Our Christmas

I hope you had a good holiday and enjoyed some time with family. Here's what we did for Christmas:

We drove to Colorado to spend time with my in-laws. The last time we did that was in October, and I barely remember the visit because my mom went with us and did not travel well. Now she's in a nursing home for people with Alzheimer's, which is working out to be best for everyone involved. It looks like she's going to stay. 

The boys enjoyed spending time with their cousins.

And playing in the snow.

Christmas morning started out with the adults waking up at 5:30, well before the kids were awake. When we awoke them with our coffee talk, they quickly tore into their stockings.

But these weren't just any stockings. Our very dear friend in Florida hand knit, felted, and monogrammed one for each of us. We cherished them so much that they went with us to Colorado.

Then the kids opened their main gift. Jonah got a skateboard--exactly what he wanted. Don't worry, he also got a helmet and pads.

Ben got a Playmobile farm set. He said, "Hey, look! I got a zoo!."

And Andy got a guinea pig, which you can't really see because he was immediately mobbed with affection. He also got a book about guinea pigs, which taught us they should not be raised individually. So, we promptly went back to the pet store and bought a friend for little Domino. 

When the rest of the family showed up, we did the adult gift exchange. As you can see, it's a good-sized family, so we've started a tradition where the adults draw names instead of buying for each person.

John was happy to get a Nook--something neither of us had heard of. I guess we really don't get out much.

And I guess they felt sorry for us, because they sent us to Estes Park where we visited the Stanley Hotel, where they filmed the Shining.

 But we stayed in a lodge where, to my knowledge, no horror films have ever been shot.

It was already really great, but when this elk paid us a visit on our back porch, it went from great to perfect. We drove through rocky Mountain National Park and saw a couple of hundred more.

I'm happy to be able to share some of our holiday memories with you and would love to hear about yours.