Old man winter hit hard in December 2013. An arctic freeze gripped the Wasatch Front with bone chilling temperatures to start the month out. Then mid December the snow hit, and hit, and hit...it was absolutely beautiful and back breaking. We had an east coast type of snow storm that dumped the heaviest snow I've ever experienced in Utah; my entire office showed up the next day with back pain.
Sam, Abi, and Pele wasted no time with the snow. Battle lines were drawn with neighbors, forts were built, and snow ball caches were stocked. The great snowball battle of 2013 ended with Dad - 1 and Sam, James and Abi - 0...pretty much how they always end. However, I'm fearing next year's arm strengths.
Sam and I started the Christmas season on the ski slopes. We logged many hours; which equated to almost as many hours of icing my old knees. But it was definitely worth it. We found groomers, bumps, jumps, and dad's favorite untouched 'pow pow'.
We shopped for Christmas trees in Fruit Heights with Grandma Pam and the fam. We found a great local lot that even had live trees to cut. Alex and Sam cut our traditional Charlie Brown tree for our house. What a great afternoon we had doing the simple chore of finding a tree for the house.
We did our annual pilgrimage to the Bryant's Solitude home the weekend before Christmas. As usual, an amazing weekend of perfect friends, fluffy snow, good beer, and lamb chops to die for. Samuel set a Wanaka (the Solitude home) record of 12 lamb chops devoured; the previous record was eight. We worked the chops off the next day with endless slopes...and dad got a couple laps in Honeycomb Canyon at the end of the day. We love the Bryant side of our family...their slope side home makes it easy love.
Our tree was decorated during Grandma Pam's birthday celebration at our house. Abigail broke as many ornaments as we hung.
Our church had a live nativity during the Christmas Eve mass. The whole family attended mass and Sam played the role of Joseph in the nativity and his good friend Matthew was a Sheppard. The blemish on Sam's face in the nativity scene is not make-up, it's an ice friction abrasion. Only Samuel can turn Christmas Eve sledding into an extreme sport, and get injured while wearing a helmet.
After mass, Christmas Eve was spent in our traditional way at Grandma Paulette's and Grandpa Dave's house. Alex's boyfriend, Ben Barlow, was on leave and traveled to Utah from Fort Lewis in Washington. He spent the Christmas season with us.
Christmas day was as magical as always. The kids woke early, as they always do, and we obliged them. After reflection of the season, the kids did what kids do on Christmas morning. Santa was pretty generous this year, and apparently felt that Sam was old enough for a rifle; an authentic elfish Ruger 10-22 imported directly from the North Pole was under the tree.
Other family members joined us later Christmas day. The day was full of Grace, family, friends, sunshine, and love. Pele particularly enjoyed Niki's dog loving parents, Ted and Debbie. Both of whom had Pele doing his Frisbee tricks on packed snow; no easy feat for a paw foot.
The sunshine provided the perfect lighting for great family photos.
Christmas night was spent enthralled in an epic Nertz tournament. For those that don't know what Nertz is, don't waste time figuring it out. You'll only find that Cristal can't be beat and Sam always looses.
After Christmas day, we took Grandma Pam to Hardware Ranch above Hyrum. It seemed like a good idea; sunshine, a horse drawn carriage ride through a huge herd of wild elk, and family. What could be bad about that...other than 1500 other people had the exact same idea we had. I'm not sure that two hours in line in 20 degree weather was worth the ride. But, if you've read any of my other posts, you know, after many years of hunting elk, this was as close as I've ever been to the animals.
Our family loves Christmas. We spend much of the season reflecting on God's Grace, family and friends. Christmas cards from family and friends are always a joyful anticipation for Cristal and I; we enjoy reading each one and reflecting on those that sent it. Because of our relationships with family and friends, Cristal and I feel blessed beyond measure. Abigail continues to grace us with many of life's firsts; and its' an absolute joy to experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment