It's All Grace

a journey with the Thomason family

Christmas (Part I)

“Go big or go home.” It’s a phrase I use often, mostly joking, to describe certain situations or even little things like ordering lunch. But I guess when it comes to Christmas it’s “Go big AND go home.” I only say that because today we celebrated Christmas 1 of 2 here in Yakima. That’s how we’re describing it to our kids who by Tuesday will have celebrated Christmas 3 different times. Today’s Christmas was at their great-grandmother’s house where we opened presents and shared a big meal with Bethany’s mom’s side of the family. I remember being at it last year and us saying goodbye to family with no intentions of seeing them for at least two years since we would be moving to Czech. Little did we know that we would be back this Christmas celebrating together once again.

The format is simple: eat and then open presents. Bethany’s grandmother always goes big on the gifts and I think she spend a certain set amount on everyone, though this still remains a mystery to me. I am pretty excited about my new pocket knife, shirt, and three more volumes that will be added to my MacArthur commentary set! Bethany was given a new necklace, salt and pepper shakers, and some clothes. Avery got some kitchen toys, including a working cash register and a stand mixer (think Kitchenaid) which she calls her ice cream maker. And Titus was pretty pumped about his big play ship thing that folds up. We’re definitely thankful for the wonderful gifts and kindness of our family!

Overall our energy levels were better today and we were all up at 5am. I think we’re gaining an hour of sleep every night. It’s such a bummer to have to turnaround and flip back to Czech time in just a few weeks, but that’s just part of the life we live right now. Christmas part 2 will be on Tuesday will complete the triple Christmas celebrations we have had. It brings excitement for gifts, but a little anxiety as to how exactly we’re going to get all of this stuff back to Czech!

Here’s a few more photos from the afternoon.

That’s Titus and Avery with their second cousin Savannah.

December 27, 2014
Shopping and Friends

It was another early day thanks to our good friend, Mr. Jet Lag. All four of us were up by 4:00am and we were even out the door at 8:00am to go to Target. Bethany has been keeping a list of things we wanted to pick up in the States so we decided to do that errand this morning and when you’re already up early, it makes getting out of the house a little easier. We were able to secure a bunch of things we wanted to take back to Czech, mostly clothes for Avery since they can be pretty expensive over there.

This is a picture (above) of Bethany’s dad playing with a toy we found in one the aisles. Titus and Avery thought he was hilarious.

After Target we headed to Costco where I was scheduled to have an eye exam. I’ve been wanting to get new glasses so I go that all squared away today. They should be ready before we leave which is great. We also found wool socks and a winter jacket for Titus which are huge blessings because not only were they very cheap, but they are very warm. Another great thing Costco had was allergy medicine. I’ve been concerned that maybe my allergies have been getting worse over there so hopefully the stuff we bought today will help bring relief.

Tonight we just returned from hanging out with some friends and their families. We had a really fun time and while we were there the family’s youngest daughter got engaged. We were able to celebrate with them and enjoy those first few moments of hearing the news and seeing all of their happy and joyous reactions. Unfortunately, I felt really tired throughout the night, but did my best to keep my spirits high while fighting sleep and jet lag.

That’s all for today. I’m very tired and I’m sure the kids will be awake soon. Today was the hardest day so far on them, especially Titus, but we’re hopeful they will sleep in a little later tomorrow.

December 26, 2014
A Relaxing Christmas

Christmas started at 2:00am. At least that’s what time Avery came in to our room explain that she was awake and didn’t want to sleep anymore. I don’t blame her. She went to bed at 6:00 so that’s a full eight hours for her. We did our best to try to get her to go back to sleep, but we were all struggling so everyone was up. By 4:30am, Nana and Papa (grandma and grandpa) were up too and we were brewing coffee and playing in the living room.

