Growing with the Gimlins: Christmas in Alaska

Happy New Year, everyone!

Now that we've been home two weeks and are somewhat back in to the swing of things, I can feel my blog mojo returning in full force. In case you didn't already know, 2012 is going to be fabulous!

A year ago I asked Justin if we could please make it work to spend our next Christmas with my family in Fairbanks, Alaska. The last time we were home for Christmas was right after we were married in 2005. My oh my, how six years passes quickly!

And we made it happen. On the evening of December 22nd we boarded the plane in Lewiston, officially Alaska bound. We had been counting down to this day for several weeks and Kendry was so unbelievably excited. We even bought him his own tiny backpack for the plane, but failed to take a picture of him wearing it. Doh!

Upon locating our seats on the plane Kendry promptly popped his head over the back of our seats and informed the nearby passengers "We're on the plane!"

"We're on the plane!"

He really said it three times like that.

In the span of twenty seconds.

The novelty wore off one hour into our Seattle to Fairbanks flight - when we still had another two and a half hours in the air - at which point I was kicking myself for forgetting the Children's Tylenol.

We arrived in Fairbanks around midnight and were met by my parents and temperatures hovering around zero degrees. And what do you think I did first? Well, after sleeping, of course. I was in my parents' hot tub by 8:30am, having an early morning coffee date with two of my sisters and my sister-in-law. Sub-zero temperatures or not, we were starting this trip off right.

If you know my family and how crazy busy we get when we're all together, particularly with thirteen grandchildren running loose, you know there is no possible way for me to capture all the details of this fun trip. So allow me to summarize the high points for you:

Our first day (December 23rd) was spent primarily with my sister Stephanie and her family since they left the following morning for a three week vacation in Chile. That evening the entire family congregated at my sister Jaimee's house for our main celebration: dinner, singing a few Christmas carols, a white elephant exchange, and the cousin gift exchange.

Here are the Binder women in attendance:

Here is our little man at the end of a very busy first day.

{Why does our kiddo wait until just days before prime photo opportunities (Christmas, birthday, etc.) to bruise that forehead of his into submission?}

A big thank you to the Coon Family for hosting! Everything was beautiful!

Christmas Eve involved a few last minute errands throughout the day, an easy dinner of various appetizers, and opening presents with the kiddos. With a church service on Christmas morning we knew it would be difficult for the kiddos to open their presents before church. And when I say kiddos I mean Kendry, my sister's three, and my brother's four.

It was a busy scene.

Kendry made out like a bandit and got four play guns for Christmas this year.

On Christmas morning Justin, Kendry and I opened our stockings together.

Kendry and his first train whistle.

The rest of Christmas day included church, dinner at my parents' house, presents for the adults and a fun time simply hanging out as a family.

Against my better judgment, I will give you one peek into my first DDR experience. I was the brave soul who volunteered to go first. We played it a few more times during our visit.

Even with Christmas over there were still good times to be had.

{Quick, name that movie!}

Justin took Kendry sledding in the driveway and for a quick ride on my parents' 4-wheeler. At this point it was at least -10 degrees; do their pink cheeks give it away? Kendry didn't last long.