Christmas 2008

It was another good Christmas for the Helms Family. We had our family Christmas at home on December 21st. The kids opened up gifts and we had a nice night.













As is our tradition, we spent Christmas day in Windsor, Missouri. Windsor is a town of 3000 people that is about 100 miles southeast of Kansas City. Misty and I grew up in Windsor and both of our families are still there.


Given the size of our family, the car trips are becoming more and more difficult. Despite packing very light, packing the car and finding room for 8 people is a challenge.





We headed out to Windsor from Texas at about 4:00 pm on December 22nd. On the way, at about 8:30 pm, one of our tires blew out near a small town somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma. We pulled off the side of the road, called On Star and were back on the road about 1 hour later. We ended up staying the night at a hotel in Muskogee, Oklahoma. We headed into Windsor the next day.




Christmas day was nice. We spent the first part of the day at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Pat’s house in Lone Jack, Missouri.








One of the odd traditions that has developed on my side of the family is the gifting of a group of condiments . Seriously. It is the craziest thing. One year my cousin's husband got some mustard for Christmas. He thought it would be funny to regift the mustard with some ketchup the next year. The year after that, the person that got the mustard and ketchup added something else and gave it to another member of the family. It has gone on like this for 6 years! That means the bottle of mustard is 6 years old at this point. Nobody wants to get stuck with the condiments but every year someone goes home with this group of food accessories.

We spent the second half of Christmas day in Windsor at Misty’s Mom’s house. Misty’s Mom lives in the small house (maybe 1500 square feet downstairs) that every year hosts about 55 people. Misty is the youngest of 9 kids. Misty was an aunt when she was 2 years old. All the kids and their families come back to Windsor for Christmas. It is a great chance for everyone to get together at least one time a year. There are gifts, kids, adults and food stuffed into every corner of that house on Christmas day.







We headed home a few days later. Another great Christmas in Missouri.



For a funnier (and more realistic) version of the story, you can watch the video.