Eve

Skiing on Christmas Eve is a tradition we all look forward to.  Well, everyone except for Josh.  He really did not want to ski this year.  We were holding firm in our resolve to drag him along with us, much to his chagrin.  That night, he woke up in the middle of the night with a fever.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid so excited to have a fever as he was.  He knew that fever bought him a free pass out of skiing.  Instead, he got to hang with Grandma B and play the Wii all day.  It was probably his favorite Christmas Eve ever. 
The rest of us loaded up the cars and headed to Alta.  Blake forgot his coat.  He is darn lucky it was a very mild day.  After the hassle of renting skis, we were finally off to the mountain.  Rusty and Alan were taking Blake and Cohen to the tow rope and Cory and I were headed up the lift with the big kids.  Everyone did great.  Halle is a natural skiier.  She is totally in her element on the mountain.  Blake got bored after a couple of hours and so he went to hang out in the lodge.  After awhile I came in and switched with Rusty so he could go with the big kids a few times.  Alta is just so beautiful and I can’t imagine a more perfect way to spend Christmas Eve than out in the beautiful mountains surrounded by the serene, fresh, white snow. 
  
Later that evening the Cornell Clan gathered for a delicious dinner of Ribs and funeral potatoes.  We were all stuffed to the brim! 
 
We waited a little too long to do the Nativity story and the kids were pretty grumpy about putting their costumes on.  This is about the best pic we could get.

The kids thought their pajamas were so cool this year.  They all got pj’s and slippers.  I wish you could see Blake’s dino slippers in this pic.  He thinks he is the coolest, most ferocious pj clad kid who ever lived.
 
And Fenix stole the show with Santa on his back.