The Adventure Begins....

After telling the kids that we would be in a hotel for Christmas and maybe even New Year's, Davis burst into tears. Poor little boy. I wanted to burst into tears, too. But we all decided to make an adventure out of it and make it a memory we would never forget. And that's just what we did. Thank goodness I have the world's most optimistic, positive person for a husband who was so good about making everything fun and spontaneous. He immediately broke out papers and crayons and put us all to work to decorate our room for Christmas. We covered the walls with pictures of stockings, wreaths, Christmas trees, and baby Jesus beneath the star. Ryan's teacher had given her a fiber optic Christmas tree that stood about one foot tall when she heard we would have to be in a hotel for a few days before Christmas. Little did she know that it would serve as our actual Christmas tree to place presents under and light up our room at night. Each night before bed, we would dim the lights, turn on the tiny tree and gather for scripture study. We talked about Mary and Joseph and how they hadn't planned to be in a stable, just as we hadn't planned to be in a hotel for Christmas. They were discussions that my children will never forget.


Here we are in our hotel room where we lived for 12 days. Don was definitely inspired to choose this hotel which had a kitchenette, a complimentary breakfast every morning, and complimentary dinner Monday through Thursday night! That not only saved us a whole lot of $, but saved me all the hassle and headache of trying to shop and plan dinner every night, with only a stove and a microwave.


Don's boss and co-workers took such great care of us when they heard of our predicament. Don's boss told him to let the kids pick a place they never get to go and dinner was on him! The kids picked Cheesecake Factory and were in hog heaven. I don't know about your kids, but my children don't get to eat out at nice restaraunts very often. They were thrilled to get to order a drink instead of water, dinner off the adult menu, AND cheesecake for dessert. It was a great night that the kids will always remember. And it was a great break from the hotel dinners!


I forgot to mention that during this whole adventure, Gillian got sick on our last day on the road and was quite ill for about 4 days. It was not fun for her to be sick and stuck in a hotel bed for that long.