A CHRISTMAS STORY - OURS

Our Christmas started out in a disastrous way.  We left our house in East Tennessee early on Tuesday morning, the day before Christmas.  I was so proud of us - all presents were wrapped neatly, placed in a box, and were ready to be put in the back seat of the car.    Our pets were fed and care was arranged for them while we were going to be gone.  All the laundry was washed, folded, and put away.  In short - we were ready for Christmas to begin!  We loaded up and headed off to drive 3 hours towards Nashville, where our youngest daughter and her family (3 kids) live.  It was a gorgeous, cold, day, and we listened to Christmas songs all the way - not a care in the world.  It was when we arrived at our daughter's house and were greeted by three eager faces who couldn't wait to see how many presents we had brought with us that we discovered there were no presents in the back seat of the car!!  We had left the box full of gifts back in our house (3 hours away) sitting on the living room floor.  I thought I was going to cry when I saw the shock on the kids' faces.  But, actually, my husband was the most upset one of us all, because he had put the present box down to carry something else out to the car, and then had forgotten to go back in to get them.  I was already in the car, so I didn't realize he hadn't brought them out.
We all went into the house feeling glum, with our daughter saying that everything was fine-the kids had plenty of presents under the tree.  My husband stewed about it for a while, then he called his brother, who lives across the street from us, and the next thing I knew, he said he was driving back to get the presents.  His brother was going to pick up the box of gifts and bring them over and meet my husband half way on the Interstate.  
In the end, the presents arrived, we had a great supper and then went to Christmas Eve service at their church.  Christmas Day was so wonderful.  No tears or fights - only joy and happiness and being together.  The only thing missing was our oldest daughter and her husband and son.  However, they were down in sunny Florida, where it was 80 degrees.  We stayed until the day after Christmas and then headed home after lunch, bringing Benjamin, the 15 year old with us.  He has to go home tomorrow, though.