Christmas at the Cabin

Well, we survived.

On Saturday the 22nd we left Fort Collins and headed for my in-laws cabin in the mountains west of Walden, Colorado. I think the trip is about 150 miles. Since my kids had gone up earlier in the day with my in-laws, my husband and I had a nice leisurely drive. We park the cars about a mile from the cabin because if it snows a lot, we can still drive out. The parking area is above a reservoir called Slack-Weiss. We got up there just before dark and had time to load almost everything into the two sleds and snowmobile down to the cabin. The boys were more than happy to help their dad get the last couple of things from the Jimmy (the vehicle we drove up) and leave a couple of snowmobiles up there for my sister-in-law, who was about an hour behind us.

On Christmas Eve my father-in-law pointed out a snowmobile to Lindsay that she would be allowed to use – all by herself! She was so happy. He gave her a rundown on the rules and off she went. She was allowed to go in circles – loops that would bring her right back to the cabin but not take her out of sight or hearing distance of those of us outside. She had so much fun. My boys were constantly out on their own snowmobiles, much better ones than they’d used the previous years. When we go up there they stay in their own ‘bunk house’ so between sleeping apart from us and being allowed to come and go as they please, they have a lot of freedom.

Christmas morning was fun. My mother and father-in-law, my boys, daughter, husband and I were all up by 7AM. We drank coffee, snacked on breakfast treats and waited for my sister-in-law’s family to come over from the other cabin. We finally sent Lindsay and Matt over to get them up and steal my 3-year-old nephew so we could start opening presents. I was really excited about the kids opening presents this Christmas because I thought we’d done an exceptional job at choosing them. I’ll only list what my husband and I got them because that’s all I can really remember… A got an MP3 player loaded with her own albums – Hannah Montana, High School Musical, etc. (thanks to her oldest brother), a pair of Heely’s, and the game Operation. Matt got a Phillips Go, it’s an MP3 player that also plays video. I had Jake load music that Matt would like and the movie Christmas Vacation because I thought it would be fun. Jake got the best present of all. It took weeks and the help of many people to make it possible. As I said before, Jake is a double Letterman and was chosen to the All Conference team. For Christmas we bought him a Letter Jacket and were sneaky enough to borrow a letter from someone else to put in his dresser so when he looked (and he looks every day) it wouldn’t be missing and he wouldn’t be suspicious. My parents helped with the cost of the jacket, my mother-in-law sewed on the letter, and my sister-in-law is going to buy him the other patches he wants like his name, graduation year, or his football jersey number. When he opened the box and pulled back the tissue paper he threw back his head and cried, “Yes!” I think we did a good job. I had so much fun watching my kids open their presents that my father-in-law finally told me to quit being a control freak and open my own. I got a little stuffed dog that sings “Melikalikimaka” (which I love) and a gift bag that had a bag of coffee, a heart shaped lotion bar, and in the bottom there was something wrapped in tissue paper. I started pulling the paper out of the bag and finally lifted it out to unwrap it. I was so tickled to find that it was a pair of Crocs Mammoths – the right color and the right size! I’ve been wanting a pair of them for the past month and haven’t been able to find the right ones. It was the perfect gift – and in case you’re wondering, they are really warm even in the snow.

We came back on Wednesday because I was supposed to work Thursday. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that it was snowing pretty heavily and was not looking forward to going to work. When I got up with the alarm I could hear my phone beeping – someone had sent me a text message. I got out of bed, peeked out the window and was very depressed that I was going to have to drive in the new snow, then I went to check my cell phone. My boss had sent me a text message telling me to go back to bed, there was no point in coming to work. The snow had shut down operations on Thursday. My husband had to go in to work, though he only works a mile drive from home. I decided that I should drive him to work and then go to the grocery store because we didn’t have any food left in the house and needed things like milk, eggs and cereal. The roads were nasty and my husband showed me how to put the Jimmy in 4 wheel drive. I made it to the grocery store and back home without killing myself.

On Friday I went to work, stayed for only a half day and called it quits for the year. I’ll go back in on Wednesday the 2nd of January. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with my husband just sitting on the couch watching movies and enjoying each others company. Too bad we don’t get to do it more often.

Today is Sunday and we’re all headed over to my parents house. They live in Loveland and we haven’t seen them this holiday season. They’re vegetarians so I’ve spent a couple of hours making meat-free pasta salads to take over there tonight and we’ll make a Wal-Mart stop for a veggie tray and last minute supplies for our New Years party tomorrow night. We’ve got to leave in about half an hour and nobody’s ready yet! This is typical for us – we’re always late.