Midwestern Holiday Travels

This year we were compelled (for many reasons) to take our usual journey to Milwaukee and Michigan for the holiday. Its a decision that's getting harder and harder to make because the boys are now getting big enough that we want them to have their own memories at home on Christmas morning. After our trip was all said and done this year we talked about going absolutely nowhere next year for the holiday-- taking time to just enjoy each other at home.

But there's another side to the story. The reasons we go, the compelling pull we feel to be with family and hang on to the strong and intense memories of how Christmas was growing up, is a very real and strong influence in our lives. So making a decision not to go to Michigan for next year makes me ache almost as much as missing out on staying home and creating memories with our own family does.

So this year, when we made the long over-the-river-and-through-the-woods I found myself thinking in the best of moments that this might be one of the last times for at least a little while, if only to make a tiny bit of space for our own memories. In some moments I feel so incredibly selfish for wanting to stay home with the boys, but in others I know that they deserve to have the amazingly strong set of memories that I have from my own childhood, and I remember that those weren't made in another state with my grandparents, but instead were created by my very own mom and dad for us.

 Off we went then, with a little bit of a bittersweet taste in our mouths, accompanied by if anything a little ice and snow.Living in the midwest makes every small child into a cold-hearty, snow seeking, adventurer. It doesn't happen over-night exactly, but its hard to grow up in the midwest and now know how to drive in the snow, deal with bitter cold and understand the relative properties of ice melt and salt.

I think this year we started to instill a little bit of that midwestern-ness in our holiday travels. As usual, we took off on a Saturday journey to our first stop (overnight) in Milwaukee. The first leg of our route was smooth-sailing. The boys are old enough to really entertain themselves in the car with books, crayons, music and a few episodes of Sesame street and they understand that it takes a long long long time to arrive, so they don't complain much. The drive was fairly uneventful, even.

But we knew it was too good to be true. Its always too good to be true.
On Sunday, when we woke up warm in our beds in Milwaukee to ready ourselves for the ride to Michigan we saw an incredible blanket of snow. 10 or so inches of thick white beautiful snow to play in. Except for we didn't exactly want to play. We wanted to travel. Drive, specifically.

Our dear confidant, the weather channel, reported that the Monday's conditions were only going to be worse, so it was a now or never situation. We new that we wanted to stop in Chicago for lunch to see Cha-Cha, Agnes-grace, John and company because they wouldn't be traveling to Michigan for the holiday. So we set off. Typically, from Chicago to Milwaukee is about 1.5 hours max. On that particular trip, 2.5 hours in, we arrived.

Again, we're midwesterners though. Minnesotans. So we take it all in stride. We weren't even perturbed. And, luckily, right over the Wisconsin border, the snow turned to rain, and then nothing at all, with the sun peeking through in south Chicago.

We had a great time seeing Agnes-Grace and the rest of the family. The boys just adore her and can't keep their little hugs and kisses to themselves. Collin and Owen showed her how to use her new tricycle, and she turned on to it like a pro.

Two or so hours later, we left for my parents house. Typically its about a 6 hour trip, and to our great amazement, the skies opened and we made it there in about 6.5 hours. The weather was freakishly amazing.  With the first journey under our belt, the boys warmed up to a week of being at my parents filled with all sorts of fun activities.

First up in their adventures was making a sledding hill off the back deck of the house. They packed snow down the stairs until it was just right, ready for a sled and a little push.

Then we were onto cut out cookies so we had something to leave for santa. The boys loved decorating them, even if they were a little heavy on the sprinkles and cinamon candies.

These fun little distractions/events brought us right up to Christmas day. The boys were brimming with excitement to see what Santa brought.

And so it was that we made our long journey to Michigan, with only one minor blizzard, and smiles still present when arrived. The boys have grown used to the cold travels and deal with the long days in the car, and we've learned to enjoy the time together confined in a tiny space on four wheels, leaving us all a little better off and thankful when we're able to arrive at our destination. And this year, as each little even occurred, I couldn't help but savor it a bit. To remind myself that its important for the boys to have these memories in their own home too, so that next year, we can find our own way.