You've got to love Vermont! Our neighbor, Chris Cleary and his friends (including John), spent hundreds of hours building a 15 foot tall mastodon-- with toe nails, tusks, and kissing wreaths as testicles! It was loaded with fireworks and supposed to be set ablaze on the solstice. However, there was a crazy storm on Friday-- with gusts clocked at over 100 mph on Mt. Mansfield, so the event was postponed until the 23rd.
With snow flying and temperatures dropping, we were able to share this amazing spectacle with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and neighborhood friends. It will surely be an event that will be remembered for many, many years!
We were able to sneak in a dinner in Waterbury with Jamey and his family before the holidays. It was a bit chaotic, but so great to see the cousins together.
One of the biggest treats, was getting to go out for a half day of skiing in 12 inches of powder with my best ski buddy in the whole wide world! We poached closed trails, snuggled on the chairlift, and new the kids were having a ball with their grandparents.
Rob and Nif made a great Christmas Eve dinner and the kids got very excited for Santa to come:
We had a traditional Thanksgiving feast for dinner and the kids had a great evening romping around and being playful cousins.
It was great to have family and friends around to celebrate the holidays with us in our home. It meant deep cleaning the house before people came, while they were here, and after they left and grocery shopping and cooking a lot, but we loved the coziness of being in our home heated by our neighbors trees and filled with so much fun and love. There was a bit of an emptiness in the house when everyone packed up and left today, but it was fun to have our unit back, ready to make some turns together on a sunny day, awaiting a huge snow storm tomorrow. Thankfully, we still have another six days of vacation!
