Christmas 2008 in Pictures

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had a very nice, VERY white Christmas! A colossal snowstorm turned our city into a winter wonderland on the 17th, and it has continued snowing off and on ever since!

Drifts on our front porch that first morning. Notice the smattering on our window to the right.

Shovels are made for throwing snow at people, right?

After the plow came through two days later, I shouted, "Let's go shopping!" We were able to buy the last of our gifts, but by evening we suspected I had the flu. Praise God, it was mild, but I still spent much of the following two days resting. I had just enough time to recover before Sunday, when we made more candy, delivered it to our neighbors, and hastily packed for a mini vacation. My uncle had arranged for everyone to spend four nights at The Western Pleasure Guest Ranch. There were nearly 30 of us even though many didn't make it this year. For those who did come, flying in was an adventure with all the delayed and cancelled flights!

We drove to the ranch in a line of four vehicles Sunday night. Three more joined later in the week.

There were several cabins, but most of us stayed in the main lodge. Upstairs were four rooms with lofts.

Our room was one of two downstairs. It wasn't fancy but we were pleased to find it clean and quite comfortable.

Our hosts provided two dinners and three delicious breakfasts. This was our meal the first morning: cinnamon French toast, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bacon, and fruit.

The inside of the lodge was decorated with mounted animals. I COULDN'T believe the size of this albino moose head! You don't realize how gigantic those creatures are until you see one up close.

The guys spent countless hours playing pool. We also played lots of board and card games including two full games of World Domination Risk. I lost both times. :-(

Two of my cousins at the piano.

Kylen and another cousin with a jumbo search and find book. The large tree behind was wound with rope instead of ribbon! Just to the right is a large fireplace with comfy furniture where we spent lots of time reflecting, chatting and reading.

My brother and cousin returning from sledding. It snowed every single day!

One of the highlights was a real sleigh ride! It was everything you can imagine. Large flakes gently falling, perfect weather, breathtakingly beautiful woods. We sang carols. It was unforgetable!


A bunch of us on the way to the sleighs with the lodge in the background.

Grandma somehow ended up in the sleigh with most of the young, unmarried cousins. Lol!


Our sleigh's driver.


View ahead from my seat.


Greg, Kylen, and me!


The evening of the 23rd we gathered upstairs to exchange gifts and sing carols. The kids got stockings.


Family pictures were taken in an old-fashioned sleigh.

We dimmed the lights, lit candles, and sang two different evenings. It was a lovely experience, especially with all the gifted vocalists in my family.

Three of my talented cousins. They are siblings and grew up performing together in front of audiences. Ben usually sings bass, Holly sings lead and alto, Travis does lead and tenor.

Group pic taken the 24th.

On Christmas morning we scrambled to pack and check out by noon, drove two hours on snowy roads home. By the time it was dark, we were back on the highway headed for Greg's parents. The roads were treacherous. Greg has lived in this area 20 years and doesn't remember ever seeing so much snow in the cities. We ended up in a snow bank and had to wait for a tow truck to pull us out. But we eventually made it for dinner/gifts and survived the trip back. Praise God for His protection!


Yesterday we opened gifts at home, just the three of us. It was a wonderful, relaxing day.



The only thing Kylen really asked for was a Bob t-shirt. I decided to get a Larry shirt for Greg as well.

Our Christmas will officially end New Year's Eve when we will open gifts with my parents and siblings. Perhaps a couple more pics then. :-)