No, it’s not 30 sleeps until Christmas!

But it IS 30 sleeps until Gram and PawPaw come up to spend the whole Christmas season with us.  We’re all looking forward to it.  We haven’t had Christmas with them in YEARS and for them to be with us for a big chunk of December will be so fun.

Everyone tells them they are the opposite of snowbirds – most people go DOWN to where they are in the winter, and come UP here where we are in the summer.  Not these crazy grandparents – they have endured a couple of very cold visits with us up here, and they are getting ready to come and do it again!

The prep work is already underway!  Gram has been sewing up a storm, getting things ready to bring up (presents!).  Boxes are being packed and wrapped. They have gotten their dogs’ immunization records up to date, and are getting their travel insurance for seniors. (Don’t tell them I just called them “seniors” – they really are YOUNG grandparents, and just barely seniors.  So, maybe “reverse” snowbird travel insurance sounds better… eh?  Goofy, but better…HA!).  They come up here often enough that they’ve got the border crossing figured out and nobody needs a new passport this year, so all they have to do is to remember to pack their passports (that reminds me of a “funny now but wasn’t so funny at the time” story I’ll have to tell about when PawPaw came up this year to go on a moose hunt with my sweetie… but that’s for another post!).

And here at our house, we’re working on getting things a little better set up in the basement for their stay with us (i.e., decluttering, rearranging a bit, fluffing the futon, etc.).  We’ll be doing some baking to have ready when they get here, as well as decorating (but not until after American Thanksgiving!), and wrapping our presents for them.

They get to come up and see most of the kiddos Christmas productions, which they have always missed before.  They will celebrate my sweetie’s birthday with him on the actual day for the first time since his first year in University (that was a long time ago! LOL!).  We’ll all get to go to Christmas Eve service together and celebrate our special Christas traditions with them.  And they will get to experience some REAL winter again, probably, including some ice skating – maybe we can convince them to get on the ice with us this year!

We love Christmas, and we love spending time with family!  We’re getting pretty excited.  And in truth, I think the adults started counting sleeps before the kiddos did!  LOL!

YUP, 30 sleeps and counting!  We can hardly wait!