A Virginia Christmas

The journey:

We left about 8 pm Wednesday night and drove through the night (and by we I mean Dave). The kids did great. Note to self: next over-night road trip, make some kind of stretchy, padded forehead cradles to attach to car seat. Their floppy little heads and occasional moans in their sleep made me sad. But they woke up perky the next morning, so I guess they were alright.
Anyway, we stopped only for gas and baby feeding. Pop Tarts for breakfast (much rejoicing) and we met Dad for lunch in Bluefield, VA, about 1:30 on Friday. We looked haggard I'm sure ,and Riley's hair was rat's nest from car-seat friction, but it was  a joyful reunion, nonetheless.

When we got home we showered and then celebrated Ander's birthday! Party! Party all weekend! Romp and Roll! Caroling at the nursing home! Cousins arrive and the house is filled with joyful children at play and Star War's noises!

Birthday cake (Artfully decorated by Riley and Joe, made my Tim)

Snowball fight. The kiddies are on the run!

Cheese-steaks at Sals (And a tired Ms. Ari cradles Lora's hand to the side of her face, because Lora is her comfort object and it was the cutest)

Christmas Violin recital at Heritage Halls (many thanks to Ander for making one of Mom's Christmas traditions happen.) I don't have pictures of the violinist :( but took a few on a rounds after. The nursing home residents are always enthusiastic about welcoming the little ones and laughing at their antics, lending ear to their tales. Joe was using his exceptionally long Santa hat to stow peppermints in he collected from Santa and his admirers. He was brazenly "passing the hat" till a stern rebuff from me, but his hand kept slipping up to shove more in there.I acted like I didn't notice.

Christmas Eve we welcomed Grandma and Aunt Mel, and Danny and Jenni's family.  Riley campaigned, and won, an early bedtime for the first time in her life. She really wanted to give Santa ample time. Surprisingly, I was the first one awake Christmas morning. So I crept downstairs and started breakfast: cinnamon rolls and baked Olaf (hash with eggs cracked on top). The kids rose around 7, 7:30 and were thrilled to open their stockings and Santa gifts.

Then we tore them all away from their presents and headed to church.  We sang carols and heard beautiful testimonies about Christ and I couldn't hold back the tears as I thought about how much we all missed Mom this year, and tried to focus my thoughts on our Savior and the message of comfort and eternal love that he brought. Dad shared a poem she loved: "Touch of the Master's Hand" - one that appealed to two major loves in Mom's life: violin and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It isn't Christmas-specific, but the message that we are all of infinite worth, and saved by our Savior, Jesus Christ, is poignant, and very Christmas-appropriate. Basically, even though our hearts are still broken, we have hope because of Christ. The world could be so much darker. Grief is awful, but I have to say I have felt the warm light of Christ even in this very difficult past year and I am truly grateful for that.

Well, and when you have such vibrant, energetic distractions as we have (those kids and cousins) you can't help but cheer up a little. They say and do such funny things, and are awash in innocence and excitement - Christmas! They left Santa a funny little note and all the best cookies. They asked if we were decorating sugar cookies till the only option was to do it already. And the joyful chaos that ensued when they were unwrapping Christmas gifts took me every bit back to my own childhood and the magic I felt on Christmas. 

Reading Luke 2

The combined efforts of many took a stab at what Mom used to orchestrate for our huge crowd every year, and we turned out a wonderful Christmas dinner. Grandma and Mel did the turkey, ham, and pies, the rest of us did sides, and we ate by candlelight. A silver lining: I feel like a treasure time with loved ones more now than ever. It is an honor to have so much love in your life, that makes partings so very painful. Not everyone could be there, but we held each other close in our hearts, and exchanged phone calls with those we could. Some of us went to the cemetery to feel close to Mom and reflect on Christmases past and be there for each other.

We got through. I am grateful for this more somber but maybe more meaningful Christmas this year. The traditions that were "nice" before now serve as connections and reminders.

