West Virginia Christmas

Bubba with Harper Mae and Willa Kate

 Time in West Virginia for Christmas.  My heart is so happy just typing those words!  It's been three years since I've been back to my home state during the holidays, and it felt so good to be back.

A few weeks ago, I found out that my family living in South Africa would be traveling back to West Virginia, and it was precious to see Bubba's reaction.  Thrilled doesn't even begin to describe how she felt about having all three of her kiddos at her house for another Christmas Eve.  It's probably been ten years since that's happened.  Throughout my childhood, my Christmas Eves were spent alternating between Bub & Pap's house (my mom's side of the family) and my Aunt Betsy's home (Dad's side of the family).  I have such sweet memories of being underfoot in my grandmother's kitchen while she whipped up some peanut butter balls or dipped some peppermint patties.  Being the first grandchildren on my mom's side, we were often the evening's "entertainment," singing a little Christmas carol or reciting a verse for the rest of the family before the official opening of gifts began.  How nostalgic it would be to sit in that very same living room and watch my own two girls sing a delightfully pitiful song.  So, I coordinated with Mom and determined that my traveling to West Virginia with the girls would be the best way to celebrate our Christmastime together.  And it'd be even more fun to surprise Bub in the process.

Up until that point, I had planned to take my vacation days the week after Christmas, but I was able to switch them around somewhat last minute to the week of Christmas.  We had planned to make the 3.5 hour drive to the Charleston area on Monday afternoon, but I ended up needing to go in and work for a few hours, so we didn't even leave the Roanoke Valley until around 6:00.  I booked a hotel room in downtown Charleston (love you, Hotwire!), and the girls and I leisurely made our way through our old stomping grounds of Princeton and Beckley to arrive at the Holiday Inn Express around 10:00 p.m.  Harper's little five-year-old mind is fascinated by geography and relationships right now.  She loves figuring out who lives where and with whom; how Bubba isn't just my grandmother, she's Marmar's mom; how Leah and I are sisters like she and Willa Kate, etc.  That girl got her Papaw's sense of direction because she's only been to West Virginia a handful of times, but as we approached the state line, she points over to the Glen Lyn power plant without prompting, and says, "There's Daddy's old work!  That's where he worked when I was born!"  She was so proud to stop and get gas in little Princeton and see the town where she was born.  I think she may have also gotten her mama's love of family roots and history.

We have been in our home in Roanoke for five years this week, but whenever someone in Virginia asks me where I'm from, I still to this day answer "I'm from West Virginia.  Well, originally."  Even after five years, it still doesn't feel like I'm "from" Roanoke.  But, it was so strange driving through Beckley this time around.  It felt a bit foreign, more like somewhere I'd been before rather than home.  My roots may be in WV, but home is now this happy little valley because it's where I share four walls with the hearts I love most.

My girls thought it was so amazing to be staying at the hotel.  I was a little surprised at how amused they were by it since I tend to think of us as frequent travelers, but then when I really tried to think back to the last time they were at a normal hotel, it was back in November 2014 when we went to Hilton Head.  The novelty of the hotel room after our 10 p.m. arrival meant that we didn't make it to sleep until close to midnight.  And that was really only because I started pulling out the death threats.  (Kidding!  Kinda.)  My favorite part of our little overnight stay there was in the morning.  First, when Harper woke up and saw Elfie in our hotel room, and she could. not. believe that he had followed us all the way to West Virginia (score for the mama.  That tooooootally redeems the two nights in December that the Elf on the Shelf didn't move an inch.)  The second was when we walked into the designated area off the lobby for breakfast.  Willa's reaction to the room would have made you think we were at the Ritz-Carlton.  Forget Elfie, she was amazed we got to eat in this big room.   The hysterical part about that is that it was your standard, run-of-the-mill complimentary breakfast area.

