on the actual December 25th date, we may focus on the One and Only true and perfect Gift: Jesus, God's Son, sent to earth as our Saviour. The other added benefit of early gift-giving is that I can stay far and clear from any store in December and not get all caught up in the over-commercialism and busyness/stress this time of year brings for so many!! 

 

So, that is why on November 30th, we left our place at 5:15 to make the 30 minute drive to Nathan's brother's place in Grimsby, to spend some time together with the Helders and share in some gifts. And what a night it was!!!

 

To start, it was snowing, but not bad. Little did we know that every single road in our area was covered by black ice!! In order to get to the highway, we needed to get down the escarpment (I would use the word "mountain" but I know if you live out west, you will scoff at that term :o). Knowing that we were leaving at a very busy time traffic-wise, we figured we would give ourselves an extra 15 minutes. HA!!!

 

2 hours later we had to stop at Mapleview Mall. For those of you who are not familiar with the area, Mapleview Mall is about 12-15 minutes from our house. 15 MINUTES!!!!! But for us, on this night, it took us 2 hours to get there.

 

Yes, there were times we contemplated turning around to go back home, but the problem with that was trying to get back up the escarpment. You see, we were sitting on the road, having our own personal YouTube videos happening in front of us: cars sliding down any incline, whether they be steep or not. And they weren't sliding down backwards, no, forwards and sideways as well!! Most of the traffic just could not get up due to the black ice. So really, by turning around, we knew it would take another 2 hours to get home.

 

And so we stopped at Mapleview Mall, with a little girl in tears because she had to use the bathroom in the worst way. Seeing as the time was now 7:15, we took some time to grab some supper, much to the relief of our other little munckin who was in tears because he was so hungry. I guess I could have given him one of the 14 gingerbread men in the back of the vehicle.....I didn't. I figured French Fries were healthier :o)

 

We left Mapleview Mall at 8 and thankfully arrived in Grimsby at 8:30, safe and somewhat sound. The family did go ahead with the gift exchange before we got there and some kids were in bed already, but yeah, we didn't want them to wait for us because we had no idea if or when we'd get there!

 

So our kids opened up their gifts and then went to bed, only for us to leave about an hour and a half later to head back home, which took us the normal time, 30 minutes.

 

You bet I had my camera with!!!

 

Darling girl, waiting patiently in the car before she spoke those dreaded words "Mom, I have to go pee."

 

"HI!!" Happy at first, but not so much after a while.

After we had supper, Lincoln promptly fell asleep on the Skyway Bridge.

Yay!! We made it!! Here is Keziah, tired and somewhat overwhelmed with everything.

Nothing like opening gifts at 9 at night!!!

Someone woke up long enough to open his gifts and then was very happy to be put back down.

Spending some time with Opa

And this is the next day, shovelling the snow that we got. It wasn't a lot, but it was the black ice under the snow that caused all the problems the night before.

And so, although the evening turned out much different than we thought, we were still able to enjoy some family time and give and receive some gifts. But I must say, even though I received some gifts off my list, the best gift of all that night was the gift of safety. We are very thankful that it was God's will to allow us to arrive at our destinations without harm.

Oh, and the gingerbread men? Yes, they made it safely too, without a crack or smushed icing. And I am pretty sure they were a hit with the nieces and nephews :o)