Post Christmas Fun

We were able to enjoy at least two more days at the cabin after our Christmas celebration.  We enjoyed taking some walks and playing games with the family.

Penny enjoyed having fun with Grandpa.

We enjoyed sledding the next morning!

Then we had to say our "Good-byes!" to Chandra's brothers and sister-in-law, as they had to leave a day before us.

So, before they left, we had to take a family picture.  But, it's sad that Jay's mom is not in the picture, because she was taking the photo for us.

After they left, we headed out on a drive around the Black Hills.  It was fun to see old, familiar places that we had visited from the past.  It was especially fun to drive Jay's mom around to see things that she hadn't seen in a number of years.  Of course, one of the most famous places we had to visit was Mt. Rushmore.

We also drove through Western towns like Keystone and Hill City.

We also saw the ongoing sculpting of Crazy Horse on Thunder Mountain.

But one of Mother's favorite things was seeing lots of turkeys, especially around Custer State Park.

Jay won't allow me to post the photo of him and his mom that I took that night, because he doesn't want the whole world to see him in his p.j.'s, but they had a wonderful time together that night listening to the CD's that he made his mom with recordings of her relatives from about forty years ago.  It was fun to hear her laughing about fun memories from the past.

Then we had to move on the next day, because the forecast was predicting another 4-8 inches of snow for the Denver area on the day when we'd originally planned to leave.  That would add to the 5 inches that they had already had on Christmas day.  So, we took off to beat the snow, although we drove through some in Nebraska.  We are loving the cheaper gas prices!  The lowest we paid was about $1.63 per gallon.  We enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.

And we saw some a very original idea near Alliance, Nebraska.  Some clever guy re-created Stone Henge from England, using old cars.  Introducing….Car Henge!

It was a great trip with lots of food, making fun memories with the family and enjoying God's beautiful creation, remembering His greatest gift of all.  We were so thankful for the generosity of Mom's friends, in allowing us to gather together in such a special place to make lasting memories.  What a gift that was!  We are thankful and thinking of others who may be having a hard time this Christmas.  May God give you all a blessed New Year!  May it be filled with renewing and refreshing from your loving, Creator God!

Our Christmas at the Cabin 2014

We've been enjoying a wonderful Christmas at my parents' friend's cabin in the Black Hills.  This is a beautiful painting of the cabin, done by the owner.

  We arrived with great weather and no snow.  That first night was Christmas eve.  We let Penny enjoy opening one gift that night.  And the one she opened was really special.  It was one of those recordable story books, personalized by her daddy.  Jay did such a wonderful job of making the story come alive.  It will be a special memory for Penny to treasure always.

The next day it began snowing and kept it up most of the day.  It was a beautiful, white Christmas.

The only really sad thing about our Christmas was that we had been expecting Penny's two uncles, one aunts and two of her cousins to be coming that Christmas day.  But, unfortunately, the two cousins that she thought were coming had to stay home, because of the sisters had just caught influenza.  But, she was really happy to see her aunt and uncles, though.

This is the place where Penny had her first Christmas in America, five years ago.  But, she says she can't remember it.  She must have been too overwhelmed by everything.  But, she seemed so much more relaxed and comfortable this year.  And she handled the disappointing news about her cousins not coming in a very mature, grown up way.

But, it was also fun to see her still bubble up with childlike joy over lots of simple things, like a Barbie ornament that she had really wanted and Daddy had to be very sneaky to buy,

her new cat slippers,

some of her favorite DVD's

and a cat that snuck in the back porch and ate one of the pork chops my parents had bought!

But, her favorite part of all seemed to be when Grandpa read the Christmas story about Jesus' birth.

In fact, Grandpa even got to read it twice.  He read it in the morning before we opened the gifts that we had bought for our own family, and later, in the evening before we opened gifts for the extended family.  Penny truly understands who is our greatest gift.  And she seemed most excited about the devotional book that Jay gave her for Christmas, because she has grown to love God's word with all of her heart.

It has been really special to have Jay's mother here to join with Chandra's family.  It is her first Christmas without her dear husband, Jack.  So, Jay was especially happy to have her here with us to celebrate together. 

Jay made Mother a really special gift, by transferring recordings from their early family gatherings that even included his grandparents from old casettes to CD's.  Now, she can listen to special memories of her own family from Christmas gatherings past.

And Chandra's favorite gift was definitely that of a handmade apron from her mom.  Not the most flattering picture, but here it is...

It was definitely fun to have our sister-in-law, April, along this year.  Two years ago we welcomed her into the family when she married Chandr'as brother, Brad.  She's a wonderful addition to the family and we had so much fun with her!  And it was fun to have her sweet dog, Daisy, along, too!

So, we were all very blessed to have a special Christmas, together, so thankful for God's great gift of love born on that first Christmas night!