Hot Cocoa and Sledding... a Christmas Eve tradition
When I was little, I really looked forward to our winter tradition of sledding with cousins! A few Saturdays' each winter we'd pack up hot cocoa in a thermos, oranges and a sack lunch and spend the entire day at the hill! We'd build giant jumps, go down as a long train and hope not to be the few who were bound to fly off! We'd eat handfuls of snow and have bright red toes and cheeks by the time we had to head for home. Our parents joined in on the fun here and there, they sat on the tailgate of uncle Kevin's truck or in the cars as they'd watch us, frequently having to adjust our gloves or change out the bread bags, used as linings for our boots! It is one of my favorite childhood memories and you all know that I have lots of those.... Anyway I love my memories of sledding and want my boys to love it too, how can you not?! We were invited several years ago to join some of our good friends for their tradition of Christmas Eve sledding! We loved it so much, we decided to borrow the tradition and make it our own! We didn't get quite the turn out from our extended family that we were hoping for... but it was still lots of fun and a great way to wear the kids out for the big night ahead!Gabe all bundled up could hardly walk but he was determined to do it all by himself. He was so frustrated with the gloves because wearing them made it too hard to pull the sleigh... good thing he was distracted by all the fun!!
Jonah, Nathan and Sarah (my little cousins) joined us at Lyons Park just a few blocks from our house... the hills were great!!
Ah, lucky Gabe... livin the good life... ride down, ride up! While the rest of us huffed and puffed our way up the steep hills!! (well at least me and Glen did!) His snow apparel was so poofy, the poor kid couldn't even fold in half to sit so he'd just lay there while we lugged him around!
Don't let those red cheeks fool you... they are not from cold, they are from running, yes, that's right running through the snow, up and down the hills... he was so sweaty!
After about an hour, I took Gabe home for his nap while Glen stayed with the others. While Gabe slept I was able to finish up the final details for our Christmas Eve dinner plans that night! It ended up being a memorable, fun filled, relaxing Christmas Eve Day!!
2 comments:
Looks like so much fun! There just isn't much snow here, although we do get some. My boys are miss sledding. As far as the guitar goes, Jake got this one for his birthday in Nov. I tried to get him to take piano lessons a couple of years ago and he just didn't want to. He just wanted to play the guitar. After he got his electric guitar, we tried to tell him to take lessons, but again he said no. Right now he is self taught. He looks up tabs on the computer and he has one ACDC book. He just loves it though and plays all the time. He is already saving to buy another guitar--funny boy! He and some friends have formed a band, Ben is the drummer with no drums--we will see how it goes! :) Oh, that Sweetly Divine place, it really is divine. If they have lemon bars there, I am sure they are heavenly. Pretty expensive, but their treats are the kind that melt in your mouth. We always get something there when we are in Logan visiting.
Okay, maybe I miss the snow every once in a while... Sledding was the best as a kid! I remember Tammy & Mike bringing Reagan along and even Grandpa & Grandma occasionally joining in and riding down the hill on a tube! and who can forget Grandma's homemade donuts afterward or chilli at Mom's and hot chocolate to warm us up! Unfortunately, I think the fun of sledding is more for kids - when I think of sledding now, I think of trudging up a steep slope dragging an unwieldy tube and a stubborn 2 year old whose boots won't stay put, wet gloves and runny noses. I guess now the fun is in watching their enjoyment - Can't wait to go sleigh riding with you guys in just a few weeks! Cute pics!
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