The Holiday Season

We enjoyed Christmas with most of the family together for several days. We spent the past couple weeks decorating, shopping, and cooking in preparation for the holidays and everyone had a good time. We have had lots of snow the past few weeks and have been getting lots of use of the snow blower. We finally got a break for Christmas and Friday and Saturday were beautiful sun shiny days.
Christmas morning started with all the kids opening their gifts and then a big brunch. We spent the afternoon visiting and enjoying the day, then had a wonderful roast beef dinner.
On Friday we took Ben to the Homestead resort for a snowboarding lesson and watched him learn how to snowboard on the bunny hill, then eventually on to the chairlift and down the ski run. He caught on fast and now will be looking forward to the next time he can go boarding. Saturday the temperature hit 42 degrees and we had clear blue skies. The kids built a snowman and an igloo and were sledding and playing outdoors most of the day. We ended the day with a hike to Pyramid Point and looked out over Lake Michigan. The sun was setting as we hiked back to the trucks.
Sunday Jenny left for home and then Amy and Mike, and the kds. Later Tom and Evey and us went to Leland and had a nice dinner with the Goodfallows. We also watched the Lions end their season in traditional style, a loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
We are driving down to Southeast Michigan for New Years and are looking forward to spending a few more days with the famly before heading to Florida later in January.
Happy New Year to all and we wish you all well in the coming year.

Snow on the deck on Wednesday morning.

The kids on Christmas Eve getting ready for bed.

Christmas morning under the tree!

The opening of the gifts

Christmas is also Ben's biirtday. Nine years old!

 

Here is Ben (in blue), on the bunny hill riding the "Magic carpet" to the top.

Snowboarding down the big hill later in the morning

At the top of Pyramid Point. Nancy, Kate and Natalie

Tom and Evey

Kate, Natalie and Evey, the snow angels

Mike and Amy

Winter Wonderland!!

I know it's been a long dry spell between updates, but I have had some issues with the blog lately and have not been able to add new posts. Finally today the problem is resolved.

We have been busy the past month with a visit to the Irish Hills area to visit with Rick and Jan Bolling and compare notes on winter travelling. We will meet with them in Florida at Everglades National Park for a couple of weeks. We also went to Manistee for a Christmas festival that they sponsor each year. It was c-c-c-cold standing outside and watching the parade in the 15 degree weather, but the street was very crowded and the mood was jovial. A nice parade with horses, bands, and Santa. We also picked up a Christmas tree and are getting everything decorated for the holiday.
We are expecting all of the Michigan kids and grandkids to be here for Christmas, but David and Elizabeth will not be able to make it.

The weather is much cooler than last year and we have not been much above twenty degrees since late November. The snow falls a little each day and we have had snow on the ground since before Thanksgiving. Right now we have close to 12 inches of accumulation.

Nancy and I both continue to work a few days here and there, but nowhere near as much as during the summer tourist season.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the countdown to the Christmas holiday and the new year!

Early season snow. We have a foot on the ground now.

Manistee lighthouse on Saturday. We visited Manistee for the Christmas Festival.

Downtown before the parade.

Merry Christmas to all!

The Leland River in winter.

The sidewalks roll up early in town.