After my stint in WI, half the family jetted to Colorado to start the holiday festivities in the mountains while my sister and I piled into her car with all four of her kiddos and headed there on the slow boat: 20 hours through WI, IL, IA, NE, and finally CO. There was a great deal of silliness along the way. Which my cousin, R, seemed to anticipate when I told him about the upcoming drive and he said, "Wait. The adults going in the car are…you…and your sister?" The way he said it, I could almost hear the air quotes around the word "adults." I guess we deserved that.
Safely arrived in Colorado, before the craziness of a house full of 12 people really got going, I snuck out for a rendezvous with my sweet Denver friend M, who has been living and working in Brazil for the past couple years and happened to be home for a vacation. Lucky me, to steal a few hours of her time to catch up.
After that, it was all-out. Sit-down with Santa for the kiddos (during which Santa almost broke character laughing when my niece E pulled out a full-fledged toy brochure to show him exactly what she wanted)…
…horse-sleigh rides (though we had to settle for pictures with the horses in the background during their break, too busy were they to give us riffraff a ride)…
…the idyllic Christmas morning with a tree drowning in presents…
…sledding on Christmas afternoon…
…downhill skiing--lots for some of us, a day or two for others…
…and New Year's Eve fireworks. All of us looking up at them, and looking forward to 2014.
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