I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

This post is probably going to be REALLY long, and photo intensive.  It's a 3-day out-of-town holiday-weekend post, so long is to be expected.

Christmas is always a busy time, with out of town guests, extended family, and lots of parties.  We decided that this year we would try and have our Christmas in the mountains, at the family cabin, in the snow, and all alone... just us five.  It meant packing up a tree, gifts, and all the regular traveling necessities.  It meant being away from Grandma's and Grandpa's on Christmas morning.  It meant making a few sacrifices, but we were willing to give it a shot, just to make some new and special memories.

We left on Christmas Eve morning, driving on roads with some ice and a few snow flurrries coming from the trees, and landed in Overgaard around lunchtime.  While Austin and I unpacked (after he shoveled out the driveway so we could park), our kids played in the heavy snow on the ground left from the most recent storm.  (Cool side story:  our kids have been praying for snow all week, and there was lots to be played with when we arrived.  We didn't have a storm while we were there, but the day we left the sun warmed up and the snow started to melt... it was preserved through Christmas day, so our kids prayers could be answered.)  They made snow angels, threw snowballs, and Austin and Grace made Snowman the Hutt.  We threw socks and pants in the drier more than a few times for 3 days, laid out shoes on the heater to dry out, then threw it all back on again to go back outside.

We set up a small 4 1/2 foot tree, put our presents around it, and that was it for decorations.  Our Christmas Eve traditions were many, we kept a few precious ones and added some new ones.  Instead of a fancy dinner, which we had no room to pack, we made homemade pizza and had Martinelli's sparkling apple cider.  We each opened one present, our Christmas pajamas, and snuggled up for the evening. We read the Tale of Three Trees, and Luke 2, and talked about the Savior.  We bore testimonies and cried.  We watched the Muppet Christmas Carol and Mom sang along to almost every song.  Then we talked about the movie, the meaning of Christmas and having the Christmas spirit.  We tucked the kids into bed at 11:00 and waited...

Christmas morning was so much fun!  Thank goodness the kids had let Santa know we were going to be out of town!  He found us just fine, stuffed our stockings and left our gifts and covered our tiny tree with candy canes.  Ember came downstairs first at 4:00 AM, using a glow stick to find her way, and kept sneaking into the bedroom to see if we were awake yet.  She did that several times until I finally got up and turned on her lamp, and told her to read a book until everyone else woke up.  6:00 AM was my limit.  She could hardly stand it, and when the other two finally woke up around 5:30 she started pushing my 6AM boundary.  I gave in, but Austin waited until six.  He got a head cold, was feeling lousy, and needed all the sleep he could get.

We cheered at Santa's arrival and his thoughtfulness and his good memory, he got exactly the right things, and found the cabin without any trouble at all!  We opened presents, said thank-you's, gave hugs, and got ready for a fun Christmas morning breakfast.  I put green food coloring in the batter for our waffles, cut them into triangles, diced up strawberries, grapes and pineapple, fried up some bacon, and we had the perfect ingredients for making Christmas Tree waffles.  They turned out so cute, and were delicious!

The rest of the day was playing with toys, playing in the snow, watching our new movies, taking naps, and having fun.  Christmas dinner was just tortellini's with Sprite and frozen grape Koolaid ice cubes.  (A lot of my ideas this year came from Pinterest... thank you!!)  (And for other Pinterest enthusiasts, the glow stick liquid poured into bubbles does NOT make glow-in-the-dark bubbles... but bubbles DO freeze when you blow them at 32 degrees or below.)

Sunday night I finally slept... first time in at least three days.  Monday we cleaned up the decorations, the presents, the laundry, and the cabin.  We packed up the van to the hilt and brought Christmas home.  Now my house is trashed, and I get to clean up the Christmas decorations we had put up here before we left!  While Austin and I clean, the kids play their new video games, watch their new movies, and play with their new toys.

It's good to be a child at Christmas.

Hooray for traditions.  Hooray for making memories.  Hooray for answered prayers.  Hooray for safety.  Hooray for clean laundry!  Hooray for family.

Hooray for Christmas!

That's the driveway... Austin had to wade through it to get to the garage, where the snow shovel was.

 Ben helped with some of the shoveling.

 Too excited to get properly dressed, the kids waded out into the snow.

The kids each made a snow angel

 Working on the snowman, Jabba.

 Grace found an icicle for his nose.

 Mom, my hands are cold!

 Meet Jabba the Snowman!

 Grace made a baby snowman, all by herself!

We forgot a star for the tree, so Grace made us one

using K'nex toys.  Good job Grace!

 Christmas Eve presents... pajamas!

The first one up, 4:00 AM.

 Angry Birds!!

Santa remembered!

Opening presents... some of our favorites:

Ben, all things Harry Potter!

 Ember, a beautiful framed violin photograph,

taken by her Aunt Noelle, a great photographer.

 Grace, a ream of paper and colored pencils.  Really.

 Mom... cleanup.  Best Christmas ever!  Really!

 Christmas tree waffles... before...

 ... and after!  So much fun!

 The Grinch, pictured here, forgot my presents at home.  So my t-shirt is even funnier.  BUT... I didn't care!  That wasn't what this trip, or this holiday, was about.  This was really the best Christmas I've had in a long time, because of the time spent together and the memories made.  So I forgive you, Mr. Grinch!  :)

Merry Christmas from the Lawlor family, I hope yours was as wonderful as ours was!
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