Christmas in the Mountains 2013

We spent 6 glorious days in the mountains with my family.  My brothers and sister-in-laws were all in town, and present for at least part of our time there.  We all arrived on the morning of the 26th and dove into the presents.  The girls were spoiled, as always.  One of the really special gifts was given to Cecilia from her Godparents- Uncle Pat & Aunt Sarah.  She got the book "The Sparkle Box".  It is a very sweet book about giving to those in need and good deeds.  I hope her sparkle box fills up as the years go by.

 

For dinner that night, we had a fried turkey.  Jon was at the helm and the other men were his crew.  We ended up eating a little late because the oil that mom had bought for the turkey was in the garage and it had congealed in the jug.  It had to be thawed in the bathtub before it could be put in the fryer.  The turkey was the most delicious turkey I've ever had!

Cecilia got to put the angel on the tree this year.  She was so proud of herself when she finally got it up.  It was adorable!

The rest of our time was spent building puzzles, going on walks, trying to sled down the driveway, building gingerbread houses, playing games, and hanging out.  

I started the puzzle building- a 1500 piece puzzle that might be finished by next christmas.  

Pat, Sarah, and Pete did the majority of the big gingerbread house this year.  They built it based on the Weasley Burrow from Harry Potter.  It turned out fantastic!

We spent so much time playing and making memories, that by Monday afternoon the house was a bit of a disaster.  Mom and I came back from a walk, only to realize that we needed to do some serious picking up before we could make any more memories.  Hehehehe.

It snowed on Saturday night.  Nora was being extra fussy and Pops scooped her up and took her out side to see the snow flakes.  She immediately calmed down and was fascinated with the snow.  We were not so fascinated on Sunday when Minnie the Van got stuck in the driveway when we were trying to get to church.  The boys had to use chains and muscles to get me out, and then my Dad had to tow us out of the driveway.

My Aunt Jenny came up on Monday night.  She came bearing gifts, and the most popular gift was this awesome bluetooth speaker!  Stylish sound!

I've talked about the awesome view from my parents house many times before.  This next picture is the view as you come around the top of Kenosha Pass.  It takes my breath away every time.  Through the course of the weekend, I made a point to take pictures of the view at different times of the days.  I would love to set up a camera to take a picture for every hour for a year and then put it together in a flip book or video.  Yes, the view is that awesome!