Christmas in Wyoming. Pt. 1, Miscellaneous

I know, I know. It's been FOREVER since I've posted anything. What can I say? Life got busy. Blogging fell to the bottom of the priority list. I should make some sort of New Year's Resolution to blog at least once a week in 2009, but I'll probably just break it so I won't even bother. I can only commit to doing the best I can. There you go.

We were crazy enough to head up to Cody, WY for Christmas this year. Most of you reading this can be grateful for the warm winter weather you enjoy on a daily basis. When we arrived, it was 23 degrees BELOW zero. 23 BELOW, friends! Can you even breathe when it's that cold? Hardly. But my sisters and I had a few good laughs as we were unpacking the car. We would pause, take a deep breath in through our noses, and marvel at how everything in there (if you get my drift) would freeze to the walls of your nostrils. I think our brains were already frozen. That is what 23 degrees below zero (yes, I said it again) will do to you.

Moving on ...

Here are the boys on Sunday in their matching shirts--Evan's too big, Owen's too small. Oh well. This is the best picture we got so it doesn't matter anyway. They were cute for a couple hours and that's all you need to know.


One of the highlights(?) of our trip was visiting Santa at the Cody, WY Santa Shack. Let me say, they have one of the best Santas I have ever seen and heard. Well, I guess they would. He is THE Santa. Right? Great Santa or not, Evan and Owen were not thrilled. Here is Owen after I shoved him onto Santa's lap. Evan didn't even get that close. Even after all the prep work and Evan telling us how he was going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas, he could barely squeak anything out as I gently coached, "black dinosaur guys and a blue ..."
"Flashlight," Evan whispers.


It really was too bad because we got some pretty decent family pictures out of the whole event--minus the frightened looks on the kids' faces. I suspect this will go on for a few more years. The Children (all 4 of us) are not boldy social people so I really can't blame the young ones. Still, I feel this horrible, parental satisfaction forcing my offspring to sit on some large, red, bearded stranger's lap. I'm sure it's frightening, no matter how jolly and merry he is. We'll try again next year.

Stay tuned for more!