When my siblings and I started to leave home, get married, and have our own families, the "Plan" was to try to get everyone together for Christmas every other year. The plan was good, the implementation, lacking. As a result of weddings and other events pulling us home at different times throughout the year, the last time we were all together at Christmas Aubree was 2 months old.
This year, a good friend of my moms graciously allowed us to use her fabulous cabin in Tahoe for the week. Technically, we still weren't together for the real Christmas Day, but we decided the week after Christmas was close enough to count and we went ahead and had a bonus Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the cabin.
Unfortunately, Mark couldn't come join the festivities since he'd just had the previous week off of work and just started the new job. That was definitely the biggest downside of the trip and it left me to fly alone with the kiddos. I really can't complain, though. The only time we were really alone was while on the planes and a 1 1/2 hour flight is totally realistic. Grandma and Grandpa Winters went with us to the Seattle airport (they flew back to PA at the same time our flight left), and we were met at the Reno airport by my brother, Sean, and my sister, Katie and their families. At the end of our vacation, Sean also flew out of Reno the same time I did and in both instances took care of all my luggage. What a man!
The cabin was perfectly spacious and wonderful for our ever growing family (14 adults & 8 kids). There were even two separate kitchens with a total of 3 ovens, because, of course, there was a LOT of good eats.
One area, separated from the main cabin, quickly earned the designation of the "man cave." Whenever we were looking for a brother/in-law, that was the first place to look. Considering all the chatty sisters and giddy kids running rampant in the main house, I suppose I'm not surprised they sought refuge in the apartment with endless streams of sports and movies on the big screen.
We arrived Tuesday afternoon and quickly got down to the business of acquainting and reacquainting. For starters, my parents hadn't yet met Thane.
Additionally, three of my sisters also had babies last year and I hadn't met ANY of those beautiful babes. Tragic.
Thane & Elizabeth, who is only 5 weeks younger than Thane
Tuesday night was designated "Christmas Eve," complete with stories, activities, sugar cookies, and gifts. Mostly we were just excited to all be together again. After we (finally) got all the kids to bed (always an event in new surroundings), Santa's elves got back to work filling stockings and putting presents under the tree. I was expecting a small affair. I should have known better.
Uncles with sharp knives are handy to have around...
Classic Bryce...
Here's a fun toy...and another willing Uncle!
And speaking of uncles, I just love this picture:
The rest of the week sped by. We'd venture out to play in the snow or go to the grocery store, but mostly kept ourselves occupied indoors. Kira drove to the cabin and filled an extra trailer full of toys and bins of assorted comforts. One particularly popular item was a baby play mat. Sometimes it was used as designed:
Thane and Anna (10 months old)
Frequently, the bigger kids couldn't resist it's allure:
Bryce & Killian (3)
And sometimes, even the REALLY big kids wanted to see what was so appealing:
Though the kids and I missed Mark, there were always plenty of people willing and eager to step in and help me out. Generally, Aubree and Bryce were busy playing with their cousins, grandparents, or assorted Aunts and Uncles.
Uncle Ian with Killian, Anna, & Aubree
Thane took a while to warm-up. On those occasions when I had to leave him, the scene often looked like this:
By the end of the week, he'd decided he could tolerate being held by someone else, but mostly was (literally even) stuck to me.
One morning Grandma took Aubree on a special one-on-one walk. They were gone a long time and I started to worry about frost-bite (since she'd picked out her own outfit), but when they got home Aubree was abuzz with all their adventures.
Aubree described walking to the nearby park and building a snow-penguin.
Her penguin, Osbert, tried his hand at making a snow-angel:
Clearly, it had been a wonderful and memorable outing.
Overall, it was such a joy to be together with family and recall old memories and make new ones. I'm reminded why it's important to me that my kids know their Aunts and Uncles and cousins - because they're all such fabulous people!
My Seesters
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