A Goodwin Family Christmas

Finally, Christmas Day had arrived! At approximately 5:30am we celebrated Christ's birth by reading Luke 2, as well as excerpts from Mark, Matthew and 3rd Nephi. However, D can correct me if I'm wrong on those particular books - I was still a bit bleary-eyed as he read through each of the passages. But, it was a particularly pleasant and fitting way to begin the 25th of December.

This year, my husband & I did stockings for each other, so emptying the goodies from those red, felt socks was the first order of the day. As we munched on mandarin oranges, we took turns to see what Santa had left for us. Needless to say, we must have been pretty good because we were blessed with many, useful things, including a teapot, vegetable steamer and water purifier. Santa knows us so very well!

After our little Christmas festivities ended, we packed up the car with presents, food, warm clothing and blankets before heading down to the Goodwin household. My mother-in-law had decorated the house in a festive fashion, complete with snow and foliage. Earlier, she asked if I would make a frittata, so we arrived very early, and got right to work under cover of darkness in a very quiet, slumbering household. As the smell of fried potatoes, basil and butter wafted, the house began to stir. Our bountiful breakfast of frittata, oranges, bacon and pancakes was quite filling; obvioulsy, we needed all the sustenance we could get for the exciting, busy morning that lay ahead.

A short time later, the bows and colored wrapping paper were filling the air, the living room and every other once-clean space. Our niece was entranced with every single gift that erupted from the mountain of paper, boxes and bows... but she was equally entranced by the paper, boxes and bows too!

After thing were cleaned up and Christmas morning naps commenced, D & I took off for home. We turned on "Planet Earth" and grabbed blankets, so we could also take a brief siesta. About an hour later, I got up to get a drink of water and looked outside and there was snow! We were going to have a White Christmas for the first time in years! Rather spontaneously, we decided to take a trip up to the mountains to check out the snow and do some snowshoeing, possibly. We got up to the Mountain Loop Highway and encountered rain most of the drive. Fortunately, the scenery made up for the warm precipitation. However, by the time we got to the Deer Creek trailhead (and where they close the road for winter activities), cars were filling the sides of the road as snowshoers, sledders, hikers and snowmobilers piled out of the vehicles as a fine snow quickly covered the ground. With great excitement, we strapped on our shoes and gear, as we began our hike towards Big 4 Ice Caves. I won't go into any more details, but it was quite an adventure. We made it back to the Goodwins a few hours late for a fabulous turkey dinner, but we had a grand time playing in the snow drifts.

Once again, we have been blessed beyond measure this year; although the gifts were much appreciated and thoughtful, we most thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all of our family (& missing those that could not make it home to Seattle) as we reflected on the blessings of Christmas and the joy of the Gospel.