We hope you all had a great Christmas. We had fun and even got to see Santa. Evie was terrified of him and ran the other direction to try and get away. We finally convinced her to sit on my lap in front of Santa, and as long as she didn't look at him she was fine. We were very lucky to get to go to Sunriver and stay at Grandma Susan's house who was visiting family in Seattle.
We loaded the car and went over the river and through the woods.
At one point the kids got a hold of my camera as we were putting the chains on the van.
We had beautiful views on the drive over of Black Butte...
and Mt. Washington.
When we arrived we were a little disappointed at the sparsity of snow, but it didn't stop us from sledding.
The frost on the ground allowed the sled to travel really far.
Little Miss was a crack up. The other kids would be nervous, but Little Miss wanted to be on every sled ride. If we pulled her off the sled she would scream and cry until she was allowed back on. Even on the steep and fast runs she loved it.
Ken couldn't resist taking a run, and of course Little Miss had to join in as well.
Towards the end the kids figured out how to stand up and ride the sled. If you haven't figured it out yet we are sledding on a golf course, and Leo is "surfing" on a snow covered bunker.
Midge was a bit more cautious than her brother.
One of the things the kids love is eating at the kitchen table and watching the squirrels outside the window next to them. Midge snapped these photos.
Once we had been in Sunriver for a day my parents, Steve and Cathy, my brother Patch, and their two dogs Sophie and Roxy joined us for Christmas. We took them to see the lights at the lodge.
Every year they have a gingerbread house competition.
The older kids love looking at them, but as soon as Little Miss found out she couldn't eat any of the candy she was done and wanted to return to pet the bear.
Every year we let the kids open their pajama presents the night before Christmas. This year my mom made them pj bottoms and a matching pillowcase.
The night before Christmas when the kids were finally asleep we hauled up Susan's fake tree and surrounded the presents around the base. What a haul!
The next morning the kids were anxious to get started.
Roxy guarded the gifts. Unfortunately Little Miss had woken during the night with a fever so she wasn't feeling great, but once she realized what was going on she jumped in with the rest and had fun. Every time she opened one of her gifts she had to go around and show it to every member of the family, as well as each of the dogs.
We had a great Christmas and hope you all did as well.
