I Wonder as I Wander…

We had another trip to the cities for Ross and Richard’s annual Christmas Party. It was extra special this year, because we picked up Kara after school. Paul had dropped her off in the morning and he went on to St. Cloud. So we met Kara in Hibbing and she rode down to the cities with us. Paul came down Friday evening and we all ended up staying at Ross and Richards. (That way we were able to get some pinochle games in!)

Their party is always so much fun. It starts around 3 pm and sometimes goes as late as 2 am. This year it wrapped up around 11 pm. There are always ‘waves’ of people—most come for a couple hours and then leave—so after a little while there is a new group of people there.

Our Christmas was absolutely wonderful! The kids were home and we had lots of great food, wonderful Church Services, good card games, fun games, and relaxing massages! We even spent an afternoon outside and pushed each other into snow banks.

After Christmas—we journeyed to the cities to help Ross and Richard clean and fix up two of their apartment units. It’s always a lot of fun (and yet some work) to help them. Of course, we always go out to eat following a hard day’s work.

On the way home, we stopped at Kara and Paul’s and spent New Years with them. First we played some cards and watched a movie. On New Year’s eve, we snowmobiled out to where they had a huge stack of brush stacked up and had a great bonfire. We were outside from about 2 pm until 7 pm. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening—there was a lot of deep snow that we were wallowing around in. And the pine trees had a covering of snow which was absolutely gorgeous. We all said “how can anyone not love snow?” If we got cold at all, we would just move a little closer to the fire and warm up. After the sun went down, a million stars came out—so with the fire, sparks, and stars—it was breathtaking!

When we got back to the house, we thought we should stay up to greet the New Year, but we were all so tired, we just went to bed. New Year’s Day, we went and checked on the fire—it had really burnt everything and was totally out. Then Bob and I headed home.