*One more note: We participated in the Light the World initiative, and participated in various advent activities. There was one day that was "honor your mother" and I tried to do activities and make choices the way I thought Mom would, and it was such a reminder to me of what an exceptional being is Mom! I practiced viola (I don't have a violin, but viola works) and I quilted, made a nice meal for my family and served our neighbor. I talked to family on the phone and tried to listen with an empathetic ear. It was exhausting ;)  Basically, it was an exercise in living a full life. I'm so grateful.

And that, my friends was Christmas.

*although Part 2, maybe 3, of our Virginia visit pending*

Camping at Gooseberry Falls

We camped, and you can't NOT blog about that, if you have a blog. I want this recorded in history in as many places as possible, it is that rare of an occurance. Why rare? I mean, I love it. It is always a great family memory-builder/bonding, and oh such a relief to be out in nature, see the stars and sit around a campfire... But... Will the weather cooperate? Who to go with? How will we keep everyone warm? Do we have sufficient clothing for exploring and sleeping plus spares for if/when someone falls in the lake or pees their pants? What food will we pack in and what do we need to take to prepare it? Many considerations.

Of course, it is totally worth it.

We went with the Davis family, and their girls are close in age to Riley and Joe. They played so well together that we were able to just relax much of the time. Plus, we shared meal responsibilities, cutting the work in half.

*Thanks Dave and Selena for letting me pilage your pictures for this post. I'm sure I'll revisit when I'm missing summer/nature/campfires/down time. And also to remind myself that I do like camping, when the next opportunity rolls around :)

Rustic mountain men and thermal underpants. Also muscles.

The "secret trail" in the "magic wood" had a lot of appeal for the little ones.

And evening walk before dinner.

 The Davis' did dinner - brats, foil veggies and fall squash soup. Yum. Then s'mores,

So that night, it was cold. About 37 degrees Farenheit?

There was much cuddling - Dave and I each had one kid in our sleeping bags with us, and the extra, Joe, had about ten blankets piled on top. His description of that night: "toasty!" My description: could have been worse. Definitely could have been better. (next time: hats!) But definitely could have been worse.

But what a glorious morning! I thought of Grandma Smith telling us about camping and frying bacon outside with a campfire... It was still shivery, but we had a lot of fun frying up breakfast - bacon and potatoes and eggs - sipping hot chocolate, and chasing away a brazen little red squirrel who thought he had free reign of the pans! The kids ate and, again, played in the mystical forest next to our camp. They adopted a sizeable rock as a baby and took turns toting it around, "feeding" it, covering it up with "blankets" (pine needles) and basically, why do we ever bother buying toys for our kids? They had the best time with that rock...and it somehow made it home with us, shoved under the front seat.

Cuties! Photo cred to Selena!

Another from Selena's camera

 Henry didn't want to nap in the pack-n-play, but the hitch carrier? Yes, definitely, for like an hour and a half. 

I'm glad Selena thought to get a group picture. Don't we look like a party??

Lake Superior is a short distance from the campground, a good hike for, say, a group of six very small children, and their four handlers. With a very rewarding view.

Pebble beaches make for more difficult angels, we found.

 

From Lake Superior, the hike continues on to Gooseberrry Falls. We took a slight "scenic" detour. I'm not saying I'm not adventurous, but I never left the trail before I married Dave, is what I'm saying. And now our hikes always end up..."scenic." haha :)

And that's it! That's all I've got! A fun weekend! Then we packed up and headed home. Ahem, DAVE packed up. He spoils me - I'm more than happy to shepherd our flock if someone else will do the packing up. The kids passed out the second we got in the car and didn't wake up till we were almost home. THEN we stopped at Culver's for dinner and everyone was so rested and giggly, we had a very nice time + frozen custard. I like my crew. I'm trying to remember some jokes or something, but I just remember laughing a lot.

I like my crew.