When I finally firmed up my plans for West Virginia (a.k.a the day before we left), I sent my sweet Aunt Betsy a message to see if there was any chance she'd be able to meet up for brunch or lunch before we met up with mom to go to Bubba's house.  The girls and I were thrilled when she messaged back that she could!  With all the cousins growing up and families moving all over the country, I've really only kept in touch with my Dad's side of the family through Facebook, but back in September, we all went to Betsy and Mickey's house for Labor Day and had the best time.  The girls bonded with them instantly, and to say that my two adore them would be an understatement.  We vowed to do better at staying in contact (and we have!), so I loved that we'd be able to meet, even just for a few hours.  Last week, Aunt Betsy sent over Christmas gifts for the girls (each an American Girl doll!  *gasp* So ridiculously sweet of her), so they proudly carried them into Pies & Pints to show Aunt Bets just how much they love them. We followed up pizza with some ice cream across the street, and by the time we talked another hour there, the girls were clearly in need of a nap.  I love that Betsy has a dozen grandchildren (literally!) because she has the patience of a saint with them, and even Harper's antics don't seem to faze her, but I would love to just grab a cup of coffee with her next time sans kiddos.

We made our way to Bubba's house around 4:00, and as we walked in, I could smell that she had started cooking dinner.  Mom helped quietly usher the girls up the stairs and into the kitchen, and Bubba's face when she looked over and saw Willa Kate did not disappoint.  She did an actual double take.  After realizing what was going on, she gasped, "I don't know if my heart can stand any more!"

Aunt Christy, Uncle John, and my cousins had gotten in the day before, while Mom and Butch had arrived just an hour or two before we did.  With such a full house, Bubba set the girls and I up in her camper in her driveway, and let me tell you, that was another cool little thing that just blew my girls' minds.  And I was eternally grateful to not need to apologize every morning for the fact that my kids stayed up too late/cried in the middle of the night/woke up too early, etc.  After dinner, we went over to my mom's brother Doug's house to visit with him and his wife Terri.  Harper especially loved getting to meet his chickens and ducks on her little tour of his new hen house.  Afterward, we sat in their living room to chat and sang Christmas carols.  After finishing her time at the piano, Mom joined us in the kitchen for some dancing while Terri played the piano and sang.  You never regret an evening dancing in the kitchen.

Willa Kate & MarMar's "duet"

My cousins CJ and Alex were beyond fantastic with my little ladies as well.  They were happy to play with the girls' toys with them or include them in their own activities, from playing on iPads to driving them around the block in Bubba's golf cart.  It made it so nice to be able to have an uninterrupted conversation or two with Bubba or Aunt Christy, with whom I loved chatting about life and motherhood.  

A little after lunch, I mentioned to the girls that it was closing in on naptime.  As a total "I don't want to nap" defense mechanism, Willa started whining that her belly hurt.  Mom mentioned that after naps, they may be allowed to open up their presents from her and PapPap, and Willa throws up her hands and says, "My belly feels better already!"  Haha. Since it "felt so much better," MarMar even let them open one gift before nap.

 

Setting out the girls' gifts

and then "wrapping" them

 Nap they did, and I finally had to go in and wake them for dinner.  While they were asleep, we set up their Christmas gifts, but covered them with blankets in case they walked in while we were busy eating dinner and noticed them before we had a chance to distract them.  The blankets completely worked; the girls didn't pay attention to the gifts, but instead sat and ate dinner.  Then, Marmar took them back to the linen closet to dress them for their little "Christmas pageant."  Harper was Joseph and Willa Kate was Mary, and boy were they precious helping their MarMar tell the story of His birth.  They even wrapped Him in cloth and set Him in a makeshift manger before sweetly singing the only Christmas song they fully know--"Away in a Manger."  They did a precious job for their first obligatory Christmas performance. 

Afterward, they were thrilled to see that beneath the blankets was everything they had asked for over the last six weeks-- a pink baby doll stroller and a high chair.  And MarMar and PapPap even threw in a bassinet for my little baby doll lovers.

building the gingerbread village

As much as I wanted to stay at Bubba's for Christmas Eve (especially knowing that she still does things exactly as she did every year when I was a child, even down to the same menu), we needed to make our way back to Roanoke so that we could be with Sam on Christmas Eve and so the girls could wake up at our house on Christmas morning. There were tears as we pulled away, but I'm so glad we gifted our family with the effort to visit, and they gave us right back love and hospitality tenfold.