the bounty of christmas and three sets of lungs

I got to go to Billings last weekend to meet up with Steve for some grandpa/grandson bonding time. On the way back, I offered to bring my twin nephews with me to save Reese the drive. Because of the season and the cost of shipping, I also brought gifts from many families in Billings to families in Bozeman.

• Gail gifts to me and Reese
• Perrine gift to me
• Myers gifts to Bedfords & Schuylers
• Schuyler gifts to Schuylers
  
• Morstad gifts to Bedfords
• Pierce family gifts to Oberlys
• My gifts to us - I took them to Billings to wrap them

Plus overnight bags for me, Blake, and the twins. If I had to, I was tallying up things to leave behind (the sleds, the pillows, Blake). My car was like Santa's rucksack: it magically expanded to fit EVERYTHING, and I still had room to see out the back window. Like a miracle.

The twins were cheek-to-jowl with Blake in the back seat, and it was kind of a trick (I mean, MIRACLE) to get them all to fit and buckled in. I got on the road at 3:20 with a coffee in my hand and, upon reaching the highway, with a cacophony of sound behind me. It went like this:

CHAOS!NOISE!
LET'SGETLOUDER!
HOLLER!HOLLER!... HOLLA!

until I thought, "I'm going to have to club them like baby seals to get them to quiet down!"

By 3:30, Mason was asleep. By 3:51 (I was paying attention!), the other two were out as well. Most of the rest of the drive was spent in peace and quiet, and then I got to Bozeman, and it was like muzzles fell off the twins upon spying their house. "OH MY GOSH! THAT'S OUR HOUSE! WE THOUGHT WE'D NEVER SEE IT AGAIN!"

So I left the twins with their endlessly patient mother, put the muzzles on Blake, and went home.