Ellis Family Blog: South Carolina Christmas 2012

We headed to South Carolina for some more family time and with a record breaking smallest amount of packing we've ever done since children came into our world, we proudly left our driveway without a car top carrier on top of our van. Yes, it was a big day in our eyes. The travels were not too bad only stopping several times for potty breaks and a good lunch. The worst of it was... sick kids. Oh the horrors of sick children and traveling. I believe EVERY time we go to Columbia, the at least one of us (and usually it's a kid) is sick with something. Last year, it was a GI bug that eventually worked it's way around the whole family. I know they wanted us to leave. This year, the babies both had nasty runny noses and seemed in general under the weather. Oh joy. Still, on we traveled. We did decide not to stop and visit my Uncle Bokey and Aunt Lib in Aiken because we did not want them to get anything from us. I hate we missed seeing them.

Here are some highlights from our trip this year.

We spent some time in downtown Columbia, watched the ice skaters, shopped around a little and had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom.

The babies opened their some gifts early so they'd have something to keep them out of trouble. Brookelynn got a nice shopping cart and lots of food for her grocery shopping pleasure.

Haynes got a "Whistling Woods" track set with a Toby engine that runs on batteries. Very cool.

We enjoyed more good food!

The kids were having fun with their Uncle Jimmy.

Aunt Cindy helped Haynes distribute the gifts.

Brookelynn modeled the heat pack gifts.

There's Savannah, trying hers out.

Brookelynn got a fancy towel or "towl" as B says, from Trish and she loved it so much she didn't want to take it off.

Haynes and Brookelynn got a new book... about sharing. I sure hope this one is a favorite of theirs. They really need to work on sharing.

Aunt Allison insisted on getting a good picture with the children. Unfortunately, the children insisted on not posing for a picture.

We played with Christmas Crackers this year. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper,making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people, and the cracker splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping sound. The person with the larger portion of cracker empties the contents from the tube and keeps them. It contains a paper crown, a small toy or a joke to tell to all. It was great entertainment for everyone.