Christmas in West Virginia

We spent Christmas - and the week before it - with my family in West Virginia. It's a long drive, about 12 hours depending on how often we stop. Meaning how often I have to go to the bathroom.

It was the first time since my grandmother's funeral in March 2011 that all of us had been together. We were also able to host a family reunion for my dad's side of the family. It was so nice to see aunts and uncles and cousins. Here's the whole group of us.

My brothers, dad, mom and me.

And my parents with all their kids and grandkids.

The kids were all praying for snow and their prayers were answered the weekend before Christmas. Grandma and Papaw have the perfect hill for sledding, too.

The time my kids got to spend with their cousins was their favorite part of the trip! I love that they're making such precious memories.

One of my favorite parts of our trip was eating at a local Italian restaurant, Muriale's. The food was amazing, the decor was quaint and of course, the company was lots of fun!

Now, do you want to see what I got for Christmas? Most of it was cooking related!

My parents and niece got me this nice collection of West Virginia Mountaineer stuff.

My mother also got me some Fiestaware I requested, as well as a couple of cookbooks.

And now I have to brag on my husband. He got me a fantastic set of stainless steel bowls. I already had one and mentioned several times that I'd love to have more. He was listening, apparently, because he got an entire set! Yay for attentive husbands!

We received another blessing while on our trip, too. I got an email from Samaritan's Purse regarding the Operation Christmas Child boxes we donated. Our boxes were sent to the Ukraine, so now we can more specifically pray for the children who received them. The kids were so happy to hear where our boxes went. They're already planning for next year's boxes!

I hope all of you had a Christmas season filled with love and joy. And that something during this holiday drew your hearts and minds closer to Jesus, the reason for the season.