So we went hiking, both in Bend and at Smith Rock State Park.  We went swimming at the Community Center.  We watched movies and read books.  We slept in, relaxed, and snuggled.  We cooked a little bit, ate out a little bit, and tried to recover from the whirlwind that was Christmas.  It was good.

Per Clare’s request, we did drive up the Mountain looking for snow.  At the very top we found a little bit of snow.  Just enough icy, crusty, old snow for the kids to stomp around on, leave footprints, throw snow (ice) balls and do a little bit of sledding. 

 Clare was especially happy.

We had a jam-packed Christmas around here, that apparently I didn’t feel much like putting up on the blog.  I’ll try to give the overview, but suffice to say it was a packed December full of Christmas preparation, plays and ballets, singing carols, presents, and family.  It was delightful, if tiring. 

We started the holidays with our usual tree-hunting at a local tree farm.  From the picture above it doesn’t look like Sammy enjoyed it very much.  I think he was just sad that we drug him into the trees when he wanted to pet the baby cows and pigs.  We had a great-grandmother, two grandmothers, a grandfather, and J and myself in attendance so someone was able to take him back to see the baby animals.  Ultimately, after choosing and cutting the tree, with Clare and Maddy’s assistance, we ended up with hot chocolate in front of a fire pit.  Of course the tree itself was quite a hit once we got it up in the house.  I dug through the ornaments to only put up the ones that I thought were unbreakable (I was wrong in the case of two ornaments).  The ornaments got moved around quite a bit, and I’m still finding them tucked under furniture and inside toy boxes. 

We started a new family tradition this year and Great-Grandma, Grandma, Clare and I all went to see The Nutcracker by the Oregon Ballet Theatre.  It’s a big production in the largest auditorium in town, with a full orchestra, and dramatic sets.  Clare was a bit overwhelmed by it, but settled in and loved it all the same.  She got a little wiggly towards the second act, but it kept her attention better than I thought it would.  She loved the dancing and still talks about the Sugar Plum fairy and “a girl like me but named Clara!” 

Of course Christmas means treats.  The kids and I made a gingerbread house (thanks Auntie Carrie!) and decorated Gingerbread house cakes made by Auntie Debbie.  Of course Grandma and Great-Grandma made plenty of cookies too.