We actually didn’t do a big Christmas morning today; that won’t happen until Tuesday. Bethany’s brother is a cop so he’s working and in order to do have a big family Christmas together we’re going to wait until the 30th to celebrate and open gifts together. That left today as a rest day which was good because even though we’re doing pretty well, jet lag still has it’s hold on us. Thankfully we only took short naps this afternoon and as I write it’s 7:00pm so I feel like I’m doing pretty well all things considered.

The weather was great today so spent some time outside playing with the kids and enjoying the sunshine. When not outside, the kids have really loved all the toys that Nana and Papa have in their living room. We have a few things planned tomorrow, including a trip for an eye exam for me. Hopefully I can keep my eyes open!

Here are a few photos from today.

December 25, 2014
A Lot of Travel, A Little Sleep

Now I know how Santa feels. We have spent over 10 hours in the sky today (I am writing this on the airplane), and even though the miracle of flight is still amazing, it’s just a long time on an airplane. By the end it’ll be close to 13 hours on a plane, a few hours in airports, and another 3 hours in the car. The kids have done pretty well all things considered (e.g. early morning, a plane change, and basically just sitting in chairs literally all day). However, at one point about halfway through our flight Avery said, “I want to go outside.” Poor kid.

What’s really strange about today is it will be a very long day for us. Flying from Prague to Seattle means we actually gain nine hours of time during travel because of the time zones we cross. So I guess we’re just extending our Christmas Eve to squeeze in more holiday shopping? I’m sure there are a few shoppers out there that would appreciate the extra time more than I will today.

I’m finishing this blog in Yakima where it’s 7pm and I’ve manage to stay awake long enough to finish this. And before I type something weird, I’m going to end this quickly. Here’s a few snapshots I took today (a photo from each country we were in). Hopefully tomorrow’s post will be more inclusive but I am so tired right now I can barely focus my eyes to type this

This is Titus in Prague early this morning before boarding our plane.

Here’s us walking through the airport in Holland. Bethany is Dutch so it was like she was back with her people (OK, not really, but that’s what I was saying while we were there)!

Here’s the snow we saw on the way to Yakima, Washington today. And………. good night!

December 25, 2014
A Trip to Prague

Oh, you know how it goes. You spend two days packing and making sure everything is ready to go. You stay up late the night before the big trip just to make sure you’ve packed everything. A few things get added to your luggage, you mark off your packing list, and then you zip up your bags and put them by the door for an early departure. Then, you barely make your train. But barely is still making it!

The train ride today was a lot of fun and I’m actually really glad we got to experience this trip in this way. It’s 4 hours from our place to Prague, but we had our own little mini room with four seats and plenty of space for our all of our stuff. The trains here are incredible and come complete with free coffee, free juice for the kids, and even free WiFi–not to mention pretty reasonably priced tickets. It’s just really nice to be able to sit and relax on the train and let someone else do the driving.

We are staying tonight in a hotel by the airport and will depart early tomorrow morning. Our Czech friend Martina sat with us on Sunday to explain just where to go and how to get around Prague and we had no trouble figuring it out with her directions. To get to the hotel we took a train, a bus from the main train station, and then a shuttle to the airport. It was a lot of maneuvering of baggage and kids but we made it work.

One of the highlights was on the bus from the train station to the airport where we talked with a young college student from Instanbul named Umur. He’s studying mechanical engineering in a town near ours but was traveling back to Turkey to see his family for the holiday. He was a really nice guy and was laughing and smiling with our kids. We talked about Turkish kabobs, which he told us were the real ones, and just chatted about different cultures and language. Near us were some young girls who gave their seats to our kids and they were from Portugal. Since everyone spoke English we had fun chatting and joking. It’s so fun to be around so many different cultures and people from different nations. I truly do praise God for the opportunity to talk and meet these young people today.

We had a simple dinner tonight and are getting prepped to give the kids baths and get a short night of sleep. We’ll be up early tomorrow (around 4:30/5:00am) to get to the airport for our 7am departure. Hopefully we’ll get good sleep and be ready for the big 17+ hours of travel ahead of us!

Here’s a bunch more photos from today.

December 23, 2014