Saturday (Dec 20) we all drove up to a cabin outside of town to relax from all the wedding stress. Our family is too big to fit in my parents home at the same time, so my brother (Daniel) found an amazing cabin in Island Park that would easily sleep everyone. It had 4 floors, a nice kitchen/ dining room, half a dozen bathroom, and a hot-tub. It was perfect. There was plenty of room to socialize, and still give families their own space.
Driving up into the mountains though, I started to go a little hog-wild. It was so beautiful. Noel wondered if somebody had flocked all the trees! It was great to see miles of pine trees below us as we climbed in elevation. I stuck my hand out the window with the camera and kept shooting the view. It was below zero, plus whatever the windchill was from driving. My hand took a long while to warm back up. The pictures I got were worth it though.
One of our families favourite spots was the hot-tub on the deck. Sylvia learned the word "disappear". We would scoop snow off the edge and make it "disappear". This was big time entertainment.
Daniel, Reggie, and Brandon (soon to be cast as the 3 Wisemen) brought up snowmobiles. They gave rides to everyone. I laughed and laughed because I couldn't believe how fast it could jump and take off. Mattias is apparently our families speed addict. He kept pestering uncle Daniel to go 190 mph. :) The picture below is of Noel... she also seems to have a bit of speed demon in her.
Everybody that didn't have a sleeping baby went on a Christmas tree hunt. After the big boys scouted one out on their "sleds" (which is the way one should refer to a snowmobile apparently), they came back and loaded up pick-ups with the rest of the crew.
Cheri had her video camera running constantly... getting the first Chiddix reunion documented. Wil was close behind with his camera.
An authentic tree, bagged and tagged, ready for decorations. Later that night, the kids made gingerbread men to decorate the tree with. It was beautiful.
Sylvia wasn't sure about all these new family members at once. Daniel kept trying to win her over, but wasn't having any luck until he started playing the Wii with her. After a few driving games, they were as close to buddies as you can get with Sylv.
In the evening, we had kids dress up and put on the Christmas story from the Bible. Here I am, reading from Luke. I was surprised by the number of beautiful voices in the room when we sang hymns... my family is more talented than I would've guessed! (The shot below was taken by Sylv.)
A high-point of the Christmas story was the entrance of the Three Wise Men. (Reggie, Brandon, and Daniel) The headwear could be a new fad in the snowmobilling community.
Here is another shot from Sylv's point of view. It seems she is getting on better with Uncle Daniel. Sean said she took over a hundred this evening. She took one of each stair going up from the basement. Fortunately for you all, we are not going to post all of her shots.
Sylv dove for cover, crying hysterically when she looked out the window and saw Santa tapping at the glass. She spent the rest of the evening in the basement with Sean. She still gets nervous when the kids mention Santa, or she sees pictures of him.
So, Santa Grandpa came to visit the cabin. He read aChristmas story my dad wrote back when I was little, called "Critter". He would read it to us every Christmas Eve - always after the Nativity pagent, and before we would go to bed. It was neat to see the next generation of kids get to hear my dad's story. It made me feel like a kid again.. listening to the rhythm of the poem next to the Christmas tree lights.
Here we have the faces some grandkids, mesmorized by the story's rhythm, worrying about the fate of little dog, Critter.
When the story was finished, the grandkids sat on Santa's lap, and got some candy. The picture below is Noel. The funniest story though was Carson (my nephew who is about 6). He begged his mom to check with Santa and see if he was on the "good list". He was really sweating over it! When he heard he was on the good list, he was overjoyed.
Santa with the youngest in the family... Nora. (Or Nora Bean, as she has been nicknamed.) (Or Nora -Frijole de Navidad, as her name became at the cabin.)
When all the children had finished visiting Santa, he was getting up to go, when Brandon jumped on his lap. "Well, Ho Ho HO" said a surprised Santa, "Who do we have hear?" "Johnnny," answered Brandon in a sweet falsetto. Brandon following act of "Johnny" made me laugh. I miss being around Brandon and their family. He is one very entertaining brother-in-law.
Once Brandon started the trend, other adults figured they should get to sit on Santa's lap. Here is Cheri.
Daniel had to hop on as well...
When my mom hopped on and kissed Santa, Tammy (my sister) rolled her eyes and said this was turning into a PG-13 show. :) Grandpa took it in stride though and started singing "I saw Grandma kissing Santa Claus".
Yes! It is Polar Bear Asher!
Asher didn't stay long. He hopped back in the water to warm up. Noel snuggled right down in the hole and looked very content.
After lunch, we packed our bags and headed to the airport... or tried to. This is where our vacation seemed to get off track somehow. It turned into a series of weather-befuddled adventures. We can look back now and laugh... but at the time, they were not always so funny.
